AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 18, 2026
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2026
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
97
URGENCY STATUTE
Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Ahrens, Arambula, Bryan, Elhawary, Garcia, Haney, Jackson, Kalra, Lee, McKinnor, Ortega, Pellerin, Celeste Rodriguez, Rogers, and Sharp-Collins)
February 20, 2026
An act to add Section 14199.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to Medi-Cal and making an appropriation therefor. Medi-Cal, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: yes Fiscal committee: yes Local program: no
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions.
Existing federal law, Public Law 119-21, enacted on July 4, 2025, sets forth various changes to different health care programs, including certain requirements for Medicaid eligibility with regard to work or community engagement reporting, redeterminations, and cost sharing, among other factors, for certain Medicaid populations pursuant to a specified implementation timeline.
Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, imposes a certain assessment on an applicable large employer, as defined, that offers full-time employees and their dependents the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage, and for whom one or more full-time employees have been certified as having enrolled in a qualified health plan for which a premium tax credit or cost-sharing reduction is allowed or paid.
This bill would create the Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund to consist of new taxes and deposits, including employer penalties specified in the Budget Act of 2026. The bill would continuously appropriate moneys in the fund to the State Department of Health Care Services
department
to fund the costs of administering the Medi-Cal program in a manner necessary to prevent loss of or to restore health care coverage, benefits, or access to care following the passage of federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21)and Public Law 119-21 and subsequent state budget actions. The bill would state that these provisions would become operative only if the Medicaid provisions of federal House Resolution 1 Public Law 119-21 are not repealed prior to January 1, 2027. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Affordable and comprehensive health care coverage should be accessible to all Californians to protect their health and financial security.
(b) Fourteen million five hundred thousand Californians are covered by Medi-Cal.
(c) Despite significant progress in expanding health care coverage, an estimated 2,500,000 Californians remained uninsured in 2024, and many more are underinsured or struggle to afford care.
(d) Federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21), passed by a partisan vote in a Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Donald J. Trump Trump, will significantly increase the number of people who are uninsured and go without the health care that they need.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a fund within the Department of Finance that would receive deposits and to appropriate moneys to the State Department of Health Care Services for the sole purpose of preventing loss of or restoring health care coverage, benefits, or access to care following the passage of federal House Resolution 1 and subsequent state budget actions.
SEC. 2.
Section 14199.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
14199.5.
(a) The Employer Responsibility for Medi-Cal Trust Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury.
(b) The fund shall consist of new taxes and deposits, including, but not limited to, employer penalties, as specified in the Budget Act of 2026. The total amount of moneys that may be deposited in the fund from all sources shall be determined by the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Treasurer.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years to the State Department of Health Care Services to fund direct and indirect costs of administering the Medi-Cal program in a manner necessary to prevent loss of or to restore health care coverage, benefits, or access to care following the passage of federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21) and subsequent state budget actions.
(d) This section shall become operative only if the Medicaid provisions of federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21) are not repealed prior to January 1, 2027.
SEC. 3.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
Recent federal actions under federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21) threaten to increase barriers to health care coverage, resulting in significant coverage losses that will disproportionately affect working families, immigrants with humanitarian protections, and communities already facing systemic inequities in access to care. This act creates a fund to provide a dedicated, flexible funding stream to help the state to maintain access to health care.