California bills · 2025-2026 Regular Session
California SB 596
Health facilities: administrative penalties.
- Introduced
- In committee
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- To Governor
- Became law
Sponsors
- Menjivar (Democratic)
Summary
Official abstract published by the California legislature· summary
Existing law provides for the licensure of various health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, and special hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations that establish minimum, specific, and numerical licensed nurse-to-patient ratios by licensed nurse classification and by hospital unit for all general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, and special hospitals. Existing law requires the department to assess an administrative penalty of $15,000 for the first violation and $30,000 for the second and each subsequent violation if the department determines that a specified health facility has violated nurse-to-patient ratios, as specified. Under existing law, an acute general hospital is not subject to this administrative penalty if the hospital demonstrates it has met specified requirements, including that any fluctuation in required staffing levels was unpredictable and uncontrollable, prompt efforts were made to maintain required staffing levels, and the hospital immediately used and subsequently exhausted the hospital's on-call list of nurses and the charge nurse. Existing law specifies that multiple violations found on the same inspection survey constitute a single violation for purposes of determining whether the violation was a first, 2nd, or subsequent violation.
This bill would define "on-call list" for the above purpose and would specify that a hospital contacting, or attempting to contact, licensed nurses who are not scheduled to be on call and who are not assigned to a float pool for the unit and shift where an alleged violation occurred is not considered as exhausting an on-call list. The bill would require the department to treat violations on separate days as separate violations.
Text versions
- 10/13/25 - Chaptered· Oct 13, 2025
- 09/18/25 - Enrolled· Sep 18, 2025
- 09/02/25 - Amended Assembly· Sep 2, 2025
- 07/03/25 - Amended Assembly· Jul 3, 2025
- 04/28/25 - Amended Senate· Apr 28, 2025
- 03/27/25 - Amended Senate· Mar 27, 2025
- 02/20/25 - Introduced· Feb 20, 2025
- SB596
Roll-call votes
State vote data last updated Oct 16, 2026, 12:24 AM.
| Date | Vote | Result | Your legislators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12, 2025 Senate | Unfinished Business SB596 Menjivar Concurrence | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| Sep 12, 2025 House | SB 596 Menjivar Senate Third Reading By Schiavo | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| Aug 29, 2025 House | Do pass as amended. | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| Jul 15, 2025 House | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| Jun 4, 2025 Senate | 3rd Reading | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| May 23, 2025 Senate | Do pass | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| May 12, 2025 Senate | Placed on suspense file | pass | Set your home in California to see |
| Apr 23, 2025 Senate | Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] | pass | Set your home in California to see |
Actions
- Oct 13, 2025 · Legislature
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 773, Statutes of 2025. - Oct 13, 2025 · Legislature
Approved by the Governor. - Sep 23, 2025 · Legislature
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m. - Sep 12, 2025 · Senate
Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 21. Noes 10. Page 2973.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. - Sep 12, 2025 · Senate
In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending. - Sep 11, 2025 · House
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 48. Noes 19. Page 3318.) Ordered to the Senate. - Sep 3, 2025 · House
Read second time. Ordered to third reading. - Sep 2, 2025 · House
Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. - Aug 29, 2025 · House
From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 4.) (August 29). - Aug 20, 2025 · House
August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file. - Jul 16, 2025 · House
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. - Jul 3, 2025 · House
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. - Jul 1, 2025 · House
July 8 hearing postponed by committee. - Jun 16, 2025 · House
Referred to Com. on HEALTH. - Jun 5, 2025 · House
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. - Jun 4, 2025 · Senate
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 10. Page 1510.) Ordered to the Assembly. - May 23, 2025 · Senate
Read second time. Ordered to third reading. - May 23, 2025 · Senate
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1205.) (May 23). - May 16, 2025 · Senate
Set for hearing May 23. - May 12, 2025 · Senate
May 12 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file. - May 2, 2025 · Senate
Set for hearing May 12. - Apr 28, 2025 · Senate
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. - Apr 24, 2025 · Senate
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 2. Page 868.) (April 23). - Apr 8, 2025 · Senate
Set for hearing April 23. - Mar 27, 2025 · Senate
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. - Mar 5, 2025 · Senate
Referred to Com. on HEALTH. - Feb 21, 2025 · Senate
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23. - Feb 20, 2025 · Senate
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.