Assembly Bill 352 on Health information passed its first reading in the California Senate on June 1, 2023, following passage in the California Assembly on May 31, 2023. The bill has now been referred to the Committee on Rules for assignment.

Key requirements

The bill outlines requirements for applicable entities which include providers of healthcare, pharmaceutical companies, or contractors who create, maintain, preserve, store, abandon, destroy, or dispose of medical information. Specifically, the bill stipulates that applicable businesses that electronically store or maintain medical information on the provision of sensitive services, in specific circumstances, must develop capabilities, policies, and procedures, on or before July 1, 2024, to:

• limit user access privileges to information systems that contain medical information related to sensitive services only to those persons who are authorized to access specified medical information;
• prevent the disclosure, access, transfer, transmission, or processing of medical information related to sensitive services to persons and entities outside of California;
• segregate medical information related to sensitive services from the rest of the patient's record; and
• provide the ability to automatically disable access to segregated medical information related to sensitive services by individuals and entities in another state.

Furthermore, the bill establishes specific rules around the disclosure, transmission, transfer, sharing, or granting of access to medical information that would identify an individual in relation to abortion.

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: June 30, 2023

Bill on health information passes Senate Committee

The bill was passed, on June 28, 2023, by the Senate Judiciary Committee, to which it had been referred on June 14, 2023. Thereafter, the bill was re-referred to the Committee on Health. 

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: July 17, 2023

Bill on health information passed by Senate Committee

The bill was passed, on July 13, 2023, by the Senate Committee on Health, and was thereafter referred to the Committee on Appropriations. 

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: August 16, 2023

Bill relating to health information passes second reading by Senate Committee

The bill was passed on second reading, on August 15, 2023, by the Senate Committee on Health, and was thereafter ordered to third reading.

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: September 14, 2023

Bill relating to health information passes Senate

The bill was read for a third time and passed by the California State Senate on September 13, 2023, and was ordered on the same day to the California State Assembly for concurrence with the amendments introduced by the Senate. 

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: September 18, 2023

Bill relating to health information passes both houses

On September 14, 2023, the Senate concurred with the amendments introduced by the Assembly to the bill, which was thereafter ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: September 27, 2023

Bill relating to health information sent to Governor

On September 21, 2023, the bill was enrolled and sent to the California Governor for action.

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.

Update: September 29, 2023

Bill relating to health information signed by Governor and becomes law

On September 27, 2023, the bill was signed by the California Governor and became law.

You can read the Act here and view its history here.