A day ahead of a legislative deadline, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a wide-ranging slate of bills Saturday affecting everything from prescription drug prices to health care for women.
The Legislature wrapped up its session last month, sending hundreds of new bills to the governor’s desk. Many of those have already been signed into law – including a ban on immigration officers wearing masks to conceal their identity, changes to zoning standards around public transportation and reforms aimed at facilitating rebuilding following wildfires.
Now, Newsom will have to decide by Sunday whether to sign or veto the rest of the legislation that’s still waiting for a decision.
The bills Newsom signed Saturday affect prescription drug prices, threats against schools, parental and child health care and consumer safety.
Prescription drug prices
State Sen. Scott Wiener’s, D-San Francisco, SB41, a bill that aims to lower prescription drug costs by placing more stringent regulations on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs – third-party companies that act as intermediaries between health insurers and drug manufacturers.
The new law implements a number of new restrictions and oversight measures. Starting in 2026, PBMs will be prevented from charging insurance companies a different amount than it pays to pharmacies in order to profit off the difference. It also requires PBMs to pay any rebates obtained from drug manufacturers back to the health insurer, among other measures.
Similar legislation regulating PBMs passed the Legislature last year, but was vetoed.
Threats against schools, daycares and places of worship
Newsom also signed SB19 into law – legislation by state Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park and Assembly Member Darshana Patel, D-San Diego County, that makes it easier for prosecutors to charge individuals with threatening violence against daycares, schools, universities, workplaces, places of worship and medical facilities.
The new law clarifies that credible threats of death or great bodily harm against such places are illegal even if they do not target a specific person.
Parental and child health care
Several of the bills signed Saturday dealt with improving access to maternal health care and children’s services.
AB55 by Oakland Assembly Member Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, removes the requirement for alternative birthing centers – health care facilities that offer childbirthing services, but are not fully equipped hospitals – to offer comprehensive perinatal service in order to be licensed and eligible for Medi-Cal reimbursement. It also removes the requirement that such centers be within 30 minutes of a hospital.
AB836, authored by San Francisco Assembly Member Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, requires the state Department of Health Care Access and Information to fund a statewide study on midwifery education. Stefani noted the goal of the study is to identify opportunities to expand midwife education in order to support better access to reproductive care.
In addition, Newsom signed SB520, a bill by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, which creates a fund in the state Department of Health Care Access and Information to create nurse-midwifery education masters programs within the CSU and UC systems. The fund will rely on money from the state budget and private donations.
SB271 by state Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, requires California community colleges and California state universities to proactively provide student parents with information about resources available to them, such as childcare subsidies. It also requests that the University of California system do the same.
Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire’s, D-North Coast, SB669 establishes a 10-year pilot program to establish standby perinatal services at up to five hospitals. Hospitals in the program would provide emergency obstetric and neonatal care to parents and children, aiming to fill a gap in resources among rural hospitals.
Assembly Member Lisa Calderon’s, D-Whittier, AB798 amends the State Emergency Food Bank Reserve Program’s list of supplies to include children’s diapers and wipes. During declared state of emergencies, such as the Los Angeles wildfires, food banks would be able to use state funds to purchase diapers and wipes for distribution.
SB258 by state Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, expands the state’s definition of rape to include instances where spouses are unable to legally consent due to mental, developmental or physical disabilites.
Consumer safety
SB646 by state Sen. Akilah Weber-Pierson, D-San Diego, requires manufacturers of prenatal vitamins to test their products for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury and to disclose those test results to the public starting in 2027.
SB236, also authored by Weber-Pierson, gives the state Department of Toxic Substances until 2030 to ban the sale of chemical hair relaxers with specified harmful ingredients.
State Sen. María Elena Durazo’s, D-Los Angeles, SB754 requires manufacturers of disposable tampons or menstrual pads to disclose the concentration or potentially toxic chemicals in their products to the Department of Toxic Substances. The department could then publish this information alongside its own oversight analyses of product safety.
This article originally published at Newsom signs slate of new laws affecting medication prices, women’s health care and school threats.