The California Medical Association (CMA) is proud to announce that seven of its eight sponsored and priority-support bills successfully passed out of their houses of origin—marking a major milestone in CMA’s ongoing advocacy to improve the practice of medicine and strengthen patient care across California.

These bills, which reflect CMA’s top legislative priorities for 2025, tackle a wide range of critical issues—including physician wellness, prior authorization reform, maternity access, and the risks of unregulated artificial intelligence in health care.

Bills that advanced:

• AB 408 (Berman) – Establishes a statewide physician health and wellness program to address burnout and mental health.
• AB 489 (Bonta) – Bans companies from marketing AI chatbots as licensed medical professionals.
• AB 512 (Harabedian) – Requires health plans to respond to urgent prior auth requests within 24 hours and standard requests within 48 hours.
• AB 539 (Schiavo) – Extends prior authorization validity to one year to reduce repeat paperwork and delays.
• AB 967 (Valencia) – Streamlines licensure for out-of-state physicians to help address workforce shortages.
• SB 32 (Weber Pierson) – Sets access standards for maternity care, including time and distance metrics for perinatal units.
• SB 306 (Becker) – Eliminates prior auth for services that are approved at least 90% of the time.
• SB 351 (Cabaldon) – Gives the Attorney General tools to investigate and act against private equity firms that unlawfully interfere with medical decision-making.

Check CMA’s Legislative Hot List to stay up to date on these and other important health care bills as they make their way through the legislature.