Highlight
15 bills
used CHIS data for part of the analysis or background during the 2025–2026 legislative session.
CHBRP
Each year, the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP) responds to requests from the California State Legislature to provide independent analysis of the medical, financial, and public health impacts of proposed health insurance benefit mandates and repeals. CHIS and the UC Berkeley Labor Center and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s California Simulation of Insurance Markets (CalSIM) microsimulation model are both used as data sources.
During the 2025–2026 legislative session, CHIS data were used for part of the analysis or background for 15 bills and specifically cited in the estimates provided in the following CHBRP analysis:
AB 298: Health Care Coverage Cost Sharing (sponsored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta): would prohibit California Department of Managed Care-regulated plans and California Department of Insurance-regulated policies from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or other cost sharing for covered, in-network health care services provided to enrollees younger than 21 years.
- Cites 2022 CHIS data on delaying or not getting medical care, main reasons for delaying or forgoing care (cost, lack of insurance, or other insurance-related reasons), and various sociodemographic indicators (eg. race, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, income level).
- Bill status: Assembly Policy Committee: bill not heard in committee.
AB 432: Menopause (Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan): would require coverage for evaluation and treatment options for perimenopause and menopause without utilization management, per medical necessity as determined by the treating clinician.
- Uses 2022 CHIS data on age groups.
- Bill status: Vetoed by the governor.
AB 1032: Coverage for Behavioral Health Visits (Assemblymembers John Harabedian and Robert Rivas): would require an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to reimburse up to 12 visits per year with a licensed behavioral health provider for an enrollee or insured in a county where an emergency has been declared due to wildfires. The benefits would last until one year from the date the local or state emergency is lifted, whichever is later.
- Cites 2023 CHIS data on delaying or forgoing mental health care and reasons for delaying or forgoing needed care.
- Bill status: Vetoed by the governor.
AB 575: Obesity Prevention Treatment Parity Act (Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula): would require coverage without prior authorization for intensive behavioral therapy and at least one GLP1 anti-obesity medication for the treatment or prevention of obesity.
- Cites 2023 CHIS data on overweight/ obesity, diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure, and demographics (age, poverty level, education, and rural or urban).
- Bill status: Assembly Policy Committee: hearing canceled.
AB 546 Portable HEPA Purifiers and Filters (Assemblymember Jessica Caloza): would require coverage of air filtration equipment without cost sharing, for enrollees diagnosed
with asthma or COPD, and those who are pregnant.
- Cites 2021 CHIS data on asthma, COPD, and pregnancy.
- Bill status: Referred to housing and judicial committees.
SB 40 Health Care Coverage: Insulin (Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab): would limit cost sharing for insulin to $35 for a 30-day supply and prohibit step therapy.
- Cites 2022 CHIS data on diabetes, by health insurance coverage and demographics (race, ethnicity, age, income, and education).
- Bill status: Approved by the governor.
SB 257 Pregnancy As a Recognized Event for Nondiscriminatory Treatment (PARENT) Act (Senator Aisha Wahab): would make pregnancy a qualifying event for special enrollment for health insurance on the individual market. It would also mandate that health plans and policies cannot restrict or deny coverage for maternity and newborn/pediatric care services for any pregnant person, regardless of the circumstances of conception (i.e., surrogates or gestational carriers).
- Cites 2021, 2022, and 2023 CHIS data on pregnancy and income level.
- Bill status: Vetoed by the governor.
SB 535 Obesity Care Access Act (Senator Laura Richardson): would require coverage for intensive behavioral therapy, bariatric surgery, and at least one FDA-approved anti-obesity medication indicated for chronic weight management in patients with obesity.
- Cites 2023 CHIS data on overweight/obesity, diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure, and demographics (age, poverty level, education, and rural or urban).
- Bill status: Hearing postponed by committee.
Addressing Key Health Equity Issues
Lawmakers and advocates use CHIS data to craft policies, resolutions, and funding priorities that advance equity and improve health outcomes. From expanding access to healthy food and safeguarding mental health services to combating hate incidents and protecting LGBTQIA+ communities, below are some examples of how CHIS data have been cited in legislative actions and hearings:
SB 444 State Healthy Food Access Policy
This bill, sponsored by Senator Melissa Hurtado, modifies California's existing state policy on food access that declares every human being has the right to access sufficient, affordable, and healthy food, to include locally grown and raised food.
- Cites 2023 CHIS data on food insecurity.
- Passed the California State Senate and Assembly and held in committee and under submission with the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
California State Senate Committee on Human Services
2023 CHIS data on food insecurity was shared at two informational hearings on hunger in California and the impacts of federal actions on CalFresh. California State Senator Jesse Arreguín, author of the SJR3 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), included CHIS data in the resolution urging the United States Congress to avoid any cuts to the SNAP program.
Since many people who are food insecure are also in poverty or dealing with economic challenges, food insecurity and poverty go hand in hand. According to the California Health Interview Survey, in 2023, 45% of California adults with incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level were food insecure. Food insecurity disproportionally affects certain communities. According to the study, food insecurity is ‘higher for families with children (25.8%), Black households (28.9%) and Latinx households (29.7%).’”
SCR69 2025–2026 Behavioral Health Awareness Month/SCR69 Relative to Behavioral Health Awareness Month (Senator Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson), and HR42 Relative to Behavior Health Awareness Month (Assemblymember Sade Elhawary): recognizes May 2025 as Behavioral Health Awareness Month.
- Cites CHIS data on older adult mental health.
- Filed with Secretary of State on July 3, 2025.
Mental Health Services Act Annual Update for Fiscal Year 2025–26
Chief Administrative Officer for the County of San Diego Ebony N. Shelton cited CHIS data on mental health in a letter calling on the Board of Supervisors to receive and approve the Mental Health Services Act: “According to the California Health Interview Survey, conducted by [UCLA] in 2023, 6.4 percent of San Diegans reported experiencing serious psychological distress in the past month. However, higher percentages of serious psychological distress were reported by residents who live below 200% of the federal poverty level, or identified as White, Hispanic/Latino, or multiracial, compared to others.
Hearing: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration
In a March 2025 hearing, Kevin Kish, director of the California Civil Rights Department, discussed 2022–2023 CHIS data on hate incidents: “The actual amount of hate that people are experiencing, in terms of criminal acts or non-criminal acts, vastly outweighs what is actually being reported. So much so, actually, in the CHIS study that we partnered with UCLA on, that, that the estimate from a representative survey of California households is that 2.4 million Californians, in a one-year period between 2022 and '23, experienced or witnessed some act of hate that would qualify either as a criminal or non-criminal hate incident.”
California Commission on the State of Hate Meetings
CHIS hate incidents data, in collaboration with the California Civil Rights Department, was also presented at two commission meetings: Civil Rights Department Report on May 2, 2025 and Informational Presentation “Data Update” on October 22, 2025.
In a letter to the California Congressional Delegation in opposition to a bill that cuts Medicaid, Disability Rights California (DRC) highlights some of the provisions that would have consequences for people with disabilities. DRC writes that Section 44125 and 44201 would limit access to gender-affirming care and cites a Williams Institute and UCLA CHPR study that features CHIS data on how LGBTQIA+ people, especially transgender individuals, are disproportionately likely to acquire disabilities in large part due to health care discrimination.
