AB-1356 • 2026

Alcohol and other drug programs.

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Dixon
Last action: 2025-10-01
Official status: Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 189, Statutes of 2025.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

John’s Law: Alcohol and Drug Program Improvements

This law requires alcohol and drug treatment facilities to report additional information within 30 days if new details emerge after a resident's death, and mandates the Department of Health Care Services to issue notices for any licensing violations found during investigations.

What This Bill Does

Requires treatment facilities to submit extra information about a resident’s death within 30 days if new facts come up later.
Mandates that the Department of Health Care Services must send written warnings to facilities if they find licensing rule breaches during an investigation.
Allows the department to give detailed instructions on how to follow these rules using letters or bulletins without needing more formal regulations.

Who It Names or Affects

Alcohol and drug treatment facilities
The Department of Health Care Services

Terms To Know

Department of Health Care Services: A state agency that oversees health care programs, including alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment.
Notice of deficiency: A written warning from the Department of Health Care Services to a facility about not following licensing rules.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify what happens if facilities do not follow these new reporting requirements.
It is unclear how much extra work this will add for treatment facilities and the department.

Bill History

2025-10-01 California Legislative Information
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 189, Statutes of 2025.
2025-10-01 California Legislative Information
Approved by the Governor.
2025-09-24 California Legislative Information
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
2025-09-13 California Legislative Information
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 3500.).
2025-09-13 California Legislative Information
Joint Rules 61(a)(14) and 51(a)(4) suspended. (Ayes 59. Noes 20. Page 3413.)
2025-09-12 California Legislative Information
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2025-09-11 California Legislative Information
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2931.).
2025-09-09 California Legislative Information
Ordered to special consent calendar.
2025-09-02 California Legislative Information
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-08-29 California Legislative Information
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
2025-08-29 California Legislative Information
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29).
2025-07-14 California Legislative Information
In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.
2025-07-09 California Legislative Information
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-06-26 California Legislative Information
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-06-17 California Legislative Information
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.
2025-06-11 California Legislative Information
Referred to Com. on HEALTH.
2025-05-29 California Legislative Information
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
2025-05-29 California Legislative Information
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 1772.)
2025-05-22 California Legislative Information
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-05-21 California Legislative Information
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 21).
2025-05-14 California Legislative Information
In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
2025-04-28 California Legislative Information
Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-04-24 California Legislative Information
Read second time and amended.
2025-04-23 California Legislative Information
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 22).
2025-03-13 California Legislative Information
Referred to Com. on HEALTH.
2025-02-24 California Legislative Information
Read first time.
2025-02-22 California Legislative Information
From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
2025-02-21 California Legislative Information
Introduced. To print.

Official Summary Text

AB 1356, Dixon.
Alcohol and other drug programs.
Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care Services is responsible for administering prevention, treatment, and recovery services for alcohol and drug abuse. Existing law also provides for the certification and regulation of adult alcoholism or drug abuse recovery and treatment programs by the department and authorizes the department to enforce those provisions. Existing law requires the department’s death investigation policy to be designed to ensure that a resident’s death is addressed and investigated by the department in a timely manner, and requires specified procedures if a death occurs in a licensed facility, including requiring a written report related to the death that includes a description of the followup action that is planned to prevent a future death. Existing law requires that report to be submitted to the department within 7 calendar days of the event or
incident.
This bill, John’s Law, would additionally require a facility to submit to the department, within 30 days of the initial incident, any relevant information that was not known at the time of the initial incident. If the department identifies any violations of specified licensing provisions during its investigation of a resident’s death, the bill would require the department to issue a written notice of deficiency to the facility. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions through the use of all-county letters, provider bulletins, or similar instructions without taking any further regulatory action.

Current Bill Text

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