Voter Guide / California Bills

SB 41, explained

Pharmacy benefits.

Passed into law Chaptered · Author: Wiener

In plain English

This bill sets rules for pharmacy benefit managers (companies that handle prescription drug benefits for health plans). It would require these companies to get a license starting in 2027. The bill would stop them from forcing people to use only pharmacies they own, and would change how they make money.

If this passes

What would actually change, according to the bill's official digest. No predictions, no opinions.

Pharmacy benefit managers would be banned from requiring patients to use only pharmacies they own or are affiliated with
Pharmacy benefit managers would not be allowed to treat non-affiliated pharmacies unfairly when processing prescriptions
Pharmacy benefit managers would only be allowed to earn money from fees for their services, not from other sources
Pharmacy benefit managers would be required to use a passthrough pricing model (a specific way of setting drug prices)

Who's lobbying this bill

45 organizations reported lobbying activity mentioning this bill. California disclosures don't say which side an organization is on, only that they paid to influence it. Amounts shown are payments to lobbying firms where the filing discloses them.

Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 10 filings

$276K

Cvs Health

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 7 filings

$234K

Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America (Phrma)

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 4 filings

$131K

What you do with this is up to you. BallotBase doesn't rate, rank, or endorse candidates or measures. Every number on this page comes from official disclosure filings, cited below.

Sources

Bill text and Legislative Counsel's Digest: California Legislative Information (leginfo).
Lobbying activity: quarterly lobbying disclosures (Forms 625/635) filed with the California Secretary of State (Cal-Access).

Explainer text is generated from the official source text above and reviewed for neutrality: it describes only what the text says, in conditional terms, with no evaluations or predictions. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.

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