Current Legislation
Your CAA Board and Legislative Committee have been actively monitoring, providing feedback, and serving as expert witnesses for important legislative issues that concern the profession of audiology. The following summaries reflect the most current information from Sacramento.
LEGISLATIVE WORK IN 2025
Northern California CAA Legislative Liaison: Marcia Raggio, Ph.D.
Southern California CAA Legislative Liaison: Linda Farrow, Au.D.
The following is a short summary of our current efforts. We encourage you to contact us with support, challenges, questions or areas for further exploration at legislation@caaud.org.
California Senate Bill (SB) 1451, an omnibus bill, was passed in 2024. While the contents of the bill generally lacked controversy, the bill did include language specifying the appropriate use of the title “doctor” to protect consumer rights. A summary of SB 1451, recent dispute of the use of “doctor” for Doctors of Nursing Practice, and what it means for California audiologists is available in the full Practice Update on the CAA Member News page.
Due to concerns expressed by California audiologists regarding the appropriate use and supervision of Audiology Aides, one suggestion was to develop a new license type for an Audiology Assistant that would require educational and CEU requirements. This topic was discussed by the licensing board on Thursday, May 15 during the Audiology Practice Committee meeting. Following the discussion, the board decided to decline to take up a Sunrise bill to promote this license type. Rather they encouraged the professional organization to find an author who will write a bill that would create this license type. CAA Legislative Committee will determine if we want the CAA BOD to investigate and develop this legislation, with the assistance of Sacramento Advocates. However, per Nick Brokaw of Sacramento Advocates, attempting to find an author and develop a bill at this time would be premature since legislative committee assignment changes are currently underway. CAA and Sacramento Advocates will monitor how this develops.
In 2025, California submitted an update for its routine Essential Health Benefits (EHB) to include hearing aid coverage for all Californians. The EHB provides a benchmark plan for all health insurance recipients to receive minimums of coverage. The request has been submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for review and is anticipated to be reviewed in Fall 2025. Stay tuned for updates on this critical insurance coverage for our fellow Californians!
Summer 2025 Update: AB 224 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) and SB 62 by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley) have been passed by the respective health committees in the Senate and Assembly. Both bills received bi-partisan support, despite the continuing concerns from the California Association of Health Plans and the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies. The bills will next head to their respective Appropriations Committees, where they will be heard when the Legislature returns from Summer Recess on August 18, 2025.
Fall 2025 Update: On October 13, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he has signed AB 224 and SB 62. The next step is federal government approval, but approval has been delayed due to the government shutdown.
Proposition 35
In 2024, Proposition 35 passed, indicating that reimbursement rates for managed care organizations (MCOs) rates would be set by a specific group of healthcare providers, which does not include audiologists. To address this, CAA has been working with our lobbying group to support targeted rate increases for California audiologists. This includes highlighting the shortage of Medi-Cal audiologists in rural communities, as well as the currently inadequate reimbursement rates.
November 2025 Update: Current discussions between the Governor and the Legislature has determined that both would like $1.3B of the Proposition 35 funds to be diverted to cover other state budget deficit areas. The Governor believes he has the authority to do this. The Legislature appears to be leaning toward using these funds to maintain healthcare benefits for undocumented individuals.
At the 2024 CAA conference, a survey was distributed asking California audiologists about their knowledge of and opinions of TPAs. That same survey was then distributed to the list serve seeking additional data. The information from this survey was developed into an article. The article has been completed and submitted to CAA’s management group for distribution. An email will be sent out soon to the list serve with a link to the article. Link to the publication can be found here.
Longtime Executive Officer of the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, Paul Sanchez, left the board at the end of 2024. After a search, his Assistant Executive Officer, Cherise Burns, was offered this position. To determine her views on board operations and future plans, an interview with Ms. Burns was undertaken on April 10, 2025. The pathway for distribution of the interview transcript is being planned. A link to the full publication can be found here.
The Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program was signed into law in 2020 and started accepting applications from families in July 2021. Like most new programs, the state has taken a phased approach to launching the HACCP, ramping up its operation over time. CAA was invited by the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees HACCP, to provide formal stakeholder input. Additionally, a bill that would require insurance companies to provide hearing aids and assistive devices for children under the age of 21 (SB 635) was introduced last year. Although we advocated for the passage of this bill, it was vetoed by Govenor Newsome this past fall. Nevertheless, we remain actively engaged with the state and other stakeholder groups to refine HACCP, and to ensure that it will meet the needs of California families and audiologists.
Families with NO coverage for hearing aids, external worn bone conduction devices, and related services who earn under the 600 FPL will qualify for this program. They can reference this chart to determine if they qualify for HACCP or CCS. To learn more, visit www.letcakidshear.com.
Our lobbyists and your legislative liaisons attend regularly scheduled meetings held by the licensing board to monitor ongoing areas of interest to CA audiologists. These meetings are announced on the SLPAHAD website along with corresponding agendas. You can find more information here: https://www.speechandhearing.ca.gov/board_activity/meetings/index.shtml
On Friday, October 31, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the calendar year (CY) 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Final Rule, outlining payment and policy changes effective January 1, 2026, that impact coverage, valuation, practice expense, telehealth, and quality/reporting across Medicare Part B services.
This bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Charles Grassley (R-IA) will provide seniors with more timely and robust access to services provided by audiologists. This bill would ensure that Medicare covers both diagnostic and treatment services that audiologists are uniquely qualified to provide while removing the physician order requirement so seniors can access these services more easily. The bill would also reclassify audiologists as practitioners under the Medicare statute, enabling permanent telehealth authority.
In a letter dated June 3, 2025, The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgeons (AAO-HNS) indicated opposition to MAAIA, including false claims regarding the potential negative impact on patient care. The Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), American Academy of Audiology (AAA), and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) jointly submitted a letter on behalf of audiologists countering these claims and in support of MAAIA. If you would like to sign on in support of MAAIA, you can do so through the ASHA website. You do not need to be an ASHA member to sign your support.
As a state organization, CAA typically focuses on issues that directly pertain to California. However, we strongly believe in this legislation and have developed a subcommittee devoted to advocating for it and other national issues. Please email legislation@caaud.org for more information, including meeting schedule.
For more detailed information and updates throughout the year, please watch your inbox for CAA Member Legislative Update emails.