California Health and Safety Code

§ 1261.1

HSC § 1261.1 Effective Jan 1, 2026Div. 2 · Ch. 2 · Art. 1

Statute text

(a)(1) A general acute care hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250, shall allow a patient with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, a patient with cognitive impairment, including dementia, and a patient with another disability, as necessary to allow the patient to fully and equally benefit from any goods, services, or facilities offered by the hospital, to have a family or friend caregiver with them as needed, including outside standard visiting hours, unless any of the following conditions apply:

(A)The hospital reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of the visitor, a patient, a member of the staff, or other visitor to the hospital, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the hospital.

(B)This section does not require a hospital to permit a visitor who is violent or potentially violent to enter the facility or visit a patient.

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Legislative history

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 172, Sec. 1. (AB 960) Effective January 1, 2026.