California HHA Licensing Just Changed: What AFL 26-28 Means for Your Agency

Most agencies read "licensing moratorium" and move on. If you're not opening a new agency, it doesn't apply to you. Right?

Not this time. CDPH issued AFL 26-28 on August 27, 2026, following the enactment of SB 164. It puts a hold on new licenses, but it also creates new obligations for agencies that are already operating. One of them carries a hard deadline of March 31, 2027. This one reaches almost everyone.

A Moratorium on New Licenses and Branches

Effective June 29, 2026, CDPH generally will not issue a new HHA license or approve a new branch office.

This is not a fixed 90-day clock. The moratorium runs until 90 days after CDPH adopts revised HHA regulations, and those regulations don't exist yet. There is an exception for applicants who can show unmet need in a geographic area, but the burden is on the applicant to prove it.

It reaches further than new licenses, too. The same hold applies to adding a branch office, changing your geographic service area, and relocating outside your approved service area. Anyone who wants to start a new agency now can't just file the usual application. They first have to send CDPH's licensing branch a written justification showing unmet need based on how concentrated existing HHA services are in that area. Only if CDPH agrees there's an unmet need can the applicant move forward with a license application.

One relief: normal license renewals are not affected. Neither is a location change that keeps the same service area, or a simple mailing address update. If you're maintaining what you already have, you can keep operating.

Why This Matters Even If You're Not Expanding

The bigger story for existing agencies is what SB 164 now requires of you.

New Management Personnel Reporting

Every HHA must identify four roles: Administrator, Administrator designee, Director of Patient Care Services, and DPCS designee. For each person, you'll submit Form HS 215A, a résumé, and a list of every other facility or HHA where they serve in management. Going forward, any change gets reported within 10 business days.

Currently licensed HHAs have a one-time deadline of March 31, 2027 to submit this. Branch offices of a parent HHA are exempt from this specific requirement.

Tighter Ownership Scrutiny 

Applicants now submit DOJ fingerprints for anyone with a 5% or greater ownership interest. That threshold is lower than many operators expect.

A 5-year Hold on Ownership Changes

CDPH generally cannot approve a change of ownership during the first five years after a license is issued. Narrow exceptions exist for continuity of care or financial hardship. Pending CHOWs are caught by this too.

Two Deadlines You Cannot Miss

The Part Compliance Leaders Should Sit With

SB 164 expands the grounds CDPH can use to deny, suspend, or revoke a license. The list now includes prior Medicare or Medi-Cal termination, appearing on the OIG exclusion list, failing to report required changes, and management personnel who don't cooperate during an inspection.

The phrase that matters most: a pattern and practice of violations over the previous three years. Regulators are weighing your documented compliance history, not just isolated deficiencies. Your last three years of survey and audit records now carry licensing weight.

And more is coming. SB 164 directs CDPH to write new rules on staff travel and service areas, limits on how many HHAs one manager can serve, and physical office requirements. Keep watching CDPH.

What to Do Now

1. Identify your four management personnel and confirm each person's information is current.
2. Prepare HS 215A forms, résumés, and facility lists ahead of March 31, 2027.
3. Build a process to report management changes within 10 business days.
4. Review ownership records against the 5% fingerprinting rule.
5. If you're pursuing a license, branch, service-area change, relocation, or CHOW, check whether the moratorium applies.
6. Had an application pending on June 29? Do not miss October 9, 2026.
7. Review your last three years of survey and compliance history for patterns.
8. Watch for CDPH's forthcoming regulations on travel, service areas, manager limits, and office space.

The thread running through all of it is the same: accurate, current compliance documentation you can produce on demand. When your management records, survey history, and audit trail live in one place and stay current, updates like AFL 26-28 become a checklist instead of a scramble. That's the difference between managing compliance continuously and preparing for it periodically.

Read the full AFL 26-28 on the CDPH website for the complete requirements and forms.