following the passage of president obama's patient protection and affordable care act, pérez introduced ab 1602 in january 2010 which created the california health benefit exchange, the first such state based program in the nation created to assist with implementation of the affordable care act. this gives individuals and small businesses access to a broad range of insurance products and cost saving options. ab 1602 passed in the assembly with 51 votes in favor and 27 votes against with 0 not voting; in the senate the bills passed with 21 votes in favor and 13 votes against with 5 not voting. states across the nation have used ab 1602 as a model for their own programs.