A California law imposing fiduciary duties on pharmacy benefit managers intrudes on federally regulated health insurance plans, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association said in a lawsuit filed Friday.
California’s SB 41 requires PBMs—which oversee prescription drugs for health plans—to act in their clients’ interests and disclose all commissions and conflicts of interest. The law was enacted in October 2025 and applies to self-insured employer plans, which are regulated under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
PCMA’s lawsuit is the latest salvo in an ongoing battle with state governments, which have enacted a range of laws attempting to curb what they say are abusive business practices. Employers are under fire in federal court over drug prices under their PBM contracts, while Congress and the Trump administration take aim at PBM tactics they say increase drug costs for plans and patients.
California’s law is preempted by ERISA because it affects who is considered a plan fiduciary, which is the “first and most fundamental design decision,” PCMA wrote in its complaint filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
“The statute purports to transform PBMs’ settled, contractual role—from nonfiduciary administrators operating under negotiated service agreements—into fiduciaries subject to California-specific duties, liability, and standards of care,” the group wrote. “That transformation upends existing contracts, compels costly alterations to business practices, and exposes PBMs to new litigation risks untethered to ERISA’s uniform fiduciary framework.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
PCMA is represented by Winston & Strawn LLP.
The case is Pharmaceutical Care Mgmnt. Ass’n v. Bonta, C.D. Cal., No. 2:26-cv-00012, complaint filed 1/2/26.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story: