SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The board overseeing California’s efforts to establish an insurance marketplace for providing affordable health care approved its operational blueprint Wednesday, an essential step toward meeting a key deadline under the federal health care reform law.

The governor’s office is expected to forward the plan to the Obama administration on Friday, the deadline for states to notify the federal government about whether they plan to establish health care exchanges. The deadline for states to submit an operational plan, as California is doing, has been extended to mid-December.