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AB X1 1 Fails to Pass Senate

January 31, 2008
On Monday, January 28, 2008, the Senate Health Committee voted 7-to-1 against the health care bill AB X1 1, with three members abstaining. The only yes vote for AB X1 1 came from Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas from Los Angeles. Lauded as a potential model for the nation, AB X1 1 would have expanded health coverage to approximately 3.6 million Californians who are currently without health insurance and would have mandated various reforms within the insurance market.

Although AB X1 1 had already passed the Assembly and had the Governor’s support, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata initially decided to delay the Senate vote until January 16, 2008, pending more financial analysis of the bill and its impact on the state’s projected $14.5 billion deficit. The vote was again delayed until January 24. The panel met for nearly 11 hours on the 24th before deciding to delay the vote once again until this past Monday, when the bill was declined. Senators gave wide ranging reasons for why they could not support AB X1 1; most commonly, senators sighted the worsening economy combined with the current budget deficit. In addition, questions raised around the implementation of the health reforms remain unanswerable at this moment, including the cost of premiums and the amount of federal matching funds. Senate President Perata, who had worked on earlier versions of the bill also withdrew support of the bill and wrote a letter that outlined the reasons for his withdrawal.

Despite the failure of AB X1 1 to pass the Senate, Governor Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez stated that they would continue to work on fixing California’s broken health care system. During a press conference Monday, Governor Schwarzenegger said the first step will be “to find out exactly” what undid the bill. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said lawmakers could still work to pass some of the smaller provisions of AB X1 1, including a cap on insurers’ profits, a requirement for transparency in health care providers’ costs, an increase in the state’s tobacco tax to help provide insurance subsidies, and a tax on hospitals so California could qualify for more federal money.

While disappointed by the outcome, we at Artists United for Health Care are encouraged by the attention and momentum AB X1 1 was able to gather over the past year. Our hope is that Governor Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Nunez will continue to work on creating a more financially feasible solution that will build on AB X1 1’s strengths and make health care more accessible to all Californians.