by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

It looks like the affordability issues have been taken care of with regards to AB 8 and it now has the pretty much full support from the labor and consumer groups. The bill is now on the Assembly floor and seemed destined for Arnold's desk. While, he has promised a veto, the more pressure that is brought to bear on him the better. This bill does an excellent job creating large group pools, from both programs open to all to join and an expansion of governmental programs that will help reduce expenses. Naturally, Blue Cross et. all strongly oppose the plan.

He has been pledging to bring the legislature back for a special session. The goal would be to hash out a compromise. Weintraub has a good overview of what's going on and how such an agreement will be likely created. (h/t to Dave). He starts off talking about AB8.

read more

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Seems like a great deal of things are happening on the health care front, but I don't think any of them point to significant reform in this legislative session.  In fact, people are trying to scramble for alternatives.

Dan Weintraub has a feature on Fabian Nu?ez' attempts to get through to the Governor that the other side of the aisle is simply not interested in compromise.  As Julia noted the other day, Nu?ez will put the Governor's plan up for a vote tomorrow, and nobody will vote for it.

The speaker says he intends to package the governor's plan as legislation and present it to the Assembly, where it will surely die. In fact, N??ez said, his own vote for the bill, which he will cast as a "courtesy," will likely be the only support the governor's plan receives.

"I'm going to take him from the stratosphere, and I am going to ground him," N??ez told me in an interview in his Capitol office. "He needs a little grounding. Nobody likes his plan."

I don't know how the Governor is going to respond to this, but clearly observers aren't thinking it will end in sweetness and light.  They're making other plans.  over...

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

It is counterintuitive I admit, to claim that the Democratic legislators plan (AB 8) is better than Schwarznegger's proposal, which actually covers more people. The reality is that it is actually worse to force people into crappy plans that they can't afford than it is for them to go uninsured. It is an ugly calculation for sure. Unless you regulate the insurance industry more than what the Democrats are proposing, or offer a governmental run plan (ala Edwards), it is unacceptable to have an individual mandate. Weintraub doesn't seem to get this.

Democratic lawmakers have criticized his plan as too friendly to the insurance industry, and they don't like the idea of requiring individuals to take responsibility for obtaining coverage, even with hefty subsidies for the poor and the working poor. They have proposed an alternative that would put more of the financial responsibility on employers.

read more »

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

I am absolutely buried in building out our information rich new feature on the presidential candidates. You my fair readers will have to put up with a linky post today and probably tomorrow too. After that, loads of good stuff, I promise.

Nunez introduced his AB 8 today, which is his health care plan. Here are is remarks on the subject. It comes from the new YouTube channel AssemblyAccess. It's like you are almost there, but with worse sound.

Watch Majority Leader Bass too

The implementation of the landmark AB 32 is chugging along. Weintraub has an update in today's column.

The grocery workers have dropped their NLRB complaint. This is part of an attempt by both sides to tone down the rhetoric and see if they can work things out. Neither side wants to see a strike.