State Health Insurance Plan to Calif. Senate Monday

Update:  January 23, 2010

The bill to establish a $225 billion a year  single payer health insurance system in California will advance to  the full state senate Monday, January 25, 2010 in Sacramento.   The bill, if passed, will also ban all private health insurance in the state.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the original post to find all the phone and fax numbers for all  California state senators.

Please call or fax state senators to MAKE SURE THEY HEAR YOU NOW.  Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco is the main sponsor.

(hat tip: Heather Gass, Tri Valley Tea Party Patriots)

Update: Friday, January 22, 2010:

Have California lawmakers lost their minds?  Day 2

Reaction from around the state and the country is rocking Sacramento statehouse Democrats who yesterday made the first move toward banning private health insurance in California and initiating a new, $225 billion a year “universal health care” plan.

Republican leaders in California say Democrats in the California Legislature’s Senate Appropriations committee are clearly out of touch with the mood of the public.

From the Contra Costa Times:

“It is incredible that once again, some of the more liberal Democrats are tone deaf to what’s going on in this nation,” said state Sen. George Runner, R-Antelope Valley. “This (California) bill is even more extreme than what’s being talked about in Washington.”

California GOP Chairman Ron Nehring said, “The Democrats’ ‘Massachusetts Meltdown’ on Tuesday proved that their idea of health care ‘reform’ is a loser.”

Democrats will find no support in the governor’s office, either.

“Any elected official that thinks it’s a good idea to strap the state with tens of billions of dollars from a government-run health care system is clearly not in touch with what voters need and deserve,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola. “The governor continues to oppose any single-payer government-run health care system.”

Tax protestors in various tea party groups around the country have begun phone-banking the California state senators who moved SB810 out of committee with no comment yesterday.     (Contact information is below.)

January 21, 2010

Have Democrats in the California legislature not heard us?

Are they so arrogant, so issue-driven and so out-of-touch that they don’t care that they are bankrupting this state?

The entire country has been focused this week  on Tuesday’s U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts and its significance to the issue of national health care legislation pending in Congress.  Today, just two days after Republican Scott Brown’s election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced she no longer has the votes in the House to pass the Senate version of the health care bill.  In effect, the plan for national health care just died today in Washington D.C.

One would think that the liberal Democrats, even in California, would take a lesson from the Massachusetts election and what it means.  Instead, what happened this morning in Sacramento is a slap in the face to the citizens of California, and spit in the eye to voters nationwide.    Democrats in the California Legislature’s Senate Appropriations committee, led by Sen. Mark Leno ( D-San Francisco)have voted, without any comment, to approve a bill ( SB 810 see HERE ) which will outlaw private health insurance in California and create a single-payer health insurance system in the state.

California’s non-partisan Legislative Budget Analysis Office says the bill would cost California taxpayers $200 billion a year,the bill’s language  has no taxing or funding mechanism within it to pay for the proposed health care and the bill doesn’t take into consideration the ”significant” start-up costs and impact on the state’s economy:   (See  full budget analysis  HERE.)

Legislative Budget Analysis:

For example, there would likely be significant up-front implementation costs, labor market disruptions, as well as reduced tax revenue from insurance companies. It is also possible that the provisions in this bill would make the state ineligible for federal Medicaid  and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) federal matching funds if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) do not approve waivers of federal Medicaid law. Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, and the Healthy Families Program, California’s  CHIP, receive federal funds which match state General Funds to provide health care benefits to low-income individuals.

Tom Del Becarro, editor of Political Vanguard.com and Vice President of the California Republican party blasted the California Democrats in the Senate Appropriations committee for trying to shove universal health care down the taxpayer’s throats in a sneaky move:

Keep in mind that California is already amidst a chronic and prolonged budget crisis brought on by runaway spending and exorbitant taxing.   Perennially listed among the worst states in our Union to do business, California features 10%+ income taxes and the highest regulatory burden around.  So imposing are the costs to business in California, despite its ports and natural resources, Nevada and its desert is #1 in the Country in new business development.

Rather than make California job friendly again – and thereby increase government revenues through sales taxes and new income taxes from new jobs – California Democrats offer nothing but tax hikes and even more regulation.  And now this.

The estimated cost of the Democrats California Health Care bill is over $210 billion dollars a year!  Nearly 250% more than the existing state revenues.  But wait – there is more – or less depending on how you think about it.  The Democrats don’t even have a funding mechanism in place to pay for their bill.  Instead, they want to create a committee (itself costing $1 to $2 million) to come up with a funding mechanism.  Of course, that means a government committee to devise a tax scheme to pay for government bureaucracy.

Contra Costa Times reports the decision by Democrats  to revive this bill was made over the objections of Republicans on the California Senate Appropriations committee:

The bill is almost identical to former Sen. Sheila Kuehl’s 2008 single-payer bill that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed.

Voting in favor of moving the bill forward this morning were Democratic sens. Christine Kehoe of San Diego, Ellen Corbett of San Leandro, Leno, Carol Liu of Pasadena, Curren Price of Los Angeles and Leland Yee of San Francisco.

In opposition were GOP sens. Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, Jeff Denham of Merced and Mimi Walters of Tustin.

With a projected budget deficit already approaching $21 billion, the highest state income and sale tax rates in the country, how can California taxpayers possibly afford any more government bureaucracies, especially  one as huge as universal health care?    Do California taxpayers want to have their private health insurance taken away?

Contact these Democrats and call your own state senator to make sure THEY CAN HEAR US NOW.

Here are the Democrats on the California Senate Appropriations Committee who voted today in favor of SB 810.

Click on the name below  for contact information.    Click HERE to find your California state senator.

Chairman: Mark Leno San Francisco

Christine Kehoe, San Diego

Ellen Corbett, San Leandro

Carole Liu, Pasadena

Leland Yee, San Francisco

Here is the entire roster for the California State Senate- (hat tip: Heather Gass, Bay Area Patriots)

REPUBLICANS

Dave Cox-Phone: (916) 651-4001,Fax: (916) 324-2680

Sam Aenastad-Phone: (916) 651-4004,Fax: (916) 445-7750

Jeff Denham-Phone: (916) 651-4012,Fax: (916) 445-0773

Abel Maldonado-Phone: (916) 651-4015,Fax: (916) 445-8081

George Runner-Phone: (916) 651-4017,Fax: (916) 445-4662

Roy Ashburn-Phone: (916) 651-4018,Fax: (916) 322-3304

Tony Strickland-Phone: (916) 651-4019,Fax: (916) 324-7544

Alex Padilla-Phone: 916-651-4020,Fax: 916-324-6645

Bob Huff-Phone: (916) 651-4029,Fax: (916) 324-0922

Robert Dutton-Phone: (916) 651-4031,Fax: (916) 327-2272

Mimi Walters-Phone: (916) 651-4033,Fax: (916) 445-9754

Tom Harman-Phone: (916) 651-4035,Fax: (916) 445-9263

Dennis Hollingsworth-Phone: (916) 651-4036,Fax: (916) 447-9008

John Benoit-Phone: (916) 651-4037,Fax: (916) 327-2187

Mark Wyland-Phone: (916) 651-4038 ,Fax: (916) 446-7382

DEMOCRATS

Elaine Alquist-(916) 651-4013,(916) 324-0283 (Fax)

Ron Calderon- Phone: (916) 651-4030,Fax: (916) 327-8755

Gilbert Cedillo-Phone: (916) 651-4022, Fax: (916) 327-8817

Dave Cogdill- Phone: (916) 651-4014, Fax: (916) 327-3523

Ellen Corbett- Phone:(916) 651-4010, Fax: (916) 327-2433

Lou Correa- (916) 651-4034

Mark DeSaulnier-Phone: (916) 651-4007, Fax: (916) 445-2527

Denise Ducheny-Moreno (916) 651-4040, (916) 327-3522 fax

Dean Florez-Phone: (916) 651-4016,Fax: (916) 327-5989

Loni Hancock-Phone: (916) 651-4009, Fax: (916) 327-1997

Christine Kehoe-Phone: (916) 651-4039 Fax:     (916) 327-2188

Mark Leno-Phone: (916) 651-4003, Fax: (916) 445-4722

Carol Liu-Phone: (916) 651-4021, Fax: (916) 324-7543

Allen S. Lowenthal-Phone: (916) 651-4027, Fax: (916) 327-9113

Gloria Negrete-McLeod-Phone: (916) 651-4032, Fax: (916) 445-0128

Jenny Oropeza-Phone: (916) 651-4028, Fax: (916) 323-6056

Alex Padilla-Phone: 916-651-4020, Fax: 916-324-6645

Fran Pavley-(916) 651-4023, Fax: (916) 324-4823

Curren Price-Phone: (916) 651-4026, Fax: (916) 445-8899

Gloria Romero-Phone: (916) 651-4024, Fax: (916) 445-0485

Joe Simitian-Phone: (916) 651-4011, Fax: (916) 323-4529

Darrell  Steinberg-Phone: (916) 651-4006, Fax: (916) 323-2263

Patricia Wiggins-Phone: (916) 651-4002, Fax: (916) 323-6958

Lois Wolk-Phone: (916) 651-4005, Fax: (916) 323-2304

Roderick Wright- (916) 651-4025, Fax: (916) 445-3712

Leland Yee-Phone: (916) 651-4008, Fax: (916) 327-2186

It is time to get rid of the legislators who keep spending and spending and spending ….we cannot afford them.

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Tagged as: California budget, deficit, GOP, Mark Leno, Republican, Schwarzenegger, state senate, universal health care