This is a Democratic member of the California Assembly, the Speaker no less.
Here is the press release from the Speakers Office:
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) released the following statement on health care:
“Yesterday, Republicans in the U.S. Senate released a cynical plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, posing a real and immediate threat to millions of Californians who only have health coverage because of the ACA.
“Preparing California to meet this threat must be the top health care priority for the Legislature, Governor Brown, and organizations that advocate for increasing access to health care.
“As someone who has long been a supporter of single payer, I am encouraged by the conversation begun by Senate Bill 562.
“However, SB 562 was sent to the Assembly woefully incomplete. Even senators who voted for SB 562 noted there are potentially fatal flaws in the bill, including the fact it does not address many serious issues, such as financing, delivery of care, cost controls, or the realities of needed action by the Trump Administration and voters to make SB 562 a genuine piece of legislation.
“In light of this, I have decided SB 562 will remain in the Assembly Rules Committee until further notice.
“Because this is the first year of a two-year session, this action does not mean SB 562 is dead. In fact, it leaves open the exact deep discussion and debate the senators who voted for SB 562 repeatedly said is needed.
“The Senate can use that time to fill the holes in SB 562 and pass and send to the Assembly workable legislation that addresses financing, delivery of care, and cost control.
“The fight for single payer also is moving forward on other fronts. The head of the Campaign for a Healthy California, an organization created to pass SB 562, has acknowledged their ultimate goal is to get a single payer initiative on the ballot, and there remains ample time for them to pursue that before November 2018.
“As those potential options work themselves out, the Assembly will stand with our partners to focus on the real, immediate threat to Californians' health care posed by Republicans in Washington.
So instead of working to make it better, he is effectively killing it. It won’t be brought up for a vote this year.
From LA Times:
Rendon took pains to note that his action does not kill the bill entirely — because it is the first year of a two-year session, it could be revived next year.
But the move is nonetheless a major setback for legislation that has electrified the Democratic party’s progressive flank.
The California Nurses Assn., the bill's sponsors and the state's most vocal advocates for single-payer, blasted Rendon's decision as "cowardly."
He claims it’s “woefully incomplete,” yet from Common Dreams:
As Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, wrote this week in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, "Enacting a single-payer system would yield considerable savings overall by lowering administrative costs, controlling the prices of pharmaceuticals and fees for physicians and hospitals, reducing unnecessary treatments and expanding preventive care. We found that Healthy California could ultimately result in savings of about 18%, bringing healthcare spending to about $331 billion, or 8% less than the current $370 billion."
The Healthy California Act, he concluded, "is capable of generating substantial savings for families at most income levels and businesses of most sizes. These savings are in addition to the benefits that the residents of California will gain through universal access to healthcare."
If you call his office the mailbox is full, there is a name directory available. I left a very nice VM for Jessica and wished her a happy day Monday.
If you are a resident of CA please make your views known!
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) contact page on the website.
Or call: (562) 529-3250
Don’t have much time tonight to monitor the thread. Thank you all for contacting Rep Rendon.