On January 28, Senate Bill 810 (Leno-S.F.), a bill that guarantees affordable health insurance for all residents of California, passed the full Senate on a vote of 22 to 14. This bill passed because of the long-term and arduous work of activists like you. For that, we thank you. Since the Senate vote, many of you have called and asked, “What’s next?”
Next, the bill is assigned to the Assembly Health Committee. In the coming weeks we will know when the bill is scheduled for a hearing. According to the official Assembly calendar, SB 810 must pass the Health Committee by July 2. After passing the Health Committee, it will be sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a hearing. It must pass Appropriations by August 13. Finally, it must pass the full Assembly by August 31 at which time the bill is sent to the Governor.
We have much work to do. We will ultimately need 41 votes on the Assembly floor for passage. Although we have successfully passed SB 840 (the former number of SB 810) twice through the Senate and Assembly, only to have Governor Schwarzenegger veto it twice, this time around there is a new political dynamic in play. Beginning last week, the Republicans are aggressively fighting the legislation and are presenting verifiably false information to reporters. Unfortunately, most reporters are letting the lies go unchallenged and report the lies as fact. This is why we have much work to do. We must overcome the false propaganda and continually educate ourselves, our colleagues, friends, neighbors and families and, of course, our Assembly members.
During the coming months, the OneCare Campaign will provide you with up-to-date information, Action Alerts, and things you can do to help grow our movement and educate fellow Californians. As part of our educational campaign, starting March 1, a 30-second video ad that will highlight a fact about single payer health care, will be emailed to you each day for a year! Stay tuned. The ads will feature your friends and neighbors as well as famous celebrities. By the end of the Ad Campaign, our legislators and you will have received 365 educational messages. You can help make our ad campaign “go viral” which will create the largest grassroots ad campaign in history.
Finally, thank you for your financial support. You have made the difference. We know we can count on you which is why we know that WE WILL WIN!
