Governor Schwarzenegger waited until the constitutional deadline of September 30th to take action on some of this year's most important legislation.  Western Center has prepared a summarized the outcomes of health and human services bills we have been tracking in the attached legislative alert attached below.

While there are still plenty of issues left unresolved, pending passage of the budget, Western Center has mixed responses to the Governor's decisions this week.  We were pleased to see the passage of landmark health reform legislation with the signing of AB 1602 (Perez) and SB 900 (Alquist & Steinberg), which establish the state's Health Insurance Exchange to be launched in 2014.  Additionally, we were satisfied to find that, while vetoing AB1640 (Evans) and AB 2018 (Skinner - Sponsored by Western Center), the Governor indicated that these issues would be resolved in the budget.  While some of the Governor's actions deserve applause, his veto of several bills will mean that low-income Californians will not see relief from the highest poverty the state has experienced in eleven years and one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Western Center is particularly disheartened by the vetoing of two bills we sponsored: SB 1322 (Liu) which would have kept federal food stamp benefits in the hands of unemployed Californians and that was passed unanimously from the Senate, and AB 1914 (Davis), which would have helped newly unemployed Californians receive food stamps while they waited for Unimployment Insurance Benefits.   

Meanwhile, Western Center is continues to track and advocate for the several important issues left unresolved pending passage of the state's budget. For up-to-date budget news and opportunities for action, join us in advocating with the Health and Human Services Network.