Governor Schwarzenegger, today is the last day for you to act on legislation on your desk. As you know, along with State Senator Mimi Walters and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the FlashReport has urged to specifically veto the Twenty Worst Bills on your desk. Many of these you have saved to today, the last day to act. We urge you to veto them all!
Among those bills still on your desk are the two that I think are truly the worst of the worst — so bad I gave them the FlashReport’s "Golden Trashcan Award" – a dubious distinction. Assembly Bill 1602 and Senate Bill 900 establish the California Health Benefits Exchange — and are what we call the "Rush To Obamacare" — as these bills put an onerous centralized health care bureaucracy in place (with serious taxpayer accountability issues) — and does so in a hurry (Obamacare doesn’t require some of what is in these bills be enacted until 2014).
The nation is going through a political realignment, Governor. Your party may end up with a majority in both the United States Senate and the Congress this year. It is also entirely possible that this President will be shown the exit door in 2012. If those things happen, then the onerous mandates on the states in Obamacare will certainly be repealed.
I saw an ad in the Los Angeles Times authored by business groups, urging your veto of these bills. I reached out to them and so the text of the ad (which is a letter to you) is printed below, and attached in a .pdf. Governor, what they have to say makes sense.
Please veto these two bills — and all of the remaining "Top 20" that are on your desk!
Let’s get health care reform right – not rush to judgment.
September 28, 2010
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
Comprehensive health care reform that decreases costs and increases access to quality care is a goal we support. But two bills currently sitting on your desk are critically flawed. They create an unaccountable bureaucracy and the potential for significant new state General Fund costs.
Assembly Bill 1602 and Senate Bill 900 establish the California Health Benefits Exchange. At first glance, a new marketplace where individuals and small business owners can buy health coverage seems like a good idea. But the devil’s in the details.
These two bills give five political appointees authority to run a new bureaucracy that will buy health insurance for millions of Californians, all with little guidance or oversight.
When fully functional, the Exchange could have an annual budget of as much as $40 billion. Yet, the bills exempt Exchange employees from state civil-service pay caps, allow the Exchange to set its rules with only limited public review and let the Board conduct some meetings in secret.
While the proposed Exchange would come under the Executive branch of government, under these two bills, the Governor will have virtually no authority over the Exchange.
Similarly, the Legislature will have virtually no oversight. Instead, these two bills establish a fourth branch of government: the California Health Benefits Exchange. To allow the establishment of the Exchange, with no oversight by the Executive or Legislative branches of government, is a very dangerous precedent.
AB 1602 and SB 900 also give the Exchange broad authority to levy fees on the cost of health insurance in the Exchange. These costs will be passed on to consumers, many of whom already pay for their health coverage individually or through their employer.
Finally, the Exchange leaves taxpayers holding the bag for costs associated with fraud, inefficiency or abuse. This is because the Exchange can decide who is eligible for state Medi-Cal and county health programs. Any errors or fraud associated with these activities will be borne by state and county taxpayers.
Your governorship has been marked by efforts to reform government, reduce burdensome taxes and rid waste from the state’s budget. We respectfully ask you to veto AB 1602 and SB 900. It is critical that we get health care reform right and we stand ready to work with the Administration and Legislature to craft a proposal that will assure efficiency, protect taxpayers and provide proper oversight and accountability to the public.
Sincerely,
Teresa Casazza
President
California Taxpayers’
Association
Allan Zaremberg
President and CEO
California Chamber of
Commerce
John Kabateck
Executive Director
National Federation of
Independent
Business/California