SB 840 (Kuehl)
Late yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 840 (Kuehl). This is a bill that was co-sponsored by CSEA and would have created a comprehensive, universal health care system in California.
SB 840 was supported by hundreds of statewide organizations representing labor, health care, consumer, education, religious organizations and many others. It also had widespread support from the people of California with over 50,000 post-cards sent to the Governor urging him to sign this historic legislation.
If the Governor had signed this important bill every Californian would have:
- · Comprehensive health care coverage for the entirety of their lives
· The right to choose their own doctors
· Protection of their health care coverage even if they lost their jobs or graduated from college
· No more denials of health care because they had prior illnesses
The Governor vetoed SB 840 based on the cost estimate of providing health care to the people of California. The Governor’s own bill, that failed to pass, would have also resulted in cost increases, but his would have shifted more costs directly on the individual, without any protections against cost increases in the future.
SB 840, the single payer health care bill, offered the solution to our health care crisis. The Governor chose to veto the bill, but that will not stop this important issue from advancing. Next year the bill will be introduced again and we will pick up where we left off in our fight for this important issue.
AB 2167 (De Leon)
AB 2167 would have allowed classified school employees the right to challenge and have information that is false or unsubstantiated, removed from their personnel files. This bill was based on a proposal submitted by CSEA Chapter 36, Santa Monica College, and subsequently approved at last year’s annual conference. AB 2167 was vehemently opposed by many school management groups.
The Governor’s veto was based on his belief that current law contained adequate protections and that AB 2167 would hinder the reasonable process of school management to evaluate and discipline employees.
Clearly, the Governor did not read AB 2167 before taking action to veto. If he had, he would have understood that AB 2167 was a step in the right direction to protect classified school employees’ reputations and careers from the unreasonable process of having false or unsubstantiated information placed in their personnel files.