Maybe it's not Wisconsin-sized. No one occupied the California State House, then organized successful recall elections involving hundreds of thousands of people. (I did say 'little', didn't I?) But getting AB 52, a seemingly moderate bill which simply allows California to regulate health insurance rates (power more than 30 states already have) to the point where it is now -- one vote and one signature away from becoming law -- has been no cakewalk. And this in a Democratic state with a large majority of Democratic legislators.
AB 52 barely passed the Assembly in early June. (Although the final vote was 47-28, some legislators only said 'aye' after it was clear that the bill had passed by a narrow margin.) It then passed the Senate Health Committee with no votes to spare. And yesterday AB 52 passed it's most recent hurdle by getting voted out of the California Senate Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote of 6-3.
All of this despite massive opposition from California's insurance industry. So I figure somebody has to be doing something right!
Maybe it's Kossacks and other activists who were willing to call their Assembly reps, members of the Senate Health Committee, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and their own Senators. I figure we generated at least a hundred calls, probably more, over the two days that diaries like this one were up and calling for action.
Maybe it's the Courage Campaign. Here's an email I received from it's Chairman Rick Jacobs after the vote:
32,302. That's how many emails Courage members sent to California Senate Appropriations Committee members urging them to vote for the people, not Big Insurance.
Thanks to you, we won. The California Senate Appropriations Committee just voted to pass the bill to the full Senate!
Now we have to carry this message to the entire Senate. Kaiser, Aetna and Blue Cross will spend whatever it takes on legalized bribes to stop this bill in the California Senate. Don't let them.
Pretty impressive!
Maybe it was just that legislators, despite the fact that many of them receive large contributions from California's insurers, finally got sick and disgusted enough at the continued attempts by these same insurers to raise their constituents' rates to ridiculous levels and by higher and higher percentages. Perhaps their constituents' pain finally got through to them.
Who knows for sure? But what we do know is that the bill most likely would have died had not community organizers, grassroots activists and 'regular folks' kept it alive. That's a win in anyone's book.
And what we also know is that within the next two weeks (and possibly in the next few days) AB 52 will come to a vote of the full 40-member Senate, the last step of its legislative process.
The battle is far from over. As Rick Jacobs noted, insurers are going to pull out all the stops to kill this bill or amend it to death on the Senate floor. Who is there to stand between the legislature and these special interests? Just us, for some small number of 'us'. There can't be any letting up!
If you don't know who your State Senator is, Use this handy web page and call hehim or her now. If you already know who they are, the phone number is below. Tell them you want to see AB 52 passed with their vote and without watering-down amendments when it comes up on the Senate floor. Mark your calendar to call next week too!
AB 52 is only the first battle in what will be a long fight to get health care for all in the Golden State. If insurers are willing to go to the mat against such a modest proposal as AB 52, imagine what they will do to stop SB 510, the proposal to bring a single-payer health care system to California. If we can't push AB 52 through, what chance will we have to bring real, radical, effective reform to California's health care system and eventually the nation?
But we are going to push it through. Time to get to work. Again.
California's State Senators, Their District, Party, and Phone
Alquist, Elaine 13 (Dem) (916) 651-4013
Anderson, Joel 36 (Rep) (916) 651-4036
Berryhill, Tom 14 (Rep) (916) 651-4014
Blakeslee, Sam 15 (Rep) (916) 651-4015
Calderon, Ron 30 (Dem) (916) 651-4030
Cannella, Anthony 12 (Rep) (916) 651-4012
Corbett, Ellen 10 (Dem) (916) 651-4010
Correa, Lou 34 (Dem) (916) 651-4034
De León, Kevin 22 (Dem) (916) 651-4022
DeSaulnier, Mark 07 (Dem) (916) 651-4007 * Co-author
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Dutton, Bob 31 (Rep) (916) 651-4031
Emmerson, Bill 37 (Rep) (916) 651-4037
Evans, Noreen 02 (Dem) (916) 651-4002
Fuller, Jean 18 (Rep) (916) 651-4018
Gaines, Ted 01 (Rep) (916) 783-8232
Hancock, Loni 09 (Dem) (916) 651-4009
Harman, Tom 35 (Rep) (916) 651-4035
Hernandez, Ed 24 (Dem) (916) 651-4024
Huff, Bob 29 (Rep) (916) 651-4029
Kehoe, Christine 39 (Dem) (916) 651-4039
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La Malfa , Doug (Rep) (916) 435-0744
Leno, Mark 03 (Dem) (916) 651-4003 * Principal Co-author
Lieu, W . Ted (Dem) (916) 651-4028
Liu, Carol 21 (Dem) (916) 651-4021
Lowenthal, Alan 27 (Dem) (916) 651-4027
Negrete-McLeod, Gloria 32 (Dem) (916) 651-4032
Padilla, Alex 20 (Dem) (916) 651-4020
Pavley, Fran 23 (Dem) (916) 651-4023
Price, Curren D (Dem) (916) 651-4026
Rubio, Michael 16 (Dem) (916) 651-4016
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Runner, Sharon 17 (Rep) (916) 651-4017
Simitian, S . Joseph 11 (Dem) (916) 651-4011
Steinberg, Darrell 06 (Dem) (916) 651-1529
Strickland, Tony 19 (Rep) (916) 651-4019
Vargas, Juan 40 (Dem) (916) 651-4040
Walters, Mimi 33 (Rep) (916) 651-4033
Wolk, Lois 05 (Dem) (916) 651-1511
Wright, Rod 25 (Dem) (916) 651-4025
Wyland, Mark 38 (Rep) (916) 651-4038
Yee, Leland 08 (Dem) (916) 651-4008