Legislative Deadline Looms!
Capitol Adjourns September 11
The final weeks of any given legislative session are notoriously frenetic. The Capitol begins to buzz into late night sessions where deals long in the making are discarded, brand new legislation is introduced through the “gut and amend” process, and major reforms are drafted and voted on in mere days. This year is shaping up to be no exception with legislative leadership shake-ups and two special sessions on transportation and healthcare still moving forward. Legislators have until September 11, just two short weeks, to move their bills to the Governor’s desk before the 2015 adjournment.
Leadership Change in Senate, Rumors in Assembly
Senate Republicans voted in Senator Jean Fuller as their new caucus leader earlier this week, making the change months earlier than the anticipated December 1 transition from Minority Leader Bob Huff (Diamond Bar). The Republicans’ vote on proposed tax increases for special session legislation is a critical factor in moving forward with majority party plans to provide adequate road funding and revive the Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax on health providers.
On the Assembly side, Speaker Toni G. Atkins urged her colleagues to wait on a leadership change until after session so they may stay focused on the majority party priorities. The Speaker circulated a formal letter asking for fellow assembly Democrats to sign as a pledge that they would not vote on new leadership until sessions adjourned. Several including Assembly Member Anthony Rendon (Lakewood) and Assembly member Chris Holden (Pasadena) are noted as Speaker hopefuls. When Speaker Atkins assumed her role it was known her time in the seat would be short due to terms limits.
Fiscal Deadline Slims the Field
The appropriations committees in both houses took up hundreds of bills from their suspense file before the deadline to move legislation with major fiscal impacts to the floor. This is a make-or-break period and is the final resting place for many bills. Even though appropriations committee are fiscal in nature, policy priorities can also play a big part in determining which bills pass and which are held back regardless of cost analysis outcomes. The list of CSAC hot bills still moving in the Legislature is available here. Additional information about specific legislation is featured in each policy section in this Bulletin.
Special Sessions Carry On Where Budget Left Off
The Administration and Legislature continue to seek solutions where the enacted FY 2015-16 state budget fell short in the two special sessions. In transportation, CSAC is at the forefront of a coalition effort to advocate for sufficient local streets and road funding to stop deterioration and reduce the maintenance backlog. The coalition’s ask is to share a roughly $6 billion dollar package of dedicated and reliable funding between state highways and local streets and roads. More information is available on the Fix California Roads coalition website, www.FixCAroads.com.
Senator Jim Beall (San Jose) is carrying the lead legislative proposal while the Administration has not yet formally offered their plan, which likely will favor the state system over the local. This includes an apportionment formula that considers road mileage in addition to the number of registered vehicles per county, which is largely influenced by population. Discussions with the “Big Seven” – the Governor, legislative leadership and the chairs of the Assembly and Senate transportation committees – were gathering momentum, but this may shift as new leadership takes the helm.
In the health care special session, legislators are focused on creating a new MCO tax that meets the federal requirements or an alternative funding source to circumvent a $1.1 billion dollar funding gap in the Medi-Cal budget. There are two main plans on the table for consideration; the first would create either a tiered tax based on the number of plan enrollees – supported by the Administration. The alternative is flat tax for each plan enrollee of just under $8 dollars, proposed by Assembly Member Marc Levine through ABX2 4. Levine has stated it will raise at least the $1.1 billion needed and up to $1.9 billion to provide funding for additional priorities.
For both plans, anticipated additional revenue collected over the $1.1 billion is being considered for a number of other Democrat’s health funding priorities that were not addressed in the adopted budget, such as the funding restoration of IHSS hours; increasing the Medi-Cal fee for service providers rates; and providing for developmental disability community provider rate increases.
The second special session has also opened the door for a tobacco tax increase. Senator Richard Pan and Assembly Member Rob Bonta introduced identical legislation to impose a roughly $2 dollar tax on cigarettes – .10 cents per cigarette – and an equivalent tax on electronic cigarettes. The funds raised through the tax would support health care and prevention programs.
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