SB 810 (Single Payer Healthcare) Killed on the California Senate Floor

[yurbud]

Today SB 810, “Medicare for All” single payer legislation, was killed on the California Senate Floor.

The vote was: 19 YES, 15 NO (including Dem. Calderon and Dem. Correa) and 6 ABSTAIN (which is actually a NO vote and included Dems. Padilla, Vargas, Wright and Rubio).

We have two immediate tasks: first, thank our author of SB 810, Sen. Leno, for his efforts (the legislation was not supposed to pass the Appropriations Committee!) and thank Sen. Steinberg for his assistance in getting the bill to the Senate Floor; and, second, call the 6 Senators who voted against SB 810 and give them a piece of your mind.

Lastly, California OneCare will be recommending “next steps” for the campaign in the very near future. We are meeting with our coalition partners on Friday and will communicate to you a united strategy in the following days.

http://californiaonecare.org/sb-810-killed-on-the-california-senate-floor

Sadly, California Democratic legislators did exactly what I predicted in my letter to them:

As you know, previous bills passed both chambers only to be vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, but with a Democrat as governor, there is a real chance that this could become law.

If a handful of Democratic senators block this historic opportunity, it will make a lot of us wonder if you guys actually care about average people or only do bold legislation when you know you have a business owned governor who can be depended on to veto it.

Our government has become so corrupt at all levels even state legislators can't do what would be wildly popular and make them national heroes for fear of losing campaign donations and likely high paying jobs when they leave office as lobbyists, CEO's, and do-nothing board members.

The state party needs to do something about this, and it needs to get on the governor's desk before he leaves office.

Maybe instead of punishing the bad guys, we need to reward the good: donate to the state senators who voted for it and especially to the author of the bill, Mark Leno.

[msongs]

1. how much $$ did the abstain/no voters get from the health rip off insurance industries? lots I bet n

[aggiesal]

5. That's a good question ...

I know that Juan Vargas from South San Diego County,
a completely democratic region, is a complete tool for the
insurance companies.

So seeing his name on the list doesn't surprise me, but
still disappointing.

He's running for Bob Filner's seat in Congress.
What a huge step backwards.

[Liberty Belle]

30. Vargas is also a former insurance industry exec, a total shill.

[Sea star]

6. maplight figures...

On Maplight and over the last 4 years:
http://maplight.org/california/legislator

Calderon:
Insurance - $165,000
Pharma - $80K
Health Professionals - $37K

Correa:
Insurance - $150K
Pharma - $110K
Health Professionals - $89K

Padilla:
Insurance - $137K
Health Professionals - $105K
Pharma - $67K


Rubio:
Health Professionals - $94K
Insurance - $36K

Vargas:
Insurance - $115K
Health Professionals - $46K
Pharma - $28K

Wright:
Insurance - $87K
Pharma - $45K
Health Professionals - $43K

[Cleita]

7. Therein lies the tale.

Thanks for the link. I did not know about it. Bookmarked.

[2banon]

20. This a valuable info , thanks for posting

not surprised, but continuously disappointed.

[alp227]

28. people should go to Sacramento and chant SHAME at them when they report to work.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. They should do more than that. Organize and get them OUT of office!

[kenfrequed]

52. primary challenges...

All of 'em.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

45. yes there's the answer

[Cleita]

2. I'm in for a little punishment.

We need to flood the mail boxes, emails and telephones of those Senators to let them know that they did a bad, bad thing. We need to do it monthly until the bill is resubmitted next year and Mark Leno's office said it would be. I don't think we should let it blow over. I was treated very rudely by Senator Wright's office today as well and lied to by the other three. Although I expect such treatment from my Republican representatives, I don't like it when it comes from a Democrat I disagree with.

Who will join me in making sure those Senators rue the day they took a pay off or whatever it was to stop this bill from passing?

[Sea star]

9. Better to Occupy their offices in Sacramento and ....

their home offices.

Chances are there will be little reporting on this.... part of the reason it died was they didn't want to make the DEM party look bad and some say Brown didn't want it to make it to his desk.

Who knows... but it is blanket failure of representation and a replay of what happened in Washington DC in 2009.

[Cleita]

11. Well, I can't take off to go to Sacramento in a meaningful way and I think

many of us can't, but I can write and telephone so that's what I will do and I'm sure it does have an impact if they get a lot of disgruntled Californians filling their mailboxes and jamming their telephone lines and faxes.

[yurbud]

12. sounds good. at minimum, we should demand no party $$$ go to them

And try to find primary opponents for them.

[2banon]

21. I'm with ya..and i agree

[Plucketeer]

3. Those ASS HOLES!!!

Wonder just WHO tied their hands, so they couldn't vote?

[Cleita]

4. Dah debbil made em do it.

Sure.

[CrawlingChaos]

8. Now I feel foolish for having held out hope for this

The game is rigged, the table is tilted, we are screwed as usual.

I know we need to keep fighting but today I just feel depressed and very, very cynical.

[Sea star]

10. Okay for today, but then tomorrow...

we have to have a response!

[yurbud]

13. these guys go back to their district every friday

Find out when they will be speaking or in public and protest and call them out.

One simple sign could do it: ''Sen_______ killed single payer health care in CA.'' Or ''killed Medicare for all in CA.''

[Cleita]

14. I hope those who live in their districts and voted for them do that. n/t

[Sea star]

16. I'm with you...

I don't know much about getting another vote, but I like your idea about going to their local venues.

This is more doable for people rather than going to Sacto

[yurbud]

15. we also need to tell the state senate and state party leadership that this is unacceptable

as great as it is that most Democrats voted for this, parties have a neat trick they do called ''hold and release.''

If they need something to pass, but it would hurt some rep with their constituents, they might ''release'' the reps who need to be released once they've rounded up enough other votes.

That could also happen when they DON'T want legislation to pass, but want it to look like ''Gosh darn it, we sure TRIED,'' then they ''release'' the reps least likely to be harmed by voting against it (think Joe Lieberman and the US Senate).

This is unacceptable.

[Sea star]

17. I was thinking that's what has happened and the players....

are playing along with it.

From CNA...

Dear Steering Committee, A disappointing result today...SB 810 was not brought up for a vote today for various reasons which we should discuss on Friday at the Steering Committee meeting - but in the end the votes hadn't changed and we didn't get to the required 21 votes we need to move the bill to the Assembly. So at this point SB 810 has died in the senate and we will have to wait until 2013 to introduce a new bill. It's important that we thank Leno as the sponsor who really pushed this bill forward in a difficult political climate. And also we need to thank Steinberg and Kehoe for their leadership and the important roles they played in moving the bill out of Appropriations which allowed for a floor vote and for Senators to be counted. The final vote last Thursday ended up being 19 yes, 15 no (including Calderon and Correa as the only Dems), with Padilla, Vargas, Wright and Rubio abstaining (all of whom were flooded with calls). I think we all should be very proud of the work we did to move this bill forward further than any expected this year. It's an important testament to the power we can bring when we are organized and fight together...and we're only growing stronger. I look forward to determining our next steps and finalizing a plan to realize this growth on Friday. Please join us in the CNA office in Oakland or Glendale, or on the phone if you can't get to either place. This is a very important meeting to debrief our work and plan for the coming year's important work still to be done. Call-in number for Friday Steering Committee meeting if you can’t be in a CNA office (10am to 2pm)Phone Number: 800-573-2133Access Code: 4332724 Thank you again for your great work to fight at every turn. I look forward to continuing to fight with you.

In unity,Pilar Schiavo
California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC)National Nurses United (NNU)Office: 510.433.2724Cell: 510-385-4213Email: [e-mail]

[2banon]

23. The state party apparatus is also unacceptable

Did you happen to follow the shenanigans of the Cal DP during the efforts to put forth Resolutions for Out of Iraq and Impeach Bush/Cheney? Mind you, i'm just referring to Resolutions, not even actual Legislation. It was shocking to me. And did you see what the State Party apparatus did in Orange County wrt to mid decade state assembly elections (check me, I think it was 2006,) they backed a republican and dissed the dem canidate.

It was un.freaking.real.

The decade of 2000-2010 had been one hell of an education for me in terms of party politics and other political shannigans, subterfuge and outright political betrayal not to even mention fraud and corruption.

[SHRED]

18. Replace Corporate DINOs with true Democrats

[frylock]

19. thanks dems!

thanks for nothing.

[SunSeeker]

22. These tools have the blood of dead uninsured Californians on their hands!

When I think of all the people in California suffering in fear, pain and illness (until it kills them) because these rat bastards can't do the right thing, it just burns my hide. I made the calls right before this was voted on, but all I got was answering machines. None of these a-holes want to hear from their consituants because they know they are voting against their wishes. If there is a hell, I imagine it is populated with the likes of Padilla, Vargus, Wright and Rubio.

[Sea star]

25. A poster up above posted about 'hold and release'....

iow, these were the designated NO/Abstain so it would fail and not move on to the Assembly and Governor's desk.

The clue is all except Wright are NOT up for election in 2012, so they made sure they may have picked those who were not in jeopardy.

There's a side-kick effort called Healthy California, purporting to be single payer but never mentioning SB 810. Some think it's a stall job so Brown can come up with his own plan and run with it when he's up for re-election.

We've been down this road before with Obama and the DEMs on the public option, and that turned out to be a ruse to keep us away from single payer HR 676. "Nothing is what it seems....."

In the meantime, the "unhealthy 6" and their districts' map:
http://maplight.org/california

Calderon 30

Correa 34

Padilla 20

Rubio 16

Vargas 40

Wright 25

[Liberty Belle]

27. Someone should start a movement to send photos of dead unnsured people to these legisHaters.

[SunSeeker]

29. I should send them a picture of my brother in Los Angeles...

He pulled out a tooth with a pair of plyers because he had no dental insurance and no money. Of course, it then got infected, requiring emergency dental surgery and massive antibiotics.

[Liberty Belle]

31. Do it! Please, for everyone who is uninsured.

[CAPHAVOC]

35. Rube Goldberg.

Even Rube could not invent a mess like this.

[SoapBox]

24. ...makes me nuts.

I'm a Dem/Lib/Progressive...and I say we CLEAN HOUSE on Sacramento.

[CAPHAVOC]

33. Socialized Medicine or Every man for himself!

There are only two solutions. Obamacare and Romneycare are not one of them.

[Liberty Belle]

26. Vargas may lose the party's endorsement over this.

He sold out to the insurance companies, and now delegates want to pull his endorsement off the consent calendar at the state convention: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/8577 Note: I have independent confirmation on this from a PDA leader in CA.

[yurbud]

32. shit, he was an INSURANCE EXEC? How was he able to run as a Dem in the first place?

[Firebrand Gary]

34. We should take them out in the primaries.

Simple as that.

[YogiB]

36. What a shame.

[red dog 1]

38. Dems who voted no or who abstained should be ashamed of themselves!

[Chewiedog]

39. The fix was in

I don't believe for one second that this bill was stopped simply because it failed to get 2 additional votes. It never had a chance. The average voter had no idea that such monumental legislation was pending in the State Senate. Such potential legislation should have been front page on all local newspapers. It wasn't. The Democrats should have rallied for support among the citizens of the state. They didn't. Most telling of all, Governor Brown should have lead the charge to get this bill passed. He did not. I am disgusted with the Democrats. Too many act like they care about the average American, but when real change is on the line, they turn tail and run. Nevertheless, it is up to everyone to weed out the corporate shills. We cannot give up. There is no alternative but to get steamrolled.

[yurbud]

40. sort of like Obama's limp push for the public option

[senseandsensibility]

41. I can't add anything but my agreement.

Great points.

[freethinker68]

42. Hitting the Nail on the Head

Your quote...."Our government has become so corrupt at all levels even state legislators can't do what would be wildly popular" and then you end your thread w/ "Maybe instead of punishing the bad guys, we need to reward the good: donate to the state senators who voted for it"

You contradict yourself. You know our govt. is corrupt and yet you recommend people dump money into it. Isn't that insane? FOLKS....the govt. at ALL LEVELS IS CORRUPT....THE ONLY RATIONAL RESPONSE IS TO END THE SYSTEM THAT SUPPORTS CORRUPTION. Would good people JOIN the Mafia to reform it from the inside out??? No, they would abolish it. Why would you not do that to the govt. that is siding w/ mass murderers and destroyers of community? WAKE UP...join OCCUPY or create a serious mass movement that is not about REORM!

[Cleita]

43. Government isn't the Mafia. One is legal and the other has always been illegal.

It's we the people, operating under a Constitution, and it has been corrupted by money and greed. The only way to fix it is from the inside, through elections and backing candidates who will work to end the corruption. What you want is to overthrow the present government and that is treason.

[yurbud]

47. at this point, terms like ''treason'' aren't helpful. We need to talk in terms of how to get from

here to a government that doesn't treat us the way McDonald's treats cows.

Besides that, everyone who fought for the American Revolution committed treason against Great Britain, so the crime is moot if the outcome is favorable.

The cost of failure is pretty high if treason is your method though.

[Cleita]

49. It's not my method. We have to take over from the inside and

legally. Start with fixing our corrupt election system and that will take getting in our candidates who will fix things once there is a majority.

[yurbud]

48. I was so despondent about this I was trying to look for a way to put a bow on the turd

but you are right.

Within the current system, maybe only a ballot measure would do the trick, but that would get an avalanche of negative ads to bury it.

[Johnson20]

44. Just wondering, but

was it presented with a viable, realistic way to pay for it, or just thrown out there as a nice wonderful thing to do without any mention of funding?

[yurbud]

46. The bill has been all the way through the process twice, and the authors did their homework.

[Johnson20]

50. Thank you.

[yurbud]

51. This is my letter to CA Dem leaders demanding an explanation and how they'll improve

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002275144