On the eve of a hearing for landmark health legislation, a spokesman for Sen. Leland Yee said the San Francisco Democrat will oppose the health care measure. The move throws into limbo whether the legislation has the necessary votes to move forward.
“The costs are a big concern for him,” said Adam Keigwin, a spokesman for Yee, regarding the $14 billion health care price tag that coincides with a projected $14.5 billion budget hole.
The 11-member Senate Health Committee is scheduled to consider AB 1X1, legislation negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, in a hearing on Wednesday.
Sen. Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat and the chair of the Senate Health Committee, has openly opposed to the measure.
With "only" seven Democrats on the 11-member committee, and both Kuehl and Yee as committed "no" votes, the measure is one vote shy of passage.
No Republican has said they will support the measure, which will require six votes to pass.
Yee has been openly on the fence about the measure. He told the AP over the weekend that the bill was "not a slam dunk."
"It's rather difficult for me to vote for a health care plan that's going to cost $14 billion at the same time I'm looking at cutting $14 billion," he said. "It's almost like telling someone who is in need of help, 'I'm going to give you food, but I'm going to take away your clothes.' At the end of the day, the person is still poor."
Keigwin said Yee conferred with labor leaders in his district over the weekend who were “almost unanimous” in urging Yee “to vote no.”
What happens next is unclear, though options certainly remain for passage.
For instance, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata could ask Kuehl to grant the measure a courtesy vote, allowing it to proceed to the Senate floor despite her personal opposition.
In an interview Tuesday morning, Kuehl reiterated her position, saying, “I’ve been very clear with all the advocates and everybody that I do not favor the bill.”
She said she had not been contacted by Perata or his staff to support the bill. Asked if she would consider granting a courtesy vote if she was, she replied that she “can’t answer that.”
“In the Senate, we generally are equal as members,” Kuehl added.
Another option could be to seek out a GOP vote. Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, sits on the committee and is the most moderate member of the Senate Republican caucus.
Maldonado, who did not immediately return a call for comment, has not had kind words for universal health care in the past. "I think universal health care is too big a jump for California. We don't have the resources," he said late last year, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Another possibility for Perata is to restructure the committee itself, replacing Yee with a member more amenable to the health plan or adding members. That would break the Senate tradition of moving members off committees for particular votes, though Perata did restructure the Appropriations Committee last May, removing moderate Sens. Lou Correa and Ron Calderon.
All of those options, of course, depend on Perata pushing hard for passage of the plan.
After the bill passed the Assembly in December, Perata urged caution, saying it would be "imprudent and impolitic" to consider the measure before considering its impact on the state's $14 billion budget hole.
He requested a study by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, which should be released later today, for Wednesday's hearing.
But Perata’s reluctant tone has changed somewhat. Dan Weintraub reported on Jan. 10 that Perata said the bill would be "acted on."
"He said the best thing about the proposal is that it allows the voters to make the final decision at the polls," Weintraub wrote. "Sounds like he is assuming that they will get the chance."
As Kuehl said Tuesday, “I don’t quite know what the outcome is going to be.”
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