The Senate Health Committee voted down Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed health overhaul today.
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas has the general story here.
Even before the vote, the fate of the bill was clear, as Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez gave more of a eulogy for the legislation in his opening remarks.
Kim Belshé, the governor's health and human services secretary, told the committee, "Certainly today's hearing has taken on a different tenor."
The bill failed with one yes vote, three abstentions and seven no votes.
Every member of the committee, save GOP Sen. Mark Wyland, gave a speech before casting their vote. A common thread in those speeches was fears about the legislation's financing, which took a hit last week with the release of a report by the nonpartisan legislative analyst projecting hundreds of millions of dollars in shortfalls.
Democratic Sen. Elaine Alquist of Santa Clara said she "wanted to be able to vote for this bill."
But there was "not a financial plan" to pay for it to her satisfaction. Alquist abstained.
Sen. Gloria Negrete-McLeod, D-Chino, said, "I get paid the big bucks to make the big decisions." She voted no.
Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, had perhaps the harshest words for the legislation, saying it was "based upon fairy tale-type assumptions." He opposed the bill.
Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, said the bill was "fundamentally flawed." Three times in his short speech, in which he referenced his family's own struggle to obtain health insurance, he said he couldn't vote for the measure "in good conscience."
"(It) pains me to turn my back on this particular bill," he said, before voting no.
Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said today's vote was not the final step, promising that the Legislature would be "working in the months ahead to advance this cause." He abstained.
Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, was the committee's only yes vote.
"What do we do in the meantime?" he asked rhetorically, following Steinberg's comments. "We vote for this bill."
Sen. Gil Cedillo, another Los Angeles Democrat, echoed Steinberg. He said that health reform is an "ongoing process," though he was "not prepared to move forward." He abstained.
Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, said the finances of the bill didn't work out. "We don't have the money," he said, while pledging to work with Democrats in the future.
Sen. Abel Maldonado, the moderate Republican from Santa Maria, said, like Alquist that he "really wanted to vote for it."
"I just couldn't get it to pencil out," he said.
Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the chair of the committee, was the last to speak. She said the legislative analyst report gave her, her Senate colleagues and members of the Assembly "a good deal of pause."
"It doesn't matter how many good things are in the bill if there isn't money to pay for them," she said.
After the vote, the speaker did not ask for reconsideration of the measure, saying the "message is pretty clear."
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