Davis, Gubernatorial Recall Candidates’ Policy Positions Featured
The San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times recently featured the positions of Gov. Gray Davis (D) and gubernatorial recall candidates Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo on policy issues, including health care. Summaries of their positions appear below.
Abortion
- Bustamante says that he does not support any additional restrictions on abortion and supports Medi-Cal funding for abortions (California Healthline, 9/29).
- Camejo said he would sign legislation that would make abortion a woman's right (California Healthline, 9/4).
- Davis does not support any additional restrictions on abortion in California and says that he supports Medi-Cal funding for reproductive health care services.
- McClintock says that he opposes late-term abortions and Medi-Cal or any other government funding for abortions and supports parental notification for abortions involving minors (California Healthline, 9/29).
- Schwarzenegger says that he generally supports abortion rights but opposes late-term abortions (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/5).
Proposition 54
- Bustamante opposes the measure, also known as the Racial Privacy Initiative, which would prevent California government agencies and schools from collecting racial and ethnic data but would allow exemptions in instances involving some medical research data, convicted criminals or crime suspects and occasions in which the federal government requires racial data.
- Camejo opposes Proposition 54 (California Healthline, 9/25).
- Davis opposes the measure (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/5).
- McClintock supports the measure.
- Schwarzenegger opposes Proposition 54 because he says it could hurt attempts to gather information about health care (California Healthline, 9/29).
Workers Compensation
- Bustamante supports two bills (AB 227 and SB 228) that seek to lower premiums mainly through tighter controls on medical costs, but he would delay any further reforms until the current measures have had "time to work," the Times reports.
- Davis supports and has signed the bills.
- McClintock says that the bills "do not go far enough," and he favors a workers' compensation system like the one in Arizona, the Times reports. He says that he would call a special session within 30 days of taking office to address further reforms and that if the special session fails to act, he would push for a ballot initiative (Dickerson, Los Angeles Times, 10/6). McClintock also proposes "crack[ing] down" on Medi-Cal fraud, which he says, along with workers' compensation reforms, would save the state $4.5 billion, the Chronicle reports (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/5).
- Schwarzenegger supports the measures but seeks further reforms to reduce litigation and eliminate "excessive" permanent disability payments, the Times reports. He intends to appoint a new team focused specifically on cost containment to the Division of Workers' Compensation.
SB 2
- Bustamante supports SB 2, which would require some employers in the state to provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state fund that would provide coverage.
- Camejo said he supports a single-payer system (California Healthline, 9/25).
- Davis also supports SB 2 and signed it into law Sunday.
- McClintock opposes SB 2 as too costly and favors tax credits for uninsured workers to purchase health coverage
- Schwarzenegger also opposes SB 2 because he says it is "too costly and burdensome" for businesses, the Times reports. Schwarzenegger supports expanding Healthy Families (Los Angeles Times, 10/6).
Medical Marijuana
- Bustamante supports medical marijuana.
- Camejo supports medical marijuana and the sale of the drug.
- Davis says that he recognizes that the federal government has jurisdiction over the issue of medical marijuana and has not authorized its use, the Chronicle reports. However, Davis also has provided funds to the University of California to research the efficacy of medical marijuana.
- McClintock supports medical marijuana and would fight federal restrictions on its use.
- Schwarzenegger also supports medical marijuana.
Expansion of Rights for Same-Sex Couples
- Bustamante supports (AB 205), a law that expands health coverage and other benefits to same-sex, registered couples.
- Davis supports and signed the law.
- Camejo supports the law.
- Schwarzenegger said that he would not have signed the bill into law but generally supports domestic partnerships, the Chronicle reports.
- McClintock opposes the law(San Francisco Chronicle, 10/5).
Additional information on SB 2 is available online. This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.