Davis Vetoes Several Health-Related Measures

Facing the Oct. 14 deadline to sign bills passed in the most recent legislative session, Gov. Gray Davis (D) has vetoed several measures, including many health care proposals. Davis announced the following vetoes in a legislative update on Oct. 12, which also contains a veto message for each bill:

• AB 367: Sponsored by Assembly member Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), the measure would have required school district governing boards to establish new physical education testing requirements for pre-high school students. It also would have required the California Department of Education to develop "curriculum content standards" for physical education (Office of the Governor release, 10/12).
  
• AB 900: Sponsored by Assembly member Lou Papan (D-Millbrae), the measure would have required any county that establishes an emergency services medical fund -- which is used to reimburse providers who provide emergency services to those who do not pay -- to "notify physicians of the availability of the fund" and how they can "submit a claim against the fund" (AB 900 text).
  
• AB 1547: Sponsored by Assembly member Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), the measure would have allocated $2.5 million from the state's General Fund to develop a "health care coverage and outreach demonstration project within San Diego County" (Office of the Governor release, 10/12).
  
• SB 117: Sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), the measure would have allowed the Department of Managed Health Care to require a health plan that is found to violate claims payment laws with respect to emergency service providers "to assume responsibility, for a specified time period," for paying them directly on a fee-for-service basis (SB 117 text).
  

• AB 1554: Sponsored by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), the measure would have "provide[d] state employees with an employer-paid health benefits contribution establish[ed] by the 100/90 Formula, which uses a weighted average of the four health plans with the highest enrollment to determine the employer's maximum monthly contribution for health benefits" (Office of the Governor release, 10/13).
  
• SB 1159: Sponsored by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), the measure would have extended regulations that govern the wages, hours and working conditions of state employees to health care employees who work in public universities (SB 1159 text).
  

• SB 396: Sponsored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), the measure would have required the Department of Corrections to study the "total revenues and administrative costs" of the current $5 charge to inmates when they "initiate medical visits" and would have "establish[ed] new guidelines for the decision-making authority" of medical technical assistants who care for inmates (Office of the Governor release, 10/14).
  
• SB 1176: Sponsored by Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden), the measure would have extended workers' compensation benefits to a broader range of peace officers (SB 1176 text).
  
• SB 1197: Sponsored by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), the measure would have made it illegal for any employer that has an extended absence policy to discipline an employee based on "sick leave used to attend to an illness of a child, parent or spouse" (SB 1197 text).
  

• AB 916: Sponsored by Assembly member Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek), the measure would have broadened an existing requirement that school districts provide students in grades seven through 12 with AIDS prevention classes to include instruction on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (AB 916 text).
  
• AB 1147: Sponsored by Assembly member Helen Thomson (D-Davis), the measure would have restored $2,644,000 in funding to the California Department of Health Services for maternal and child health services on the county level (Office of the Governor release, 10/15).
  
• SB 537: Sponsored by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), the measure would have required the Department of Consumer Affairs to study whether substance abuse counselors should be licensed and to conduct an "operational analysis" of current counselors (Office of the Governor release, 10/15).