Opinion: Veto of Adult Day Health Care Bill ‘Misguided’

Ventura County Star columnist Thomas Elias writes that although Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has "made some courageous moves at the desk where he signs and vetoes bills passed by the Legislature," the governor has "made at least two misguided vetoes." One of those vetoes was for a bill (AB 96) that "sought to replace the $169 million adult day health care program -- about to be ended because of state budget cuts passed in June -- with a far cheaper alternative serving only the neediest patients," according to Elias. He notes that "there are now waiting lists for nursing home beds in some areas, which probably means a lot of patients who have been kept alive and relatively healthy and lively by ADHC will die years earlier than they otherwise would have," adding, "Only when death rates begin to rise will we know just how destructive this veto may become."

• "Elias: Brown's Good Signatures and Two Lousy Vetoes" (Elias, Ventura County Star, 9/12).