Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bills to Expand Health Kids Programs, Signs Other Health-Related Legislation

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Friday vetoed two bills that would have expanded public health insurance programs for children, according to an Office of the Governor release (Office of the Governor release [1], 10/7).

One of the bills (AB 772) would have raised income eligibility for state health insurance programs to allow more children to enroll. The legislation also would have allowed the use of a single form to determine eligibility for subsidized school lunches and state health insurance programs. In addition, the bill would have made state health coverage available to undocumented immigrant children (California Healthline, 10/3).

The other bill (AB 1199) would have created the California Healthy Kids Fund as a repository for public funds and private contributions (California Healthline, 9/28).

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said AB 772 "includes strategies that need to be further analyzed for their relative effect on enrollment, cost-effectiveness and program integrity and evaluated to ensure that they won't divert resources to administrative processes and investments for already enrolled children" (Schwarzenegger veto message [1], 10/7).

Schwarzenegger also cited cost as his reason for not signing AB 1199, saying both measures "rely solely on the expansion of state programs as the means to increase health coverage for uninsured children" (Schwarzenegger veto message [2], 10/7).

Schwarzenegger signed eight health care-related bills on Friday:

• SB 231, a bill by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) that addresses the healing arts division of the Medical Board of California (Office of the Governor release [2], 10/7);
  
  
• SB 367, a bill by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) that addresses the health care complaint system (Office of the Governor release [1], 10/7);
  
  
• SB 484, a bill by Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) that will require the manufacturers of beauty products to disclose to the Department of Health Services product ingredients that are known to be carcinogenic or cause reproductive health problems (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/9);
  
  
• SB 689, a bill by Speier that addresses the registry of organ and tissue donors through vehicle registry;
  
  
• SB 941, a bill by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) that addresses the emergency medical services fund (Office of the Governor release [2], 10/07);
  
  
• AB 547, a bill by Assembly member Patty Berg (D-Santa Rosa) that removes the requirement for local governments to declare a health emergency every two weeks to allow needle-exchange programs (Benefield, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 10/9);
  
  
• AB 689, a bill by Assembly member Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) that addresses a nutrition and physical education curriculum (Office of the Governor release [2], 10/7); and
  
  
• AB 1735, a bill by Assembly member Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) that addresses reductions in provider reimbursements for Medi-Cal (Office of the Governor release [1], 10/7).
  

Schwarzenegger also vetoed several health-related bills:

• SB 18, a bill that would have required auditing of state bond money disbursed for stem cell research (Nelson/McKim, Orange County Register, 10/8);
  
  
• SB 23, a bill that would have used multiple state agencies and programs to help increase enrollment in Healthy Families (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 10/9);
  
  
• SB 399, a bill by Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Norwalk) that addresses third-party liability in health services;
  
  
• SB 576, a bill by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) that addresses health care coverage for tobacco cessation services (Office of the Governor release [1], 10/7);
  
  
• SB 688, a bill by Speier that addresses the Skin Cancer Prevention Act for California schools (Office of the Governor release [2], 10/7);
  
  
• AB 624, a bill by Assembly member Cindy Montanez (D-Mission Hill) that addresses the Child Health and Disability Prevention program, part of Healthy Families and Medi-Cal;
  
  
• AB 1674, a bill by Assembly member Keith Richman (R-Granada Hills) that addresses the Center for Quality Health Care;
  
  
• AB 1698, a bill by Assembly member Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) that addresses health care coverage; and
  
  
• AB 1736, a bill by Assembly member Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) that addresses disease management in Medi-Cal (Office of the Governor release [1], 10/7).