Latest News On State Budgets

Latest California Healthline Stories

Making the Most of State Mental Health Efforts

It would be tough to call it integrated medicine. According to public health experts, the state of mental health care in California is more like a crazy quilt of mixed treatments, limited funding and uncertain outcomes.

That’s precisely what the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission hopes to change. The board was created by the Mental Health Services Act, passed by California voters in 2004. It convened Wednesday in Sacramento to iron out the details of how it hopes to evaluate the sprawling mental health system in California.

“This is a critical meeting for this commission,” said Larry Poaster, vice chair of commission.

California Dental Care Crisis Could Get Worse With Budget

California has the second-lowest ranking for children’s oral health care in the nation, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. Pre-schoolers have rotten teeth, oral infections and metal caps — and if proposed budget cuts go through, it could get worse.

Big Week Ahead — and the Budget Looms

You’re going to see a lot of bills passed this week, at least through the committee phase of legislation. This is the final week, ending July 2, for laws to be approved out of committee, so legislators are likely looking at long, agenda-packed hearings.

For instance, the Senate Committee for Appropriations meets today (Monday), with a grand total of 96 items on its agenda. Good luck with that.

Also, July 1 is the beginning of the fiscal year, and that leads into the next deadline: passing a state budget.

High-Risk Success Riding on Twin Bills

Last week the Assembly passed AB 1887 by Mike Villines (R-Clovis) and the Senate passed SB 227 by Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara). The two-bill package would establish a temporary high-risk insurance pool to meet federal guidelines for national health care reform.

The legislation is now being considered in the appropriations committees in  each house. The bills are procedurally joined, which means one can’t become law without the other. At stake is $761 million in federal funding, which is one reason the proposed laws have urgency status.

But urgency status has one big drawback — that means both bills need a two-thirds vote to become law.

Ombudsman Program on Life Support

“This program is going to run out of money this month.” That was the dire warning in a Senate Health Committee hearing Wednesday from Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), author of AB 2555,  which would raise $1.6 million to finance California’s ombudsman program for at least one more year.

The program uses volunteers across the state to monitor long-term care facilities, handle patient complaints and advocate for long-term care patients.

“Residents are so dependent on the long-term care ombudsman,” said Jackie McGrath, director of public policy for the California Alzheimer’s Association. “Most are among the frailest of our citizens. Often the long-term ombudsman is their only advocate. We want to find a non-general fund solution for this year, so we can have time to design a long-term solution.”

Farewell To theWeekly, Hello Daily Capitol Desk

California Healthline’s Friday feature, theWeekly, has evolved to become Capitol Desk.

Where theWeekly provided a rundown of the week’s legislative news and an update on individual, health-related bills making their way through the political process, this page aims to provide a daily report from Sacramento. Since things change so quickly in the halls of power, I will be posting items here in a notebook format, everything from the news of the day to examinations of health policy issues that fall below the radar of most other media.

There is already plenty of health policy news to follow, but there will soon be even more as California begins to implement federal health reform. I hope to give a strong sense of what’s going on in the daily world of political wrangling over key issues while adding context and explanation to help make sense of it all.