By Robert Longer
Vice-President, CWA Local 9421
On October 19-20, 2009, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9421 partnered with the Sacramento Central Labor Council (a coalition of 160,000 Union members in the greater Sacramento area), Health Care for America Now (HCAN), and Organizing For America (OFA) in a big [...]
That’s the Senate plan. Just give those who have no insurance OPM. It won’t cure what ails them, but they won’t care. The longer the health care debate goes on the more convinced I am that the only way to cure our health care ills is with a publicly [...]
A report released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office this week found that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) created or saved 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs in third quarter 2009 alone. This figure does not measure indirect job creation from most sub-contractors and vendors or from area [...]
Teachers, Bera Share Commitment to Preparing Our Children
for Jobs of Tomorrow
ELK GROVE, CA – The California Federation of Teachers (CFT), which represents more than 120,000 teachers and other education employees from early childhood education through the University of California, today announced its [...]
In a letter posted to his Website and reported by The Hill, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Director Bill Slaton has ended his campaign for the third congressional district. This leaves Dr. Ami Bera as the only Democratic candidate running for [...]
San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Ruben Navarrette has some advice for California’s college students. Instead of protesting a 32 percent hike in the fees extorted from you to pay the outrageous salaries of administrators — get a summer job or after school job.
Have these young people never heard [...]
Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico is looking to have his bill to bring more revenue to higher education by enacting an oil and natural gas severance fee on the fast track in the legislature. Assembly Bill 656 would bring California in line with all other [...]
Groups opposed to the expansion of Pardee aren’t sitting back hoping that it never happens.
The Foothill Conservancy, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Friends of the River filed a lawsuit in Amador County Superior Court seeking to pre-empt [...]
[Editor's Note: When leaving a comment please review the Terms of Use. We don't want to shut down commenting on this important issue. Every comment is read, and those that violate the Terms of Use will be edited or deleted without notice and solely at the discretion of [...]
The Sacramento Bee ran this op-ed from Assemblymember Alyson Huber on Wednesday.
The governor has been traversing the state touting his water deal, calling it a historic achievement. Rather than making history by crafting a comprehensive solution to our water crisis that everyone can agree on, this water deal promises [...]
This is the question a lot of people are asking. Progressives are wondering what happened to the Barack Obama who ran for President as an enthusiastic supporter of single-payer health care. Yes, I said it, single-payer, the idea that health care should be publicly funded and privately delivered to everyone. [...]
By Randy Bayne
The more I find out about the Proposition 11 citizens commission to redraw California’s legislative boundaries, the more I realize just what a big mistake voters made when they approved it by just 200,000 votes out of nearly 12 million ballots cast. When information [...]
State Senator Lois Wolk told the Stockton Record editorial board the peripheral canal, “is too expensive and ‘won’t ever get done.’”
Like me, Wolk is also deeply disappointed in Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg. The Record said she is “dumbfounded” by Steinberg’s role in crafting [...]
Assemblymember Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) today delivered 2000 postcards to the Governor’s office. The postcards are from Delta residents who are opposed to Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to build a peripheral canal.
“I have heard from my constituents – residents of the Delta region – and they have said loud [...]
Saturday was an historic day. Not only did it see the passage of health care reform in the House of Representatives by a 220 – 215 vote, but it was the day that Representative John Garamendi gave his first speech on the floor of [...]
On Monday, Assemblymember Alyson Huber will deliver 2,000 postcards to Governor Schwarzenegger from Delta residents, including me, who are opposed to the construction of a peripheral canal. The postcards are to remind the Governor of the strong opposition Delta residents have toward his canal plan.
Earlier this [...]
By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California
As the vote near on the House health reform bill, it is easy to sink into the specifics of the bill, be obsessed by the debate on key details, and mourn amendments that we really wanted but that [...]
By Joan Buchanan
CA State Assembly, Dist. 15
This morning, I voted NO on a package of flawed water bills intended to restore the Delta and provide a more reliable water supply to California. Our leaders called it “historic.” Governor Schwarzenegger told a crowd at an [...]
The State Legislature passed an $11 billion water bond, along with a package of policy bills addressing water conservation and groundwater monitoring.
By Noreen Evans
Chair of the CA Assembly Budget Committee
This water bond is an historic achievement for all the wrong reasons. It was crafted behind [...]
By Les Marsden
Marsden for Congress 2010, California’s 19th District
As I’ve previously written you, I demand a comprehensive and robust public healthcare option. Quality, affordable healthcare must be made available to every single American; our current system – with the highest healthcare costs in the [...]
A bill which would prohibit the construction of a peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta without a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the state legislature won’t even get a chance. Considered a long shot to begin with, the bill, AB13×7, by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber [...]
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome issued the following statement this afternoon.
It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California. With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to [...]
About three weeks ago PG&E replaced the electric meters at my house with new “smart meters.” I know they’re supposed to give me a ton more information about my home energy use and help me to be “greener,” but I miss watching the little wheel spin when the A/C kicks [...]
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will be a key speaker at tomorrow’s Building the New Economy Conference in Washington, D.C. Today he writes for AFL-CIO Now Blog:
To our nation’s peril, the free trade orthodoxy continues to ignore a fundamental economic fact: It matters where things are made.
He’s right. A [...]
I’ve been working on a redesign of Bayneweb.com — the parent Website of this blog — and have enough done to go live with it. It is a photo gallery site and has little to do with the blog, but you can’t [...]
Right now a package of water proposals is being crafted in the Capitol and decisions are being made that will dramatically impact the Delta region. Assemblymember Alyson Huber authored an op-ed in the Lodi News Sentinel over the weekend to express the concerns of Delta [...]
Health care is not the only critical issue facing Americans, but it is certainly high on the priority list. Any successful Democratic candidate is going to have to address health care, and address it in a way that clearly recognizes the failure of the current system and the need for [...]
Dr. Ami Bera kicked off the fourth quarter of 2009 with a campaign event at Sacramento’s L St. Wine Lounge on Thursday evening.
“This is a validation of the message we’re bringing to the voters,” Bera said referring to the Q3 fundraising effort. “The people [...]
Political newcomer Dr. Ami Bera has had a phenomenal first two quarters of fundraising for his bid to unseat Rep. Dan Lungren from the 3rd Congressional District. Not only has Bera outraised his primary opponent Bill Slaton, but he has outdistanced the incumbent Lungren for the second consecutive quarter, further [...]
Dr. Ami Bera, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, released his fundraising results for the third quarter of 2009 today. Dr. Bera’s campaign, and his message of the need for reforms to education and health care, raised $335,443.00 between July 1st and September [...]
Last week, when I found out Elk Grove City Councilman Gary Davis was dropping his bid for the 3rd Congressional District, I sent him an email asking if he was going to issue a statement. His succinct reply was that the announcement of his [...]
Representative Doris Matsui on single-payer.
Matsui replied that if the United States was building a health care system from scratch, she would prefer a single-payer system. But, she said, we’re not starting from scratch. This country has built up an employer-based health insurance system, and she seeks to build on [...]
Current reading list.
Field Poll: Voters favor limiting the pension benefits of newly hired government workers. Medicare Part E — “Everybody” by Thom Hartman.“The President this morning admitted on national television that he lost control of the message with health care. It’s time to reboot – and use [...]
Earlier this week, Dr. Ami Bera, Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, was interviewed on Amador County’s local television station TSPN by Alex Lane. After talking about why he is running and a little about his background, Dr. Bera was asked about health [...]
Cross-posted from Health Access Blog
Thirty U.S. Senators, including both California Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in strong support of a public health insurance option in health reform.
It’s a good letter that was circulated by Senators Brown, [...]
All indications are that Gary Davis is dropping his bid for the 3rd Congressional District and switching to another run for Elk Grove City Council. Just a few minutes ago, I was alerted that his Facebook page had changed, and just after that was forwarded a copy of a newsletter [...]
Jerry Brown has a comfortable 20-point lead over Gavin Newsom in the latest Field Poll. Brown is preferred by 47% of Democratic primary voters, while Newsom is preferred by 27%. Undecided stands at 26%. Throw undeclared Diane Feinstein into the mix and she takes the lead with 40% over [...]
One of the easiest things a health insurance company can do is find a so-called pre-existing condition. Virtually everyone has gone to the doctor for something at least once in their lives, and insurance companies are ready to pounce and deny coverage based on just [...]
Back in March, I wrote about Congressman Dan Lungren’s sponsorship of a bill to write discrimination into the United States Constitution. Way back then we were just beginning to hear about the possibility of Democrats challenging Congo Dan. Today there are three declared candidates, Dr. Ami Bera, [...]
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, a longtime advocate of health care for all and author of the groundbreaking report “Priced Out: Health Care in California,” today joined members of California’s largest physicians’ union to support a public option as part of national health care reform.
“A [...]
By Marcie Bayne
Secretary-Treasurer
San Joaquin-Calaveras Central Labor Council
Working families are struggling as never before. With the rising cost of education and health care, not to mention the highest rate of foreclosures and the highest unemployment rate in 25 years, it’s clear that [...]
Caroline Kennedy today challenged delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention to fight for and achieve the causes to which her uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, dedicated his life—health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.
[...]
By Randy Bayne
There was a time, not long ago actually, when rational people with rational differences could enter rational debate and come to rational solutions to solve problems rationally. See a pattern [...]
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, a University of California Regent and California State University Trustee, will be missed when he leaves state government [...]
AFL-CIO Now Blog reveals a hidden factor in health care cost and access. People in some of America’s poorest neighborhoods are relying on their local fire departments for medical care.
as the logs of a Washington, D.C., fire company show, the lack of health insurance by too many people—especially low-income families—has [...]
On August 22, Dr. Bob Hartmann of Pine Grove, a primary care physician and the Amador County public health officer, spoke at a town hall meeting on health care held by Rep. Dan Lungren. The Sacramento Bee, [...]
By Dave Jones
Assemblymember, 9th District
Candidate for State Insurance Commissioner 2010
Fighting to protect our environment and reduce our carbon footprint is critically important. All sectors of our economy have to play a role. Including insurance.
That’s why I introduced the California Green Insurance Act [...]
John Meyers of Capitol Notes is reporting, er tweeting (@KQED_CapNotes), “Recall effort against Asm. Alyson Huber (D) apparently stalls. SecState’s office says proponent missed deadline, must start all over.”
No one is really expecting this one to go anywhere. The millions of dollars it would cost for a special election is [...]
