100% Campaign Banner

Campaign Update
Thursday, August 31, 2006

Inside This Issue:

  1. SB 437 Passes Assembly
Line Break
SB 437 Passes Assembly

SB 437 (Escutia)--legislation that will help eligible children enroll in public health insurance programs and stay enrolled--passed the Assembly last night by a vote of 56 to 20. Assemblywoman Cindy Montaez managed the legislation on the floor, and all Democrats and eight Republicans voted for the bill (Assemblymembers Aghazarian, Blakeslee, Daucher, Garcia, Shirley Horton, Leslie, Nakanishi and Richman). Today, the bill will be taken up by the Senate for agreement with the current amended version. After Senate concurrence, SB 437 must clear only one more hurdle - the Governor's signature.

Californians for Healthy Kids appreciates your continued support for this important legislation as we move through the final steps of the process. Please call your state Senators today to ask them to vote for Senate concurrence on SB 437.

SB 437 makes important improvements that will increase health insurance for the majority of uninsured children - those who already qualify for state programs. The bill will make it easier for families to enroll their children in health insurance programs, and will help ensure that enrolled children stay insured. After eleventh- hour negotiations with legislative leadership, author staff and the Administration, the final legislative package deletes some policies from its original version but also adds important new provisions, such as allowing Healthy Families children to renew coverage by self-certifying their income and a pilot demonstration to allow families applying and renewing Medi-Cal coverage to self-certify. In addition, the bill states legislative intent that by December 1, 2010, all children in the state will have health care coverage.

We now need to work harder than ever for a statewide solution to ensure that every child in California has access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance, which will be made possible by the passage of Proposition 86 in November.

Thank you again for your work on behalf of children's health coverage!

For additional information, please visit:
Line Break

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of Children Now, Children's Defense Fund and The Children's Partnership, was created to ensure that all of California's children obtain the health insurance they need to grow up strong and healthy. www.100percentcampaign.org

The PICO California Project is the united effort of 20 California congregation-community organizations affiliated with the PICO National Network. Collectively, we represent 350 congregations and 400,000 families statewide and are actively organizing in over 70 cities in Northern and Southern California. www.picocalifornia.org