Support Needed for SB 840 in Assembly Health Committee Now!
June 28, 2007

SB 840, Senator Sheila Kuehl’s bill to establish single payer health care in California, will be heard in Assembly Health Committee on July 3.

If your Assembly representative is on the Health Committee, contact that person to urge their support for SB 840.

League presidents: Please forward this message to as many of your members and other contacts as possible. Then, on behalf of your League, please fax or e-mail a letter to your representative(s) on the Assembly Health Committee.

All League members and the public: Please contact your Assembly Member who is on the Assembly Health Committee (see below). Briefly explain why you personally support SB 840 and ask them to vote for the bill at the July 3 hearing.

Send this alert to other concerned citizens: your grassroots network, your friends and coworkers. Encourage them to contact their legislators today!

Members of the Assembly Health Committee are Assembly Members Dymally (chair), Nakanishi (Vice Chair), Bass, Berg, De La Torre, de Leon, Emmerson, Gaines, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Huff, Jones, Lieber, Ma, Salas, and Strickland. See the end of this message for their contact information.

For more information: Background information on SB 840, the single payer concept, health care reform efforts in California, the LWV position on Health Care, and more is available on our Health Care Reform page. Or contact LWVC Health Care Program Director Barbara Storey at bs_lwv004@cox.net

In addition, here is an alert sent by Senator Kuehl:

As SB 840 awaits hearing before the Assembly Health Committee on July 3rd, now is the time to contact the members of the Assembly Health Committee (if they are your legislator) and tell them why you support SB 840. An updated Coauthor List and Sample Support Letters for SB 840 are available at www.senate.ca.gov/kuehl (click on the SB 840 icon). This is an important vote. This is the first Assembly vote of the year, and, since many are first-year members of the Legislature, it is urgent that Health Committee Members hear from their constituents. Find your legislator at www.leginfo.ca.gov. A list of the members of the Assembly Health Committee appears below.

As you may know, the Speaker of the Assembly and the President pro Tem of the Senate announced last week that they have reached an agreement on a proposal to expand health coverage to some of the 6.5 million Californians who currently do not have health insurance. While I am supportive of efforts to expand coverage and at the same time do no harm, I am moving forward with SB 840 to establish a single-payer universal health care system in California because I am convinced that coverage expansions, especially those which do not limit premiums and co-pays or set a floor on benefits, will not go nearly far enough to solve the health care crisis in the near future.

SB 840 is the gold standard for healthcare reform; it is the only way of achieving a health care system that will provide every California resident with affordable, quality, comprehensive healthcare. With health care costs growing at 3-4 times the rate of wages, single payer is the only demonstrated way to contain health care costs while covering everyone with excellent health benefits. To that end, SB 840 continues to build support and momentum through the legislative process and has gotten a major boost from Michael Moore’s movie "SiCKO", which premiers nationally on June 29th.

Advocates are actively recruiting volunteers to ensure that SB 840 supporters to have a large presence at every opening of this film across California, to encourage everyone they know and come in contact with to see the movie, and to use their voice and their vote in support of genuine universal health care.

This is a film that every American must see. "SiCKO" is going to bring universal health care home to the dinner table and to the breakroom lunch table and to every other table where people sit and talk about things that matter to them. "SiCKO" tells the story of the great failure of the American non-health, non-care and non-system in a way that every person can relate to and makes it abundantly clear why we must have a single payer universal health care system. It is our job to make sure that no Californian leaves the theater unaware that SB 840 is the plan that addresses the problem laid out by the movie. To become involved locally with efforts to make sure every Californian watches "SiCKO" and leaves educated about SB 840 visit www.onecarenow.org

Keep Us Informed: Please copy any responses to Trudy Schafer, LWVC Program Director/Advocate, at advocacy@lwvc.org.

Assembly Health Committee Members:
Chair
Assembly Member Mervyn M. Dymally (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0052
Phone: (916) 319-2052
Fax: (916) 319-2152
E-mail: Assemblymember.Dymally@assembly.ca.gov

Vice-Chair
Assembly Member Alan Nakanishi (R)
State Capitol, Room 5175
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0010
Phone: (916) 319-2010
Fax: (916) 319-2110
E-mail: Assemblymember.Nakanishi@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Karen Bass (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249
Phone: (916) 319-2047
Fax: (916) 319-2147
E-mail: Assemblymember.Bass@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Patty Berg (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0001
Phone: (916) 319-2001
Fax: (916) 319-2101
E-mail: Assemblymember.Berg@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Hector De La Torre (D)
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0050
Phone: (916) 319-2050
Fax: (916) 319-2150
E-mail: Assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Kevin de Leon (D)
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0045
Phone: (916) 319-2045
Fax: (916) 319-2145
E-mail: Assemblymember.deLeon@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Bill Emmerson (R)
State Capitol Office, Room 4158
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 319-2063
Fax: (916) 319-2163
E-mail: Assemblymember.Emmerson@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Ted Gaines (R)
State Capitol Office, Room 2002
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 319-2004
Fax: (916) 319-2104
E-mail: Assemblymember.Gaines@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Loni Hancock (D) Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0014
Phone: (916) 319-2014
Fax: (916) 319-2114
E-mail: Assemblymember.Hancock@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Mary Hayashi (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0018
Phone: (916) 319-2018
Fax: (916) 319-2118
E-mail: Assemblymember.Hayashi@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Edward P. Hernandez (D)
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0057
Phone: (916) 319-2057
Fax: (916) 319-2157
E-mail: Assemblymember.Hernandez@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Bob Huff (R)
State Capitol, Room 4098
Sacramento, CA 94249-0060
Phone: (916) 319-2060
Fax: (916) 319-2160
E-mail: Assemblymember.Huff@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Dave Jones (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0009
Phone: (916) 319-2009
Fax: (916) 319-2109
E-mail: Assemblymember.Jones@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Sally J. Lieber (D) SB 840 Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0022
Phone: (916) 319-2022
Fax: (916) 319-2122
E-mail: Assemblymember.Lieber@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Fiona Ma (D) Co-Author
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0012
Phone: (916) 319-2012
Fax: (916) 319-2112
E-mail: Assemblymember.Ma@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Mary Salas (D)
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0079
Phone: (916) 319-2079
Fax: (916) 319-2179
E-mail: Assemblymember.Salas@assembly.ca.gov

Assembly Member Audra Strickland (R)
State Capitol, Room 4208
Sacramento, CA 94249-0037
Phone: (916) 319-2037
Fax: (916) 319-2137
E-mail: Assemblymember.Strickland@assembly.ca.gov