Vos snubs bipartisan affordable healthcare bills
My office has heard overwhelming support for two bipartisan bills: Gail’s Law (AB 263), which requires health insurance policies to cover breast cancer screenings, and Postpartum Medicaid Extension (AB 97), which extends Medicaid eligibility for mothers to a full year postpartum.
Both of these bills were passed 32-1 in the Senate and referred to the Assembly. After months of waiting for these bills to be scheduled for an Assembly floor vote, my Democratic colleagues and I attempted a procedural maneuver to force a vote on the Postpartum Medicaid Extension.
Representatives can circulate a petition to force a bill out of the Committee on Rules. If the petition receives enough signatures, the bill must be pulled to the floor for a mandatory vote. Before we finished collecting signatures, Speaker Robin Vos pulled Postpartum Medicaid Extension, Gail’s Law, and a resolution condemning the pardons issued to January 6th insurrectionists (AJR 27) into his previously empty Committee on Assembly Organization.
It is incredibly revealing that our petition only attempted to force a vote on Postpartum Medicaid Extension — a bill Robin Vos has publicly and personally opposed for several sessions — yet he chose to pull Gail’s Law and the January 6th resolution as well.
As chair of the committee, Vos has the sole power to release these bills for scheduling. He knows these proposals have enough bipartisan support to pass, yet he continues to pull strings to prevent this important, widely popular legislation from becoming law.
As we near the end of the legislative session, time is running out to get these bills across the finish line. Until the session is officially concluded, we will continue to push for a vote on these crucial topics. When it comes to making healthcare more affordable, we must not give up.
