The first day of the Affordable Care Act's market place in California drew a mix of praise and exasperation, as many people without coverage got in line to buy health care insurance.
From the Mercury-News' Tracy Seipel, Natalie Neysa Alund and Matthias Gafni: "The amazing thing for me was how quickly you can look at your possible options and find a better deal," said Bernard, 53, co-owner of a branding development agency."
"Still, other Californians greeted Obamacare with cries of outrage, saying their health insurance rates are skyrocketing."
"Sherry Houston, a director of a San Jose nonprofit, said the Kaiser insurance policy she's been buying on her own is increasing from about $281 to $579 a month. She received a letter Monday from Kaiser that said her rates were going up partly because of the "new benefit and enrollment rules under health care reform."
Meanwhile, the govrenor signed a flock of bills to buttress the new law.
From the LAT's Anthony York and Patrick McGreevy: "Among them are measures that extend healthcare tax breaks to same-sex couples, require school districts that offer discounted meals to poor students to notify parents about expanded healthcare options and ensure new state insurance contracts are subject to state open-records laws."
“While extreme radicals in Washington shut down our government, here in California we’re taking action to extend decent healthcare to millions of families,” Brown said in a statement."
"Also signed by Brown was a measure that requires many of the contracts signed by the state’s new health insurance exchange, Covered California, to be open to immediate public inspection under the California Public Records Act. The mandate excludes health plan contracts and their rates, which are made public in three and four years, respectively."
Speaking of Brown, the nation may be in difficult times compounded by an inept Congress, but California can lead the way to a better future, says Brown. Hmmm. What do you think? Is this the first signal of his 2016 presidential campaign?
From the LAT's Anthony York: "As he works through hundreds of bills on his desk that must be signed or vetoed by Oct. 13, Brown has taken steps aimed at combating global warming, reversing growing income disparity and giving undocumented immigrants a series of new rights. The governor says California is forging a political path that could become a national model.'
"Things happen in California that are not happening in Washington," Brown said after an appearance at an electric-vehicle expo in San Francisco last week. "We can do a lot of things in California to shift the [political] climate throughout the whole country."
"Some are skeptical that laws passed in California — where Democrats dominate state politics — can do much to prompt action from politically divided Washington."
Brown is in the midst of acting on bills sent to him by the Legislature, and one thing is certain -- he likes those tax check-off boxes.
From Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas: "The California Arts Council gets a second chance at a tax check-off under legislation approved Sept. 30 by Gov. Jerry Brown, who created the council when he was previously governor in 1975."
"It’s one of seven bills approved by lawmakers this year relating to the voluntary contribution boxes, fixtures on state tax forms for 30 years. This is the third of the seven signed by the Democratic governor."
"When Brown OK’d an earlier bill creating a new check-off for the “Protect Our Coast and Oceans” Fund, he bucked the advice of his own Department of Finance which said the measure was “of limited value as there is nothing currently preventing California taxpayers from contributing directly to this cause if they so choose.”
The state is putting together regulations governing dangerous chemicals, and the new rules are all but certain to be challenged by the companies that make or use dangrerous chemicals.
From the Bee's Dan Morain: "Five years after the Legislature approved so-called green chemistry legislation, the Department of Toxic Substances Control published regulations establishing a way to evaluate chemicals in consumer products and perhaps, in time, remove them."
“We fully expect that industry will challenge the regulations,” said Debbie Rafael, the department’s director."
"There are 80,000 chemicals in commerce. Thousands more are added each year. The federal government tracks them. But although the federal Toxic Substances Control Act was enacted in 1976, the feds have failed to ban even the most hazardous chemicals."