Act Now! Assembly and Senate Budget Committees Reject Governor's Budget Proposal June 1, 2017 Advocacy, Health Care Reform, Medi Cal Medi-Cal, Senate Budget Committee, Tobacco tax 0 The Assembly and Senate Budget Committees have voted to reject the Governor’s budget proposal! However, each house has introduced different Prop 56 spending proposals that will need to be reconciled in the Legislative Budget Conference Committee. Your voices were heard – however, we’re not out of the woods yet. Please contact your legislators and urge them to support the actions taken by the Assembly, which allocates the majority of tobacco tax funding to physician and dental services. The Governor’s budget proposal ignores the intent of the tobacco tax initiative (Proposition 56) and the will of California voters. The language of Prop 56 was clear – improve payments to providers to ensure that Medi-Cal patients can see a doctor when and where they need one. With 13.7 million Californians – one in three – relying on Medi-Cal programs to provide basic and specialty care for serious diseases, the stakes are high. Californians voted for the tobacco tax to remove these barriers to reliable and quality care. California cannot afford to continue starving this program by diverting tobacco tax revenues to cover the state’s general fund obligations. Contact your legislative representatives and urge them to adopt a budget that reinstates the vast majority of tobacco tax revenues for Medi-Cal patient access to care. Please contact our Marin and San Francisco Assembly members: Marin Marc Levine: assemblymember.levine@assembly.ca.gov (916) 319-2010 San Francisco David Chiu: assemblymember.chiu@assembly.ca.gov (916) 319-2017 Phil Ting: asssemblymember.ting@assembly.ca.gov (916)319-2019 Comments are closed.
