by Suzanne Potter
California News Service
California is poised to become the first state in the nation to give health care to all income-eligible residents, regardless of their immigration status.
The Legislature is set to pass the final budget bills this week, which will be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom shortly thereafter.
Cynthia Buiza, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, said it is the fulfillment of an almost decadelong push by the Health4All campaign.
“This is very timely, but also long overdue,” Buiza asserted. “Because for many, many years, many of our immigrant workers who have contributed tremendously to what makes California, California, have gone on without this very important safety net.”
The budget deal represents a huge step toward universal health coverage and is expected to benefit about 700,000 people, starting in 2024. Opponents cite the cost: The budget includes $625 million to cover the first six months of 2024, and then allocates $2.1 billion per year.
Beatriz Hernández, Central Valley organizer for the California Immigrant Policy Center, said it will make a huge difference in people’s quality of life.
“This means that they will finally be able to get the health care that they need to care for the chronic illnesses that they’ve been suffering for many years,” Hernández pointed out. “And also be able to get the checkups that they need.”
The deal marks the final push to expand Medi-Cal to all low-income Californians. In 2015, the state expanded Medi-Cal to include undocumented children. In 2020 the program grew to include young adults, up to 26 years old. And this year the program began to accept undocumented adults, age 50 and older.
Hearing on landmark bill to reduce plastic packaging in CA
by Suzanne Potter
California lawmakers are considering a bill today to cut down on single-use plastics that are choking the nation’s landfills and oceans.
Senate Bill 54 would require a 25 percent reduction in plastic packaging and single-use food-service ware over the next 10 years. It is the result of a compromise reached between environmental groups and the plastics industry.
Dr. Anja Brandon, U.S. plastics policy analyst for the Ocean Conservancy, said the scale of the solution needs to reflect the scale of the problem.
“I worked with other Ocean Conservancy scientists to estimate that this reduction would lead to 23 million tons less plastic in the state over the next 10 years,” she said, “which is equivalent to nearly 26 times the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Each year, more than 11 million metric tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean from land-based sources globally. The United States only recycles about 10% of its plastic.
The bill passed the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources Tuesday and goes before the Appropriations Committee today. It passed the state Senate in January. Some environmental groups oppose the bill, saying it doesn’t go far enough.
Brandon said the bill would require manufacturers to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the plastic in the environment.
“It would also require that all producers of all single-use plastic packaging be held responsible financially for managing the full lifecycle of their packaging,” she said, “through what’s called extended producer responsibility.”
A similar proposal already has qualified for the November ballot – one that would move the timeline up to 2030 and ban polystyrene foam containers. The ballot measure is opposed by the American Chemistry Council and the California Business Roundtable.
