Pauline Bartolone, California Healthline  California policymakers are facing a busy year, as a Republican-controlled Congress inches closer to rolling back key provisions of the Affordable Care Act and debate over high drug costs continues. Assemblymember Jim Wood, D–Healdsburg, helps set priorities for health policymaking as chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. The former family dentist Read More »

  A California bill that would allow certified nurse-midwives to practice independently is pitting the state’s doctors against its hospitals, even though both sides support the main goal of the legislation. The California Hospital Association and the California Medical Association, which represents doctors, agree that nurse-midwives have the training and qualifications to practice without physician Read More »

California Assembly members formally selected Anthony Rendon to be speaker on Monday, vaulting the Lakewood Democrat to a position he could potentially hold for almost a decade. “When the voters extended term limits in 2012 they did so because they believed the would help the Legislature be more thoughtful, more productive and more deliberative,” said Read More »

Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a $170.6 billion state spending plan Thursday that reflects billions of dollars in new revenue, proposing that much of it go to K-12 schools, the developmentally disabled, and the blind, elderly and disabled. But the fourth-term governor, who took office amid a recession that gutted state finances, highlighted the possibility of Read More »

California’s legislators were busy throughout 2015, passing new bills that will affect the way public agencies operate. On the books are more than 50 new laws covering issues such as drought, community revitalization, medical marijuana, telecommunications and infrastructure finance. Trying to keep up with these new laws can be overwhelming for public agency leaders. Some Read More »

For years, the state has conducted something of a shell game to help finance Medi-Cal, its health insurance system for the poor that now covers nearly a third of Californians. California imposed a special tax on “managed care organizations” that handle Medi-Cal recipients and used it to qualify for additional federal funds. The insurers got Read More »

Lawmakers left town in mid-September after acting on hundreds of bills yet failing to reach agreement on expanding a soon-to-expire tax on California health plans that helps pay for indigent healthcare, much to the frustration of the Brown administration. “We did everything we could to make this work,” Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley Read More »

On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill (ABX2-15) to legalize physician-assisted death in California.  Read the full article here.