Perata plays the contrarian on own health care proposal

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Perata plays the contrarian on own health care proposal
SENATOR HOLDING UP PLAN, LEAVING OTHERS TO GUESS AT MOTIVES
By Mike Zapler
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
Article Launched: 12/23/2007 01:48:42 AM PST



SACRAMENTO - Despite a last-gasp effort in the Assembly last week, the Legislature is about to finish the \"year of health care reform\" without passing a health care plan.

While that outcome had become expected, what was surprising to many observers was the person responsible for blocking action before the new year: Don Perata, the Senate leader and a liberal Democrat from Oakland who co-authored the bill.

Perata announced he would not allow the Senate to vote on the Assembly-approved bill - not until he knows more about how the $14 billion-plus measure would affect existing health programs and the state's overall finances.

But hearing Perata question a measure that bears his own name has left Capitol observers wondering what exactly he's up to. Is he seeking leverage on some other issue? Exacting revenge on his Assembly counterpart and occasional rival, Speaker Fabian Nú馿z, D-Los Angeles? Or simply taking more time to vet a proposal with far-reaching and potentially unintended consequences?

The best answer might be all of the above. Still, by pushing Senate consideration of the bill into next year, some proponents privately fret that Perata may stall its momentum and kill the measure's already slim chances of being enacted.

At one point last week, the blunt-spoken Perata said in a TV interview that the health plan was \"DOA\" - a remark his office quickly said that he didn't mean literally.

But at the same time, Perata is raising some of the same arguments that Republicans have used to cast doubt on the proposal - and providing ammunition to opponents rallying to defeat it.
\"It's ironic because he's long been a supporter of health care reform,\" Barbara O'Connor, director of Sacramento State's Institute for the Study of Politics and Media, said of Perata. \"Here is the opportunity to get it done and he's putting the brakes on.\"

O'Connor added that she understands Perata's desire not to rush something through, but \"the longer you wait, the harder it gets,\" she said. \"I think it has a much better chance of succeeding if everyone gets on the bandwagon and starts campaigning for it.\"

The bill, AB X1, would extend insurance to more than two-thirds of the state's uninsured with new requirements on businesses and a hefty tax increase on cigarettes.

Because the proposal involves raising taxes, a ballot initiative containing financing for the reforms would have to be approved by voters, probably in November. Supporters say they would need to collect more than 1 million signatures in a matter of months in order to meet election deadlines; the longer the Senate postpones the vote, the more money it will cost to ensure enough signatures can be gathered in time.

But a bigger risk of waiting may be that by the time the Senate debates it, presumably sometime next month, the political climate will be much more treacherous. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to call the Legislature into a special session to grapple with a projected $14 billion deficit, and Perata himself is stoking doubts about whether the sprawling health care proposal would widen that gap.

Perata, for his part, insists he's committed to passing a health care bill; he just wants to do it right. The only hearing on the bill passed by the Assembly last week was held the morning of the vote. Perata believes it needs a fuller vetting to avoid a mistake like energy deregulation in the mid-'90s, which received little legislative scrutiny and came back to haunt the state years later.

\"We cannot make decisions in the dark,\" Perata said in a letter to his supporters last week.

But it also seemed clear that Perata wants assurances that the governor won't move to slash health programs for the poor in upcoming budget talks. The senator is also trying to muster support for a water conservation and infrastructure plan. Holding up the health care proposal, which the governor wants badly, gives him a huge bargaining chip.

In the end, even Republicans expect Perata will scare up the votes to pass the bill sometime in January. But they have enjoyed hearing the senator talk their talk.

\"I love it,\" said Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines, R-Fresno. \"I'd love to see it happen throughout the year.\"





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Contact Mike Zapler at mzapler@mercurynews.com or (916) 441-4603.



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