Health care, water issues probably headed to California ballot
Tom Chorneau
San Francisco Chronicle
Voters may be asked next year to approve funding elements of a health care overhaul and water storage expansion, under a plan outlined Tuesday by legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
With the regular legislative session set to end Friday, Schwarzenegger called lawmakers into a special session to deal with water and health care - a session that began Tuesday night.
Schwarzenegger said he is close to an agreement with Democratic leaders on health care legislation that would probably require voter approval for new fees or taxes to pay for expanding care to an estimated 6.8 million uninsured Californians.
"It's good to go and say, 'Let us come up with the policy here and then let's take it to the people and approve the funding mechanism,' " Schwarzenegger said at a Capitol press conference.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said he is not opposed to putting part of the health care question to voters, but said there is still a lot of work to be done.
September 12, 2007 at 04:00 AM | Permalink | Blog Reactions
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