• The GOP-proposed American Health Care Act barely passed the House of Representatives on May 4 with a vote of 217-213. Nearly all House Republicans voted for the bill—which would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010—with 20 voting no. All House Democrats opposed the bill, including Central Coast Rep. Salud Carbajal. The bill only needed a simple majority to pass. Carbajal issued a statement shortly after the bill’s passage: “In order to get their harmful legislation passed, the House majority took a bill that leaves 24 million Americans without health insurance—and made it even worse,” he said. “Millions more will see their premiums and out-of-pocket costs increase 25 percent on average, with an added ‘age tax’ imposed on Americans over 50.” In March, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that the original bill would increase the number of uninsured people by 24 million. California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) also weighed in. “This bill raises costs and threatens access to care for millions of Americans,” Harris said in a statement. “Republicans passed this bill even while admitting they do not know how much it will cost.” The bill now moves to the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, where it’s expected to receive more scrutiny. A final version still must pass both houses in order to become law.
• Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) partnered with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) on May 2 to introduce legislation that’s intended to improve access to higher education. The Middle Class Creating Higher Education Affordability Necessary to Compete Economically (CHANCE) Act would increase the maximum award amount for Pell Grants and would also restore year-round Pell Grant access. Pell Grants are money awarded by the federal government to college students who’ve demonstrated a financial need. In recent years, the maximum amount awarded per academic year per person was less than $6,000 and usually only covered a small portion of tuition. Under the CHANCE Act, the maximum amount would increase to $9,650 and allow recipients to use the money for 15 semesters instead of the current 12. “Pell Grants are the primary form of financial aid for millions of students, giving them access to an education that might otherwise be out of reach,” Heinrich said in a press release. Carbajal, a Pell Grant recipient himself, said the money helped pay for his college degree. “I know firsthand the difficulty that students from working families face when pursuing the dream of a higher education,” Carbajal said in a statement. “This legislation helps enable students to begin their careers and give back to our communities without the burden of crushing student loan debt.”
• On May 2, Central Coast state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson joined her Senate colleagues in announcing SB100, which is intended to put California on the path to 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2045. “It creates jobs, helps our environment, and furthers our economy,” Jackson said in a Facebook post. “If we could put a man on the moon, we can do this.”
• A bill authored by Central Coast Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton) that would require anyone convicted of rape to register as a sex offender in California was approved by the state Assembly on May 4. Only five out of the seven types of felony rape convictions recognized under state law require a person to register as a sex offender. The two that currently don’t require registration are rape by trickery and fraud and rape by threat of deportation. Cunningham’s bill, AB 484, would eliminate those exceptions. “Particularly in today’s climate of uncertainty, with respect to deportation, it’s imperative that our laws protect the most vulnerable,” Cunningham said on the Assembly floor.
This article appears in May 11-18, 2017.