Identify specific legislative District State Governor, areas of focus and interest State Senators, committees and appointments

Because of the complexity and policy issues, State and Federal legislators always depend on their staff, experts in the field, practitioners, lobbyists, community members, and researchers to collect information and design policies that address a need. The current work is concerned with the legislative assignments on health policy in California, USA.

Legislative Health Policies in California

Every year the California State follows close to 50 healthcare-related bills to improve its health care system (Myers et al., 2020). Jin Wood chairs California State Assembly Committee on Health, and the committee consists of nine assembly members (both from Democratic and Republican Parties).

Primarily, the committee evaluates bills relating to mental health, alcohol and drug abuse, health insurance, public health, and related institutions. A major victory for Governor Newsom was adopting the Health4All Adult bill that expanded the Medi-Cal to all low-income young adults, regardless of immigration status.

Following the success of this law, the Assembly brought hope to immigrants living in California. In mid-February 2021, a group of state legislators (Democratic Party) introduced legislation in the Assembly to establish a single-payer health care system to cover all persons living in California (Hart & Bluth, 2021).

The activity sparked enormous political debate in California, putting Governor Newsom under intense political pressure. Ash Kalra, a State Assembly member, has since expressed unwavering support for the bill, arguing that the bill will address the gaps in the health care, which were exposed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately, Jim Wood, the chair of the Assembly Health Committee, has cast doubt on the adoption of the bill, maintaining that the state should instead focus on the Affordable Care Act and not the enactment of the bill.

Conclusion

California is known for its improved health care, and just a few weeks into 2021, its members of the assembly are not disappointing. They are already engaged on a heated debate on the best ways to offer accessible, quality, and affordable health care. The proposed and enacted bills put California at the forefront, opposed to the powerful health industries that focus on money-making.

References

• Hart, A, & Bluth, R, (2021). New Single-Payer Bill Intensifies Newsom’s Political Peril. Retrieved from https //khn.org/news/article/new-single-payer-bill-intensifies-newsoms-political-peril/
  Myers, L. C., Parodi, S. M., Escobar, G. J., & Liu, V. X. (2020). Characteristics of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 in an integrated health care system in California. Jama, 323(21), 2195-2198. Doi 10.1001/jama.2020.7202