NFIB

The California State Assembly passed AB 1X Monday afternoon with little more than hour debate.  While the bill itself does not contain the taxes, it does hold the mandate on employers and sets the stage for largest tax increase in California history.

AB 1X moves to the State Senate where it faces a major challenge in the fact that Senate Pro Tem Don Perata puts the brakes to any deal pending a fiscal analysis by the legislature’s non-partisian analyst.  This announcement means that any movement is on hold until mid-January. 

Senator Perata raised an issue that rarely comes to attention in the legislature. With a $14 billion budget deficit going into next year, Senator Perata claimed that it was “imprudent” and “impolitic” to enact a massive $14 billion government health care program in the midst of an equaly massive defiicit.  While politicians rarely give voters credit for seeing through political ruses, Senator Perata’s comments seem to indicate that at least some of our elected officials realize voters actually do pay attention.