BILL NUMBER: AJR 54	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Laird
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Steinberg)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula, Bass, Beall, Berg,
Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Coto, Davis, De La
Torre, De Leon, DeSaulnier, Dymally, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes,
Furutani, Galgiani, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Huffman, Jones,
Karnette, Krekorian, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Mendoza, Mullin,
Nava, Nunez, Parra, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Solorio, Soto, Swanson, Torrico, and Wolk)
   (Coauthors: Senators Alquist, Ducheny, and Kuehl)

                        APRIL 3, 2008

   Relative to the State Children's Health Insurance Program.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 54, as introduced, Laird. State Children's Health Insurance
Program.
   This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the
United States to rescind the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services directive of August 17, 2007, that restricts states'
authority to cover children under the State Children's Health
Insurance Program.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The Congress and the President of the United States
created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997
as a bipartisan effort to help states cover uninsured children; and
   WHEREAS, California's Healthy Families Program, which provides
coverage for nearly 900,000 children in working families whose
parents earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal but cannot afford
private insurance, depends on federal SCHIP dollars for two-thirds of
its funding; and
   WHEREAS, The Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs have earned
overwhelming support among Californians and bipartisan support among
California policymakers, with a track record of success in
dramatically reducing the number of uninsured children in California;
and
   WHEREAS, On August 17, 2007, the federal Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a directive asserting that states must
comply with a series of restrictions that would impair the ability
of California to provide health care coverage to children with SCHIP
funds under the state's current program and any expansion levels
above those in the present program; and
   WHEREAS, If the state is unable to meet all of these requirements,
approximately 34,000 California children could lose their health
insurance and the Healthy Families Program will be prohibited from
using SCHIP funds to cover additional uninsured children in working
families of three persons or more with annual incomes as low as
forty-four thousand dollars ($44,000); and
   WHEREAS, Recently CMS has issued additional directives applying
similar bureaucratic requirements to Medicaid, which shift costs to
states and jeopardize health services for vulnerable children and
families; and
   WHEREAS, The intent of Congress in creating SCHIP was to support
and encourage state flexibility for providing health coverage for
uninsured children, and it is counter to that intent for CMS to
impose bureaucratic obstacles that arbitrarily restrict the states'
authority to design coverage initiatives that meet the needs of their
children and families; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
urges the President and the Congress of the United States to rescind
the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' directive of
August 17, 2007; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States.