BILL NUMBER:  AB 1208
  VETOED	DATE: 10/11/2013




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1208 without my signature.

AB 1208 would mandate that the single, standardized application for
health insurance affordability programs include questions related to
race, ethnicity, primary language, disability status, sexual
orientation, gender identity and expression, so that applicants can
voluntarily report this information beginning in 2015.

We don't need to mandate these requirements in law. The Department of
Health Care Services and Covered California already have the
authority to modify these types of questions on the form, and they
can work constructively with stakeholders to decide what is necessary
to change for 2015 and beyond.

Sincerely,


Edmund G. Brown Jr.