SACRAMENTO - Historic health care reform legislation extending coverage to millions of California's uninsured, including all children, was approved by the state Senate and Assembly today by votes of 22-17 and 45-31, respectively.

Assembly Bill 8, co-authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland), now heads to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk for consideration.

"I believe today is an historic opportunity for California to put itself on the map once again, to send a loud and clear message to Washington, D.C. that the inaction of Congress and our President to deliver on health care reform is falling on California and the state legislature," Speaker Núñez said on the Assembly floor. "This year we will lead the nation in real comprehensive health care reform."

"This bill is not perfect, but it's the best we could come up with this year and better than anything produced by any other state in the nation so far," Perata said. "We've taken a giant, important step here by coming up with a practical, workable plan to make sure every working Californian has access to affordable health care."

"The Governor should sign this," Perata added. "However, if the Governor rejects this, we will pick up ourselves and go at it again. I am committed to fixing California's broken health care system, and if we need to do it in a special session, so be it."

"AB 8 is based on the principal that health care shouldn't just be available for those that can afford it, but that it should be a right for each and every Californian," Speaker Nunez added. "This bill represents more than a year and a half of work on the part of Democrats in both the Assembly and Senate to come around to a comprehensive health care reform package for California."

AB 8 would extend health insurance to more than two-thirds of the 5 million Californians now uninsured. AB 8 would also insure all children, take steps to rein in spiraling medical costs and guarantee coverage for people who have pre-existing medical conditions.

The legislation does this through a system of shared responsibility in which employers, employees and government each pays a portion of the costs.

AB 8 is backed by a diverse array of labor groups, children's health advocates, and others, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), California Labor Federation, AARP, Health Access, 100% Campaign, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), California Teachers Association (CTA), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

AB 8 is the product of close to two years of negotiation and engagement with health care providers, businesses, labor, hospitals, doctors, children's health advocates, and others interested in promoting comprehensive health care in California. AB 8:

• Builds on the employer-based system in which most Californians already get their health care;
• Promotes shared responsibility from employers, employees, and where necessary the state;
• Mandates that most employers must meet a minimum spending threshold of 7.5% of payroll on insurance, contributing that fee into a statewide fund or spending it directly on their employees;
• Allows all employees whose employers pay a fee to get coverage through a statewide purchasing pool that will negotiate for discounted prices with health insurers;
• Encourages employees to use pretax income to pay for health insurance premiums;
• Provides prorated subsidies for families below 300% of the federal poverty level so working people can afford to pay their insurance premiums;
• Mandates that insurance companies must use 85 cents out of every premium dollar to go to health care, not administration;
• Ends cherry picking by insurers, ensuring that most people will have to be offered coverage by insurance companies at a competitive rate;
• Establishes the new California Health Care Cost and Quality Transparency Commission and requires the commission to develop, implement and update a health care quality and cost containment plan to help improve health outcomes for Californians and keep health care costs affordable;
• Expands access to Medi-Cal/Healthy Families, broadening eligibility to include both parents and children with incomes between 133% and 300% of the federal poverty level;
• Promotes prevention and management of chronic disease such as asthma and diabetes;
• Assists with personal health and wellness management; and
• Simplifies benefit choices in the insurance market so that everyone can make real world, apples to apples comparisons when they are choosing a health plan.