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SACRAMENTO –Today Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, presented AB 1109 in Assembly Rules Committee and the bill was voted down on a straight party line vote of 3-7. This bill would have required all California State Legislators elected on or after January 1, 2016, to enroll in Covered California, the state healthcare benefits program, if they wish to use the benefits offered through the legislature.
“If we truly want to understand how the ACA is working and being applied to our everyday life, there is no better way than to enroll in the Exchange along with the people who elected us and share in the same benefits program,” Wilk stated. “If the laws that Sacramento passes are good enough for our citizens; they should be good enough for elected officials to comply with as well.”
On January 1, 2014, the Affordable Care Act went into full effect. By the end of the first open enrollment in April, 1.4 million Californians had signed up for our state's plan called Covered California. And the current figure is 2.2 million enrolled.
Currently, Legislator's salaries and benefits are approved by the Citizens Compensation Commission and signing up on the Covered California website for the exchange program would not affect the commission's jurisdiction over legislator's compensation.