SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — While Gov. Jerry Brown approved high-profile legislation addressing social issues such as aid-in-dying, animal antibiotics and the gender wage gap this year, he kept a tight grip on California’s pocketbook by rejecting more than a dozen bills that sought to increase health care benefits and tax credits for the poor.
In exercising his veto pen, the Democratic governor expressed frustration with lawmakers who failed to address a funding shortfall in Medi-Cal, the state’s health care program for the poor. Brown called the Legislature into a special session this summer to decide whether to extend a $1 billion tax on health plans or cut services in a $91 billion program that offers care to roughly 1 in 3 Californians.
“Given these financial uncertainties, I cannot support providing additional tax credits that will make balancing the state’s budget even more difficult,” Brown wrote in one message blocking nine bills that sought to help low-income families finance everything from homes to new appliances.
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