At least one healthcare reform advocate is disappointed with the governor's signing of Senate Bill 5945, legislation that promises health coverage for every Washingtonian by 2014.
Not only was that promise moved back from 2012, but, at the bill's May 18 signing, says Robby Stern, an organizer with the Healthy Washington Coalition, the governor made an unexpected move: She vetoed an important section of the bill creating an advisory group that was supposed to monitor the state's progress on affordable health care and align that with federal efforts aimed at reform.
The governor stated there was no money to staff the advisory group, Stern says in an e-mail to supporters. But if the coalition had known in advance, it "could have possibly considered raising private dollars to meet the costs," he says. "Instead, we were not even given a 'heads up,' much less consulted."