The California Sleep Society Board of Directors and the co-sponsors of the bill, Senator President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Senator Jeff Denham (R-Modesto), were working in good faith with all of the relevant stakeholders and state agencies. In response to the underlying issues of the legislation and the diligent work by you and the sponsors, the bill received strong bipartisan support, demonstrated in the fact that SB 1526 passed the Assembly with a 67-10 vote, and the Senate 38-2.

Unfortunately, because of a long and contentious debate over the state budget, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1526 along with almost two hundred other bills with the following boilerplate message: "The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 state budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California. This bill does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time." The veto of the bill was unrelated to the merits of the legislation; it was vetoed by the Governor solely for political reasons.

The California Sleep Society Board of Directors, along with the AASM and AAST will be working toward the passage of this legislation. We will keep you posted with any new developments.

If you have any questions or need further information on the bill, please contact either CSS President Clete Kushida at clete@stanford.edu or AASM Senior Health Policy and Government Affairs Analyst Ted Thurn at tthurn@aasment.org or AASM Government Relations Coordinator Taylor Frawley at tfrawley@aasmnet.org