SALT LAKE CITY — If House Republicans won’t hear “Healthy Utah,” the governor and Senate’s plan for Medicaid expansion, House Democrats plan to proceed without them.
The House Democratic Caucus announced Monday it planned to hold a “public committee hearing” on Tuesday night over Senate Bill 164.
“We have spent three years in negotiations to come up with the Healthy Utah plan, and we are not backing down. This is not about politics, or government branch against government branch,” said House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, in a statement Monday. “This is about the people we lose every single year from kicking this can down the road. These people deserve our attention, they deserve our support, and we are here to hear from them.”
The committee hearing, which will feature Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Salt Lake City, the sponsor of SB164, is scheduled to take place Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Senate building.
House GOP leaders have thus far said they would not bring SB164 to the floor for a vote, insisting there are not enough votes for it. On Monday, House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said their version of a Medicaid expansion bill is a “work in progress.”
