Health care bill a ‘no’ for Artur Davis

If House Bill 3200 came to vote today, Artur Davis would send the controversial health care legislation back to Capitol Hill with a big fat “no.”

“I’m certainly not for a system where individuals do not have the right to make private choice and I’m not for a system where the private sector disappears and the government is in the business of providing health care,” Davis, a Birmingham Democrat who represents Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District, told the Opelika-Auburn News.

“If the term universal health care system is another way of referring to the bill in the House, I am against it,” he said. “If universal health care means access for everybody to get health insurance, then I’m for that an the American people are for that.”

But Davis didn’t visit east Alabama to send a message about health care reform.

He’s running for governor.

Davis, campaigning against State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks for the Democratic nomination, spoke with the newspaper Tuesday afternoon. His campaign platform may include lowering the state’s drop-out rate and restoring public trust in state government, but the hot button topic was health care.

“I think Washington has lost its way on this issue,” he said. “What I see, especially in the House of Representatives, is more of a fixation on ideology than on results. There are a number of things about the bill in the House that I don’t like and if the bill in the House came up for a vote on the floor I would vote “no” unless there were some substantial changes made.”

Individual rights are one thing, but Davis fears HB 3200 could have a negative effect on the workforce, namely small businesses.

“When we come out of this recession, it is vitally important that businesses create jobs,” he said. “To say the businesses that we will mandate you to provide health insurance for your employees unless your payroll is below a certain amount. That’s an incentive to keep your payroll low. That’s an incentive to keep your workforce low. That’s exactly the wrong incentive coming out of a recession. That’s something that needs to be fixed in this bill but the leadership in the House won’t fix it.”

‘Let’s end legal dropping out’

It’s clear to see that Davis is aggressively determined to steer Alabama’s drop-out rate in another direction.

“In a good year, Alabama’s high school drop-out rate is 33 percent,” Davis said. “That’s unacceptably high numbers.”

Davis proposes that Alabama increased the state’s minimum drop-out age to 18 years old, and he’s created an incentive plan to see that through — a plan that includes drop-outs losing their drivers’ licenses.

“I don’t think a young man or woman can compete without a high school diploma,” he said. “Let’s end legal dropping out. There is no reason to leave school before you are 18.”

Davis’ proposal does come with some exceptions, including health reasons.

But kids aren’t the only ones with incentives. Davis’ proposal includes a child tax credit of $500 per SCHIP-eligible household but only if the children stay in school and restrain from threatening violence or using violence against educators or classmates.

“I want to say to parents that you have a responsibility and ought to have an incentive toward the best possible conduct,” Davis said.

Other related programs intended to decrease Alabama’s drop-out rate include early detection of potential drop-outs and providing counseling and special programs for them.

Restoring public trust

Reducing Alabama’s drop-out rate is only part of Davis’ agenda. Increasing public trust in state government is another.

“Being in D.C., I remember all of the scandals in Washington involving people I served with in the Congress,” he said. “Congress tried to clean up its act several years ago. Congress passed a ban on gifts. Congress passed a ban on private planes ... If Washington can abide by those standards, then Montgomery ought to be able to abide by them too.”

Davis wants to draw a line in the sand regarding gifts to Alabama legislators. He wants to impose a “total ban on gifts with no loopholes,” and wants to institute a cap on all campaign contributions.

“We have laid out what I think would be the strongest ethics program ever even considered in Alabama,” he said. “It’s something that would restore confidence in government and it’s something that would clean up a lot of the obvious problems with the way campaigns are financed and the way lobbyists interact in the state of Alabama with politicians.

“The system we have today where individuals can write unlimited checks, vast amounts of money ... that creates too much insider influence and too much of a perception of insider influence.

“We need stronger conflict of interest rules for our state legislators. You shouldn’t be able to use your discretionary fund to benefit your employer or your family. You shouldn’t be able to transfer state money to a school that you work for or to an entity that employs your wife or your children.”

Davis is weary of people’s lack of faith in their leaders.

“Too many people say to me, ‘We don’t trust politicians. We don’t trust government. We think there is too much money involved. We think there is too much special interest influence. Too much self-dealing on the part of politicians.’ Whether they are right or wrong in their disdain for politicians, what they feel is very real,” he said. “It’s impossible if we don’t clean up Alabama government and clean up Alabama politics.”

The main thing Davis said he’s learned in Washington is leaving partisan politics behind.

“I’ve learned that partisanship and ideology get in the way of getting things done,” he said. “In my seven years in D.C., I’ve seen good idea after good idea derailed by partisanship and partisan bickering. I’ve seen opportunities for compromise that collapsed because Washington insiders were more focused on who gets credit instead of who gets results. If you want to make things work, you’ve got to learn how to work across party lines.”