"This veto is out of touch with the real economy that many Californians are facing," Doug Heller, Consumer Watchdog executive director said in a release. "Why would a program that has allowed nearly 50,000 Californians to buy auto insurance instead of driving uninsured and doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime be on the Governor's chopping block? It's not just low-income families who benefit from this program but all the people who have had their claims paid because another driver was carrying this policy."
The current program, in effect ever since 2000, allows driver who have low incomes to insure their vehicles for some $350 a year. It was set in place in an attempt to limit the number of uninsured drivers in the state. According to Consumer Watchdog, the number of drivers who got an insurance through his program is about 50,000, with nearly all of them having no prior insurance.
On the other hand, the Governor said he decided to veto the bill due to the fact that "the effectiveness of the program is questionable given the number of policies in effect and low participation rate amongst the insured." According to Los Angeles Times, he asked Assemblyman Dave Jones, one of the authors of the bill, to send a revised version to be taken into account next year.
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