Lawmakers Won’t Bargaion on Benefits Bill

SACRAMENTO - Democratic lawmakers refused to back down in the face of a potential veto and passed a $3.6 billion benefits increase bill without compromising with Republicans or Gov. Gray Davis.Davis had proposed a less costly plan that relied on the expansion of managed care to control ever-rising workers' comp costs, but the authors of Senate Bill 71 made only minor technical amendments before sending the bill to the governor's desk. In partyline votes, the Assembly approved the bill S