Now that the 2009 Legislative Session has wrapped up, what are your reflections on your first session in the Assembly?  What is working for California, and what isn’t?

In my first comments in December, I stated there had been very little down time since the election and, as of today, that still applies.  The speed at which the Legislature moves is rapid, and when you add the two massive budget shortfalls, prison overcrowding, the state’s water shortage and boosting the amount of renewable energy the state produces, the pace is indeed fast and furious. However, despite the monumental learning curve, the large work load and the long hours, I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and work with other Legislators and staffers who are truly dedicated to making state government work for all Californians.

What did you take away from the town hall meetings with your constituents this summer? What are you taking back to Washington in terms of their views on health care reform?

What we don’t lack in this debate is passion, on either side of the issue.

Congressman Sam Farr sits down with GT to talk health care reform

Like most of his colleagues, Congressman Sam Farr (D-Calif.) returned home to his district during Congress’ August recess with hopes of talking to his constituents about a variety of national and Central Coast issues. But, like the rest of Congress, he was met by an unusually passionate constituency. Americans are frenzied over health care reform: they want to yell about it, plead for it, praise it and criticize it. They want to ask about it, and they want answers. And so it was that health care reform, and the fiery debate surrounding it, became the centerpiece of Farr’s Town Hall meetings.

GPCI is one of those tricky problems that’s hard to fix because it’s complicated and because it affects a relatively limited area.

The acronym GPCI stands for Geographic Practice Cost Index. Simply put, this index is used to modify Medicare payments to doctors to reflect differences in physician costs in different areas.

This index, established more than 40 years ago, is used to designate counties as either “urban” or “rural,” depending on how expensive it is to operate a practice there.