California Governor Edmund Brown [official website] signed [press release] a bill into law on Friday that attempts to allow undocumented immigrants to purchase healthcare plans. The bill, SB 10 [text] , allows the healthcare exchanges set up in the state to seek a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [official website] to ensure that individuals who are able to afford healthcare but cannot due to their immigration status are legally able to purchase plans offered in conjunction with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) [text, PDF]. SB 10 would only require the collection of pertinent information in order to establish identity to allow those with an undocumented status to purchase plans without their immigration status being a factor. The bill also mandates that individuals who purchase healthcare under the waiver do so without state and federal assistance or intervention. The bill asks for immediate relief from the federal government in order to ensure the peace and health of the public.

Immigration policy and the ACA, the two issued directly addressed by SB 10, are highly contested domestic policy platforms of the Obama administration. The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] in April ruled in favor [JURIST report] of House Republicans in a challenge to the ACA. The US Supreme Court [official website] heard [JURIST report] oral arguments also in April in United States v. Texas [transcript, PDF] on the Obama administration’s controversial immigration policy. Last week the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] asked [JURIST report] a federal appeals court to vacate the sanctions imposed by a district judge, which are part of the ongoing immigration debate where 26 states sued over the immigration policy. The sanctions [JURIST report] require any DOJ lawyer appearing in court in any of the 26 states to undergo a mandatory ethics class.