California’s single-payer dreams have been dashed again.

Legislation to create what would be the nation’s first government funded state-run health care system failed to get a vote Monday on the Assembly floor, effectively ending the push for single-payer this session. 

High drama surrounding CA AB1400 (21R) by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) had made it the highest-profile piece of legislation remaining from last year.

Kalratold progressive Democratic activists that he didn’t bring the bill up for a floor vote because he anticipated the bill would have failed by a double-digit margin. He concluded that a futile vote would only have made it more difficult to cultivate support from other lawmakers for a bill next year.

“Putting them in that position knowing the bill wouldn’t pass anyway would have further alienated them,” Kalra said on a Monday evening call.

But he still faced fury from supporters who had invested their hopes in the bill’s passage, many of whom challenged Kalra’s decision and urged him to […]