Collective bargaining update

On May 29, the Texas state senate gave final approval to a law that would allow physicians to negotiate collectively with managed care organizations. The bill arrived on Gov. George W. Bush’s desk June 1, where it sits along with 1,000 other bills awaiting the governor’s signature, according to a Bush spokesman. If Bush neither signs nor vetoes the bill, it will become law on June 20. Bush still has offered no opinion on the collective bargaining legislation, but supporters of the bill remain hopeful, despite a last-minute letter-writing campaign in opposition to the bill from the Austin-based Texas Association of Business and Chambers of Commerce, says Ken Ortolon, spokesman for the Texas Medical Association in Austin.