SB 41 is a classic political play at the expense of Latino families

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OPINION – As a Latino political strategist, it’s always frustrating to see how the titles of bills are strategically manipulated to portray a lie about a bill’s actual intentions. It’s clever, really. People are inherently lazy and couldn’t care less about doing their own due diligence when they vote. There are a number of reasons for this, such as being busy with their own lives, following a party slate order blindly, or they just don’t really care because in their opinion, who cares what they think, not like it would matter anyway, right?

I’ve seen enough to know when a bill is more about headlines than outcomes. Senate Bill 41, pitched as “drug price reform,” isn’t serious reform. It’s a political play designed to give Sacramento lawmakers credibility to be on the good side of a universally hated issue, even if it comes at the expense of the very communities they claim to champion.

The reality is simple: pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) exist to negotiate drug prices and keep networks of local pharmacies intact. They save families, employers, and governments billions every year. But SB 41 doesn’t target Big Pharma or insurers, it dismantles the only system holding drug costs in check. That’s not good policy. That’s political optics 101.

For California’s 15 million Latinos, the stakes couldn’t be higher. We are the frontline workforce, the small business owners, and the caretakers of multigenerational households. Our neighborhoods are where pharmacies close first, where rising premiums cut deepest, and where online-only mandates fail the hardest. A bill that destabilizes pharmacy access isn’t an abstract problem, it’s a direct hit on Latino families.

I can’t picture my 93-year-old Mexican grandmother, who only speaks Spanish and still relies on her neighborhood pharmacy, being forced into a maze of mail-order forms and hotlines she can’t navigate. It was hard enough getting her to figure out how to use Instagram and Facebook, now this? For families like mine, SB-41 isn’t an abstract policy debate. It’s the difference between abuelitas like mine getting her medicine on time or going without.

Lawmakers want to posture as drug-price reformers heading into an election cycle. The press releases will sound tough: “We took on high drug costs.” But the reality will be higher premiums for employers, fewer pharmacy options for patients, and broken supply chains for veterans and families who can least afford the disruption.

This is a classic Sacramento move: frame a bill as populist reform, then quietly align with special interests who stand to gain. The losers are predictable, working families, veterans, and Latino communities already bearing the weight of California’s broken health care system.

As professionals in politics, we know the difference between governing and campaigning. SB-41 is pure campaigning. It gambles with access to medicine in order to generate sound bites and score points with donors. That may be good for Sacramento, but it’s terrible for California.

I’m tired of seeing all these fake headlines resonate with the common Joe voter. People need to wake up and call out a bad policy when they see one. SB 41 doesn’t solve the drug pricing crisis. It weaponizes it. And Latinos will be the first casualties of this rigged political game.

Victor Lopez is a San Diego–born political strategist and founder of Imperio Strategies, advising elected officials, campaigns, and business leaders across California and the U.S.