Priority for Area Legislators : Hospital Funding Will Be Key Issue

When the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 4, South Bay lawmakers say one of the key issues on their agenda will be finding a way to pump funds into Los Angeles County’s ailing network of hospital trauma centers.

In the South Bay, the controversy over trauma centers--which provide emergency care using special medical teams and advanced technology--was spotlighted in June when Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood dropped out of the system.

Daniel Freeman cited losses of more than $2.5 million due to unreimbursed treatment of indigent trauma patients. The hospital’s departure left a large chunk of the county’s western area outside a desired 20-minute ambulance ride to a trauma center.

Gov. George Deukmejian, who maintains that trauma centers are local programs and not a state responsibility, twice has vetoed appropriations for the centers. But when the Legislature reconvenes next month, lawmakers plan to renew their efforts.

‘Top Priority’

“The top priority for me is opening up those trauma centers,” said Assemblyman Curtis R. Tucker (D-Inglewood), chairman of the Assembly Health Committee.

Tucker is concerned that if a medical emergency occurs in his 50th Assembly District, victims must be driven to one of the 17 remaining centers in the county, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Los Angeles or Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. Further, he said, if an airplane crashes at Los Angeles International Airport “we won’t be prepared.”

Christie Ciraulo, director of public relations at Daniel Freeman, said the hospital “would always consider coming back in if the funds were available.”

Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne) and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) have also put trauma centers on their legislative wish lists for 1988. Among other statewide priorities South Bay lawmakers cited were passage of measures to reduce insurance premiums, to reinstate Cal/OSHA, the state’s worker-safety program, and to increase education funding.

They also expect to tackle a variety of district-oriented bills--from establishing a marine sanctuary off Catalina Island to lobbying the state Department of Transportation to accelerate the pace of construction of homes for residents displaced by the Century Freeway.

One issue that could affect South Bay politics is Deukmejian’s appointment of Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) as state treasurer. The Legislature is scheduled to begin hearings on his confirmation next month.

If Lungren is confirmed, his district, which includes Torrance and the Palos Verdes Peninsula, will be up for grabs. Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro) has announced his candidacy for Lungren’s seat.

Felando and Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-Long Beach) have been appointed to a 19-member Assembly committee to review Lungren’s nomination. Noting his self-interest in the process, Felando said his role on the committee will be “to make sure they move in a judicious manner. With dispatch.”

Felando predicted that, unlike most other years, the overall tone of the session in the Assembly will be harmonious. “I think it will be just like last year. Everyone will get along. We’ll get our work done,” Felando said.

‘Gut-Level Issues’

In the Senate, Watson expects the session to be spirited as lawmakers deal with “some gut-level issues,” such as how to handle the growing number of homeless persons. With elections next year, Watson said “everyone will be posturing.”

The seven South Bay legislators listed the following issues and bills at the top of their agendas for 1988:

Elder said that voters in his district, which includes Wilmington, San Pedro and Carson, responded to a recent survey from his office by ranking reform of insurance rates, especially auto premiums, as their top priority. In response, Elder said he plans to push for legislation to make it easier to purchase insurance and to lower rates.

Elder, who is chairman of the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee, said he is considering whether to introduce a bill to prohibit the Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System from buying foreign stocks. Elder questioned whether those retirement systems should invest outside the United States.

Felando said he will seek to revive a bill by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) that Deukmejian vetoed in September. The measure would have increased the amount of money the state reimburses operators of residential care homes that serve the developmentally disabled. Felando said the governor’s veto was part of “a misunderstanding on where the funds were coming from. They were already budgeted.”

Floyd said his top priority is restoring Cal/OSHA. A year ago, Deukmejian refused to budget funds for the worker-safety agency, but Assembly Democrats restored $7 million to pay for enforcement of industrial safety standards. Deukmejian vetoed the plan. He has argued that the program could be taken over by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Floyd, chairman of the Assembly Labor Committee, has held hearings on the issue, supports a ballot initiative to restore Cal/OSHA and is one of the governor’s sharpest critics on the issue. Floyd said the governor’s position is “endangering many, many lives needlessly.”

Tucker said that besides seeking funds for trauma centers, he plans to push for a bill to require the state Department of Health Services to increase the amount of money physicians and hospitals are reimbursed for obstetric services for low-income mothers enrolled in the state’s Medi-Cal program.

Tucker said many obstetricians fail to sign up to participate in the Medi-Cal program because the state pays them too little. The bill, which would boost Medi-Cal costs by an estimated $27.3 million in the first year, passed the Assembly in July by a 45-26 margin and was sent to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. Tucker hopes the committee will act on the bill next month.

The South Bay’s three senators spelled out the following priorities:

Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) said he plans to introduce a bill to create a marine sanctuary at Big Fisherman Cove near the Isthmus on Catalina Island. Under the measure, fishing would be prohibited in the area to enable long-term research projects by USC’s Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies, which is sponsoring the legislation.

Beverly said he will push for final passage of a measure to give over-the-counter stocks the same standing in California as stocks on the New York and American exchanges. Under the bill, if stocks traded by the National Assn. of Securities Dealers have similar corporate governance and voting rights standards as the other major exchanges, they would enjoy the same exemption from Department of Corporations review of their public offerings. In July, the Senate approved the bill 37-0 and sent it to the Assembly, where Beverly hopes to win final passage.

Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena) said he would support increased funds for a broad range of health, welfare and education programs. “Of course, the top item is money and all the rest of them (issues) are insignificant,” Dills said.

In particular, he said, “we’re going to have to have more money for schools,” especially to educate non-English speaking immigrants who are moving into his district. As chairman of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, Dills also will have a major hand in shaping bills affecting gambling, horse racing and liquor industries.

Watson said her office will conduct a demographic study of her 28th Senate District, which includes Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale and a small part of Torrance. She said the results will assist her when the Legislature begins to redraw district boundaries after the 1990 election. “I want to get a visual view of the changing demographics,” Watson said, pointing out that there has been an influx of Asians and Latinos in her district.

On another local issue, Watson said she plans to establish a nonprofit economic development project to encourage the state to employ more minority contractors in the construction of housing to replace homes removed from the path of the Century Freeway. She said that she hopes the group would also oversee the construction of replacement housing.

Watson, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which has studied the AIDS crisis, said she will introduce bills establishing programs to educate such high-risk groups as minority women and intravenous drug users about the disease. “I’m surprised about the lack of information on how AIDS is transmitted,” she said.