State Funds Asked for Trauma Centers
Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said they will ask state budget conference committee members to earmark more than $100 million generated by new tobacco taxes for hospitals sharing a heavy portion of trauma and emergency care.
“We once had a safety net. Now there is a huge hole in that net,” said Roos, noting that Whittier Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital’s recently announced plans to close its trauma facility would leave the Los Angeles area with only 13 of its original 23 trauma centers.
Roos and Waters told a news conference at the Queen of Angels/Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, which has closed its trauma facility, that the funds could come from the accounts established under Proposition 99, a tax measure approved by voters last November.
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