Supervisors Endorse Bill to Protect Health Workers
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which was criticized after a social worker was fatally stabbed two years ago, has conditionally endorsed an Assembly bill designed to increase protection for mental health workers.
The bill, written by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), would require California’s seven largest counties to submit security plans to the state but does not mandate special measures.
Hayden introduced his bill after Robbyn Panitch, a county social worker, was stabbed to death in May, 1989, by a homeless man who wandered into the Santa Monica West Health Clinic.
The board unanimously voted Tuesday to back the bill on the condition that the state, which is facing an estimated $14.3-billion deficit, agrees to provide the funding.
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