Legislators Stump for Poison Center Funding : Budget: State money for the facilities was cut in the latest spending plan, and Assembly members think the funds should come from manufacturers.

Two members of the state Assembly were in San Diego on Thursday to urge support for a bill designed to fund California’s poison control centers.

The center based at UC San Diego Medical Center is among seven regional centers threatened with closure as a result of recent state budget cuts, Assemblyman Mike Gotch (D-San Diego) said.

About $2.5 million of direct support for regional poison control centers was eliminated earlier this month when Gov. Pete Wilson signed the state budget into law.

The bill, authored by Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Connelly of Sacramento, awaits veto or approval by Wilson by the end of the month. If no decision is made by Oct. 1, the bill becomes law, Connelly said.

The bill would authorize the Emergency Medical Services Authority to collect fees from manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods whose products are most frequently reported in poisoning cases. The authority monitors all calls to California’s poison control centers.

The fees, estimated to total between $4.5 million and $5 million, would be used to fund poison control center services in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Irvine and Fresno.

The San Diego center now receives about 25% of its $750,000 yearly operating budget directly from the state. Fifteen percent of funding comes from the county, which, this year, faces a nearly $50-million deficit, making cuts at the county level likely, said Dr. Anthony Manoguerra, director of the local center. The county budget is expected to be made final late next month.

Connelly’s measure has been supported by center administrators and a bipartisan majority in the Legislature. It puts the onus of poison center funding on the manufacturers of products responsible for a minimum of one quarter of 1% of the reported poisonings in California.

Last year, about 60% of the reported poisonings involved pharmaceutical items, including cough and cold products, prescription drugs and topical medicines. The remaining cases involved alcohol, heavy metals, mushrooms and household products such as cosmetics, cleaning solvents, glues and insecticides.

Several lobbying groups sponsored by manufacturing associations have voiced opposition to the bill, saying the bill will single out a narrow group of businesses to pay for a public service.

Three lobbying groups in Sacramento and Washington representing pharmaceutical companies did not return calls Thursday.

Of the seven centers, San Diego’s is one of the busiest, serving about 2.8 million residents in San Diego and Imperial counties, said the center’s medical director, Richard Clarke. Last year, the San Diego facility answered about 800,000 emergency and information calls. Nearly two-thirds of the emergency calls involved children 6 years or younger, Clarke said.

Education programs, the number of phone lines and staff hours have been reduced this year, cutting back the number of operators from three to two during the busiest periods of the day, Manoguerra said.

Amid the cutbacks, the workload has continued to grow. In August, the center recorded its busiest month during its 20 years of operation, Manoguerra said. About 5,300 calls were received.

The local center’s financial base is stronger than four regional centers that face immediate closure if Connelly’s bill is not passed, Manoguerra said.

The San Diego center receives more than half its funding from non-governmental sources, including UC San Diego Medical Center, the Hospital Council of San Diego and Imperial counties and from users of the service. If the bill is vetoed, the San Diego center would operate with scaled-down services for at least another year, Manoguerra said.