Panel Rejects State Hospital Closure Proposal

After hearing the testimony of a determined group of Ventura County mental health advocates and community leaders, a committee of key state lawmakers on Monday flatly rejected Gov. Pete Wilson’s call to close Camarillo State Hospital.

In voting unanimously to oppose Wilson’s closure plans, the Assembly’s budget subcommittee gave an unexpected boost to a counterplan to convert the hospital to a medium-security facility that would treat mentally ill prisoners.

The decision, however, is merely the first of several votes that will be taken this month concerning the future of Camarillo State Hospital. The Senate budget subcommittee will next consider the issue May 13.

A diverse contingent of community leaders, elected officials and labor union representatives traveled to Sacramento on Monday to lobby the Assembly subcommittee on behalf of the hospital.

None of the Ventura County contingent had expected the subcommittee to actually vote on the issue Monday. After the subcommittee’s action, however, they agreed that their testimony appeared to have worked.

Essie Rodgers, president of the Green Line Parent Group, advocates for developmentally disabled patients, pitched a plan that calls for making Camarillo State more cost-effective by bringing in prisoners who need mental heath treatment.

But besides inviting more forensic patients, Rodgers’ compromise would allow most retarded and mentally ill patients who are from parts of the San Fernando Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties to remain at Camarillo.

Assembly budget analyst Sarah Olsen said the subcommittee vote followed a statement by Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles) that he would like to see the Wilson Administration look seriously at the proposal by Rodgers “to do a dual operation.”

“I feel very, very victorious about the entire day,” said Rodgers, who has a daughter in treatment at Camarillo State. “On the 13th, when we come back up here, we will have exactly what we want.”

The state Senate budget subcommittee is scheduled to consider funding for the Departments of Mental Health and Developmental Services--including Camarillo State--at next Monday’s hearing.

“I know we made an impression in the hearing today,” Rodgers said.

If the Senate subcommittee makes the same recommendation next Monday, Wilson would be forced to reconsider the closure plans when he releases his revised budget on May 21.

At the very least, the issue of mental health funding and Camarillo State would go to the so-called Big 5--Wilson and the top leaders in the Senate and Assembly--for private negotiations, sources said.

Rodgers was joined by nearly a dozen other community leaders, elected officials and union representatives who traveled to Sacramento to urge the subcommittee not to close Camarillo State.

The unanimous decision also followed a plea to the subcommittee by state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) to delay consideration of Wilson’s closure plan until after the governor releases his revised budget.

Many of those who testified at the hearing were hustling to catch a plane late Monday and first got word of the rejection through a news reporter.

But that did little to dampen their high spirits.

“That’s kind of surprising because I thought they would continue the issue,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn, one of the first to testify on behalf of the plan to keep the hospital open by bringing in mentally ill prisoners.

“But that’s good news,” Flynn said. “I think they were impressed with the way we gave our testimony. We were open to compromise and the community is open.”

Members of the grass-roots coalition calling itself Concerned Citizens of Camarillo, which distributed 20,000 fliers opposing plans to treat prisoners at the hospital, were disappointed in the ruling.

“We can’t do anything about what an Assembly subcommittee does,” said Camarillo City Councilman Mike Morgan, a supervisorial candidate who has spent much of his campaign opposing the conversion of Camarillo State to a forensic hospital.

“It’s disappointing,” Morgan said. “But I want to hold off and see exactly what the recommendation is.”

No one from the Concerned Citizens of Camarillo made the trip to Sacramento to lobby the subcommittee. But coalition organizer, Jan McDonald, said group members might attend next week’s Senate subcommittee hearing.

Brian Bowley, president of the local chapter of the labor union that represents about 600 Camarillo State technicians, hailed the decision late Monday.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I think it’s great, assuming the full Assembly adopts the same position.”

But he made no secret about liking his chances once the full budget bill is considered later this spring.

“The full Assembly will almost always do what the subcommittees recommend,” Bowley said. “They don’t have any real knowledge of the issue other than what the subcommittee tells them.

“That’s the purpose of subcommittees,” he said.

Bowley said he presented the panel with more than 7,500 signatures from Ventura County residents who support the alternate plan to keep Camarillo State open by bringing in mentally ill prisoners.

“It looks very good,” Bowley said. “From a political standpoint, we’ve won it but financially, it’s another matter.”