Wilson Won’t Budge, Says State Hospital Must Close

Saying that closing Camarillo State Hospital is “the responsible thing to do,” Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday launched a task force to determine if a public university or other government agency should take over the complex of Spanish-style buildings surrounded by 750 verdant acres.

The governor, issuing a statement from Sacramento, rejected a proposal to save the mental hospital by bolstering its dwindling number of patients with hundreds of sexual predators and other criminals in need of psychiatric attention.

The closure decision left hospital supporters dejected.

“This hits people with a thunderclap, it’s a bolt of lightning,” said John Chase, a leader of parents with children at the hospital. “Jeez, it’s really depressing.”

At the same time, the governor delighted university boosters by opening the door for Cal State University to actively investigate the hospital as a site for a long-promised campus in Ventura County.

“We are going to pursue it vigorously to see if it is going to work as a campus,” said Jim Considine, chairman of Cal State’s board of trustees. “We are very intrigued.”

In his announcement Friday, Wilson stuck by his January budget proposal to close the hospital by July 1, 1997, for economic reasons.

The governor cited Camarillo State Hospital’s “tremendous overhead costs” that have not diminished as its patients have been referred to less-expensive community homes and other facilities.

“Closing the Camarillo facility reflects the change toward treating mentally and developmentally disabled Californians in their own communities rather than in large state institutions,” Wilson said. “ . . .Given that services can be provided more efficiently locally, closure is the responsible thing to do.”

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To close the hospital, Wilson needs the approval of the Legislature, but several key lawmakers Friday said they would work to strip the closure plan from the governor’s budget.

“I think we have to try to impress on the governor that this decision doesn’t make sense,” said Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), who sits on the budget subcommittee that on May 6 rejected the closure plan.

“There really hasn’t been a strong case made for closing Camarillo,” Villaraigosa said. “In fact, there’s a real strong case for maintaining those services.”

Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), who also reviews mental-health funding, criticized Wilson’s announcement as shortsighted.

“We’re going to have to fight the governor on this through the budget process and come up with a new plan,” Watson said. “Once we close down Camarillo, we will never reopen that facility.”

Wilson’s announcement came two days after Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) and Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos) proposed that a Cal State campus share space with the hospital.

Although both lawmakers represent portions of Ventura County, neither has Camarillo State Hospital in his district.

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As a result, their headline-grabbing proposal angered Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), who have been working quietly to come up with a consensus plan for the hospital that lies in their districts.

In an effort to appease their wrath, the governor appointed Wright and Takasugi to lead the task force, which will include an assortment of state officials.

Wilson also stressed that he believes strongly in local control and wants business and community leaders to help the task force determine what replaces the mental hospital.

“This team will work with local government agencies and private-sector groups to examine future uses of the land and buildings that would reflect local preferences and community needs,” Wilson said.

Firestone said he did not intend to offend Wright or Takasugi. But as chairman of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, he said, he wanted the state to get moving on building a university in Ventura County--the largest county in the state without a four-year public college.

“I’m very pleased that the governor is getting into it,” Firestone said. “The governor is very legitimately saying let’s get on with it.”

Neither Wright nor Takasugi were available for comment. But Mark Dodd, Takasugi’s administrative assistant, said the assemblyman is willing to explore all options for the site, including a Cal State campus.

“We would look forward to having the university settle in somewhere,” Dodd said. “The question is whether it is a workable solution.”

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The governor’s announcement thwarts the efforts of a coalition of Ventura County officials and community leaders to convert a portion of Camarillo State to a forensic hospital that treats criminals and patients ordered into therapy by judges.

Closing the hospital would cost Ventura County 1,500 jobs and an $80-million annual payroll.

Stephen W. Mayberg, the state director of mental health, said in March that he supported the conversion if the patient load at Camarillo could be raised from 850 to at least 1,000. That would be a sufficient number of extra patients to justify the hospital’s overhead costs.

But that plan is flawed, Wilson concluded Friday.

Mental health officials have not seen the expected increase in suspects and convicts committed to state hospitals, and prison officials said they can handle sexual predators kept in jail under a new law and other mentally-ill inmates at half the cost with existing facilities.

Both factors have robbed Camarillo State of potential patients needed to drive down its per-bed costs, which now exceed $100,000 annually, the governor concluded.

“I’m sorry to hear this,” said Camarillo Mayor David M. Smith. “It will be a significant loss to the county and for the level of service in mental-health care in our area.”

Smith said it seems unlikely that the same consortium of local elected officials, community groups and union organizers would continue the fight.

Jan McDonald, a Pleasant Valley Elementary School District trustee who has opposed plans to bring mentally-ill prisoners to Camarillo, was elated at the most recent turn of events.

“It’s what we’ve been working towards,” she said. “We need to make it clear that we do not want it converted to a forensic hospital.”

But Brian Bowley, who represents about 600 Camarillo State technicians, described his fellow mental health workers as dismayed.

“It’s devastating for us,” he said. “In the end, it’s a dollars-and-cents issue.”

Weiss is a Times staff writer and McDonald is a correspondent. Staff writer Daryl Kelley also contributed to this report.