County Expects Wilson Backing in Hospital Battle

Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to step into the escalating political fracas over the size of a replacement hospital for County-USC Medical Center, and sources say he will side with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, perhaps as early as today, in their efforts to build a 600-bed facility.

County officials said at the supervisors’ weekly board meeting Tuesday that they expect Wilson to veto a bill by state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) that would require the supervisors to build a larger hospital that could ultimately hold 750 beds--or lose about $225 million in state construction funds for the project.

That bill was passed by the state Legislature last week at the urging of Solis and an assertive coalition of lawmakers, most of them Latino Democrats from Los Angeles’ Eastside who say their constituents need far more than 600 beds in a new County-USC Medical Center.

The existing Boyle Heights hospital and trauma center was damaged beyond repair in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The supervisors voted 4 to 1 in November to build a 600-bed facility, saying the county can’t afford any more and is shifting to a health care system that emphasizes outpatient care.

If Wilson does veto the Solis bill, it would be a victory for the county because the supervisors would retain the ability to get the funds at a future date without committing to the 750-bed facility that the Eastside lawmakers continue to demand.

Wilson spokesman Sean Walsh said Tuesday that the governor was still reviewing the Solis bill with his top aides and would not decide until today at the earliest whether to approve or veto it.

Walsh did say, however, “The governor generally tends to favor local control,” in which elected local officials like the county supervisors are allowed to make fiscal decisions without interference from Sacramento.

A source familiar with the governor’s deliberations said Wilson is “95% committed to” a veto, and it is “extremely unlikely” that he will sign a measure that circumvents local control.

County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said Wilson’s top finance and health advisors have urged such a veto on local control grounds. “It is a county hospital, not a state hospital,” Janssen said, “and [the supervisors] make the final decision and are responsible for paying for it.”

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky agreed. “There is no reason for [Wilson] to sign a bill that will take away our local control, that would reverse our course on our commitment to downsize our hospital program--a strategy that the governor’s administration has been an integral part of,” he said.

To prod Wilson, Yaroslavsky and supervisors Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe voted Tuesday to send the governor a letter reminding him that the supervisors “are best positioned to determine local priorities.”

Supervisor Gloria Molina, the lone board member to insist on a larger hospital for her Eastside constituents, was on vacation Tuesday, as was Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

But even as the supervisors were asserting their political independence, the legislative coalition was heavily lobbying Wilson, too.

The coalition includes Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, (D-Los Angeles) and other Sacramento power brokers such as Sen. Richard G. Polanco, (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park). On Tuesday, they continued to insist that they should have a say in how state moneys are spent on the local level--especially for an institution long considered a bulwark of the public health care system on which so many of their constituents rely.

As a compromise, coalition members have offered to back down from a 750-bed facility--which was supported initially by the county Health Services Department--in favor of a hospital that could be built with room for 750 beds but opened with only 600. In recent weeks, the lawmakers promised $40 million more for community health centers.

But on Tuesday, Yaroslavsky described the so-called “shell” concept as “political camouflage,” saying the state lawmakers want such a facility to have plumbing, special electrical outlets and “everything else . . . except beds.”

The supervisors have set a Sept. 15 date to revisit the issue. At that time, Janssen said Tuesday, if the legislative coalition is still threatening to withhold the $225 million, the board will vote to cut that money out of their project budget and build an even smaller hospital with 500 beds.