BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 57 (Alarcon)
          As Amended July 12, 2005
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :24-13  
           
           HEALTH              8-4         PUBLIC SAFETY       5-2         
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Chan, Berg, Mullin,       |Ayes:|Leno, Ruskin, Dymally,    |
          |     |Dymally, Jones, Laird,    |     |Goldberg, Hancock         |
          |     |Ridley-Thomas, De La      |     |                          |
          |     |Torre                     |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Aghazarian, Nakanishi,    |Nays:|La Suer, Spitzer          |
          |     |Richman, Strickland       |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY :  Permits an additional penalty assessment of $2 for  
          every $10 or fraction thereof to be collected upon Alcohol  
          Beverage Control (ABC) Act and Vehicle Code offenses.  Requires  
          revenue generated from the assessment to be deposited into the  
          Maddy Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fund, with 15% designated  
          for pediatric trauma centers.   Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Permits, for purposes of supporting EMS, as specified, a  
            county board of supervisors to elect to levy an additional  
            penalty of $2 for every $10 or fraction thereof, which is to  
            be collected together with and in the same manner as existing  
            assessments, as specified, upon every fine, penalty, or  
            forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for criminal  
            offenses, including violations relating to the ABC Act, and  
            Vehicle Code violations, and local ordinances adopted pursuant  
            to the Vehicle Code except parking offenses, as specified.

          2)Requires moneys collected pursuant to #1) above to be taken  
            from fines and forfeitures deposited with the county treasurer  
            prior to other specified assessments.

          3)Requires funds collected pursuant to #1) to be deposited into  
            the Maddy EMS Fund, as specified.









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          4)Requires 15% of the money deposited in the Maddy EMS Fund  
            pursuant to #1) above to be utilized to provide funding for  
            all pediatric trauma centers throughout the county, both  
            publicly and privately owned and operated.  Limits expenditure  
            of this money to reimbursement to physicians and surgeons,  
            hospitals for patients who do not make payment for services,  
            or to hospitals for expanding the services provided at  
            pediatric trauma centers, including the purchase of equipment.  
             Refers to this provision as the "Pediatric Care Allocation."

          5)Requires counties that do not maintain pediatric trauma  
            centers to utilize the money deposited into the Maddy EMS Fund  
            to improve access to pediatric trauma and emergency services  
            in the county, with preference for funding given to hospitals  
            that specialize in services to children, and physicians and  
            surgeons who provide care for children.  Permits funding to be  
            used for administrative costs, as specified.

          6)Requires costs of administering money deposited into the Maddy  
            EMS Fund pursuant to #1) above to be reimbursed from the money  
            collected, not to exceed 10%.

          7)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2009.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes the:

          1)ABC Act, which is an exercise of the police powers of the  
            state for the protection of the safety, welfare, health,  
            peace, and morals of the people of the state, to eliminate the  
            harmful consequences of unlicensed and unlawful manufacture,  
            selling, and disposing of alcoholic beverages, and to promote  
            temperance in the use and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

          2)Maddy EMS Fund, which permits each county to establish an EMS  
            fund, upon adoption of a resolution by the board of  
            supervisors.  Requires the fund to be administered by each  
            county, except that a county electing to have the state  
            administer its medically indigent services program may elect  
            to have its Maddy EMS Fund administered by the state.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee analysis, 

                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)








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           Major Provisions      2005-06    2006-07     2007-08   Fund
           
          Assessments         Potentially significant revenues     Special  
          *

          Court programming costs      $184 **            Special *
              (first assessment)

          Manual processing   $180     $180      $180    Special *
              (statewide)
          ________________
          * Maddy EMS Fund; 15% of total slated for counties' pediatric  
            trauma units
          **Based on number of counties that participate; cost of $25,000  
            per county

           COMMENTS  :   According to the author, this bill seeks to generate  
          funding to help alleviate a $365 million shortfall facing trauma  
          centers.  The author states this bill would create a specific  
          mechanism for the Maddy EMS Fund to allow counties to collect an  
          additional $2 penalty on every $10 penalty for specified  
          criminal offenses, which would be a $20 to $40 increase on an  
          average $340 ticket payment.  The author asserts this bill will  
          result in funding for emergency and trauma care estimated at $60  
          million per year.  In addition, this bill establishes a  
          Pediatric Care Allocation for equipment and facilities, which  
          will be instrumental in maintaining the financial stability of  
          the emergency and trauma centers, decreasing the diversion time  
          and patient wait time, and improving overall services.

          The Emergency Medical Services Administrators Association of  
          California (EMSAAC) indicates that there are very few pediatric  
          trauma centers in the state and many of these centers serve  
          children from other counties.  EMSAAC asserts that since these  
          trauma centers get patients from other counties, this bill  
          should be amended to allow counties that do not have pediatric  
          trauma centers to use this funding to pay for pediatric trauma  
          services for that county's children delivered in another  
          county's trauma center.  

          University of California (UC) writes in support that current EMS  
          funds are insufficient to cover the costs of providing EMS and  
          trauma services to medically indigent, uninsured, and  








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          underinsured Californians, and this bill will be instrumental in  
          maintaining the financial stability of hospitals that are  
          critical to California's health care system.

          The Judicial Council writes in opposition that the additional  
          penalty assessment in this bill will impose significant burdens  
          on court administration, in counties that adopt the assessments,  
          courts will need to reprogram their case management systems to  
          perform the new calculations, and some older systems are not  
          even capable of reprogramming.  Calculations will have to be  
          done by hand or systems will have to be replaced resulting in  
          substantial court costs.  The Teamsters and other labor  
          organizations oppose this bill indicating that assessments can  
          total between 300 to 350% of base violation fine, which goes  
          against truth in government principles, and unfairly impacts  
          working men and women who must transport themselves too and from  
          work, or who use their vehicles for work.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Teri Boughton / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097  



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