BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 883
Author: Hancock (D)
Amended: 8/30/14
Vote: 21
SENATE FLOOR : Not relevant
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Appropriation to West Contra Costa Healthcare
District: Doctors Medical Center
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill appropriates $3 million in funds from the
Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund (Fund) from funds deposited in
that Fund from the Cigarette and Tobacco Tax Surtax Fund
(Proposition 99 funds) to West Contra Costa Healthcare District
(District) for support of Doctors Medical Center (DMC).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Establishes the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act
(Proposition 99), which raised the tax on a pack of cigarettes
by 25 cents and an equivalent amount on other tobacco
products, and earmarks the resulting revenue, as follows:
A. 20% to the Health Education Account, solely for programs
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to prevent and reduce tobacco use;
B. 10% to the Physician Services Account, for payment to
physicians for services to patients who cannot afford to
pay for those services, and for whom payment for physician
services will not be made through private coverage or by
any program funded in whole by the federal government;
C. 5% to the Research Account, solely for tobacco-related
disease research;
D. 5% to the Public Resources Account, solely for parks and
wildlife protection programs;
E. 35% to the Hospital Services Account, for the treatment
of hospital patients who cannot afford to pay for that
treatment and for whom payment for hospital services will
not be made through private coverage or by any program
funded in whole by the federal government; and
F. 25% to the Unallocated Account, for any of the
above-specified purposes.
1.Establishes in the State Treasury a special fund known as the
Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund that is continuously
appropriated to the Department of Health Care Services for the
Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIP) and a program
that provided state-subsidized coverage to former MRMIP
subscribers who exhausted their MRMIP coverage.
2.Permits funds to be deposited in the Fund from one or more of
the following accounts in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products
Surtax Fund: the Hospital Services Account, the Physician
Services Account, and the Unallocated Account.
This bill:
1.Appropriates $3 million in funds from the Fund from funds
deposited in that fund from the Proposition 99 funds to the
District for support of DMC.
2.States this bill makes an appropriation for the usual current
expenses of the state within the meaning of a specified
provision of the California Constitution, and requires it go
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into immediate effect.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill addresses the
impending closure of DMC, a hospital that serves San Pablo,
Richmond and West Contra Costa County, and serves primarily
Medi-Cal, Medicare, and indigent patients. If the facility
closes, a large low income community will be left without
meaningful access to emergency, inpatient and follow-up care.
This area is isolated from the county hospital in Martinez by
distance, transit access and culturally. This urgency
legislation would change the hospital's designation to recognize
its long-standing role as the West County safety net hospital
and provide the hospital longer term, more secure funding. In
the meantime, as the hospital closure is now imminent and to
allow DMC to remain open while other possible funding paths are
pursued, bridge funding would be secured by this bill.
DMC . DMC is an acute care hospital with 189 licensed beds
located in San Pablo in Contra Costa County that is owned and
operated by the District. The five-member board of the District
is elected from at-large throughout the District. Parcel taxes
were passed to finance the hospital in 2004 and 2011 but a 2014
parcel tax proposed by the District to ensure continued local
access to emergency room care, acute hospital care and other
medical services for residents of the District and visitors to
the area failed passage (it required a 2/3 vote). DMC indicates
it has had financial struggles for some time. The District's
audited financial statements from December 31, 2013 state the
District reported an operating loss of $28.3 million in 2013,
and operating losses of $25 million in 2012 and $30 million in
2011. The December 2013 audited financial statements state the
District has experienced recurring cash shortages and has a net
deficit of $27.5 million, and the failure of the 2014 parcel
tax, raised substantial doubt about the District's ability to
continue as a going concern.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
According to the Assembly Budget Committee, this bill provides
$3 million of Major Risk Medical Insurance Funds, also referred
to as "Proposition 99 funds."
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JL:k 8/30/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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