Tag Archives: SB 275

SB 275, Hospital Dumping, passes out of the legislature

Well, it’s the season of legislative accomplishments. I can’t possibly point out all of them as the sheer volume would be rather oppressive for a blog format. But I do want to point out a couple of bills here and there.  Specifically, SB 275 and SB 2, both from Senator Gil Cedillo.

SB 275 creates civil penalties for dumping the homeless against their will.  Initially, as drafted by Cedillo and LA City Atty Rocky Delgadillo, the bill was supposed to have a criminal charge associated. However, the criminal charges were stripped under pressure from the hospital lobby. However, the bill will prohibit a hospital from transporting a patient to a location other than their residence without written consent and make such offenses subject to civil penalties of $150,000 on second offense and $300,000 on a third offense. These penalties are large enough to attract attorneys to file on behalf of the dumping victims. I do not yet know if an attorney’s fees provision is included, but that would certainly also be helpful.

SB 2, the Fair Share Zoning bill would require cities and counties to include an inventory of sites suitable for emergency shelters, supportive housing, transitional housing and residential rental developments in the housing element of their general plan. SB 2 includes provisions allowing these facilities as permitted use rather than conditional use or other discretionary permits.

Hospital Dumping Bill (SB 275) retains misdemeanor provision

The scuttlebutt around Sacto surrounding the Hospital Dumping Bill (SB 275) yesterday was that the Hospital Association and its legislative allies were going to try another hostile amendment to remove the misdemeanor provision of SB 275. Hospitals said that fines were sufficient to stop the practice, but that was quickly shown to be a fallacy.  Kaiser, in the face of all this publicity, dumped two more patients on Skid Row. You’d figure common decency would be sufficient to stop this practice, but that’s not something the for-profit hospitals have in spades.

At any rate, the misdemeanor for the corporation survived.  While some have claimed that federal funding would be pulled, this is not clear.  The misdemeanor would be charged against the corporation that owns the hospital not the hospital itself. And, of course, there’s a really simple way not to get this misdemeanor: don’t force a patient to Skid Row.  Given that the previous hostile amendments (3rd dumping=crime), this bill is more than lenient and only requires the patient’s consent.

“I am pleased we were able to retain the misdemeanor charge and move forward. We are not prescribing that hospitals do anything other than obtain a patient’s consent prior to transporting them. If they can not do this, and patients are subjected to abandonment in public places, we should afford the same criminal charges associated with dumping a couch in an alley, a dog on the street or a cigarette on the sidewalk,” remarked Sen. Gil Cedillo.

Hospital Dumping (SB 275) gets another hearing

Tomorrow, the assembly’s Public Safety Cmte. will be holding hearings on Sen. Cedillo’s Hospital Dumping Bill, now with 300% more chances for hospitals to dump patients, thanks to a hostile amendment.  At any rate, something needs to get passed this session.  Sen. Cedillo wil be at the hearing and will provide his opinion on the subject.

UPDATE: There is the possibility of further pro-hospital association amendments in this hearing. Here’s a list of the Committee Members (with emails):

Jose Solorio, (D-AD69)
Greg Aghazarian, (R-AD26)
Joel Anderson, (R-AD77)
Hector De La Torre, (D-AD50)
Fiona Ma, (D-AD12)
Anthony Portantino, (D-AD44)

UPDATE II: Some really disturbing news from LA this weekend, Kaiser apparently dumped two more people at the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row.  So, Kaiser’s previous position was that the threat of fines would be sufficient to deter them from dumping, but can we really trust that this is true given their repeated dumping of real human beings?

The funny thing is that you can go to jail for dumping a dog or a cat on the side of the road, yet it’s totally legal to dump human beings.  Where is the logic in this?

Assembly Democrats Cave on Hospital Dumping (SB275)

No politician is perfect. Of that much I am painfully aware. But I like to think that Democrats will stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Well, I was proved wrong about that when Lou Correa and Ron Calderon blocked committee approval of SB 275, the ban on hospital dumping.  Eventually, it was passed by removing the two Senators, who apparently value and/or fear the AHA (the American Hospitals Association-a corporate lobby group) more than they care about the true toll this takes on real human beings.

You know hospital dumping as the practice featured in SiCKO.  Michael Moore talks about it in this video clip from his premiere for SiCKO at Skid Row.

So, SB 275 attempts to deal with this problem.  Under the bill, as passed by the Senate, the transportation of patients against their will was a crime, not just a finable offense, but a real misdemeanor.  Real people could get real convictions for this deplorable practice.  The prospect of criminal charges meant that this law would have teeth.  Well, the AHA decided that they totally didn’t dig on the idea of having their staff arrested for doing what the CEO demanded. So, the Assembly accepted a hostile amendment to neuter the law by removing criminal penalties until the third offense, as if the first two homeless people don’t matter.  Flip…

The author, proud progressive, and my personal-favorite senator, Gilbert Cedillo spoke against the hostile amendment.

” Our offices have been committed to a thoughtful process on this issue.  We do not want to do something that is not significant,” said Cedillo.

How many times must a corporation determine that it is worthwhile to dump somebody before they actually get caught by the authorities?  And now they think they need to freebies?  Is anybody else disgusted by this?

Unfortunately the hostile amendment was agreed to by the Democratic Assemblymen on the Assembly Health Cmte. Here’s the [vote record and full bill record. The votes went like this:

AYES
  ****


















Dymally Price Berg De La Torre
De Leon Hancock Hernandez Jones
Lieber Ma Salas

  NOES
  ****

Nakanishi Emmerson Gaines Huff
Strickland

  ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING
  *********************************

Hayashi

I really don’t like calling some of these members out at all. Like Lori Hancock, a statewide leader on clean money, or Fiona Ma, a leader on high speed rail issues.  But just the facts, here.  This committee bent to the will of the AHA.  If any of these Assemblyman represent you, let them hear it. This bill needs to be stronger.

After all, what is more important than the sanctity of human dignity? The practice of hospitals dumping patients on Skid Row must stop, not eventually, but now.  And Senator Cedillo’s bill, without these very hostile amendments, is the best way to end this affront to human dignity.

Cedillo’s SB 275, Hospital Dumping, goes to the Senate Floor

After getting blocked by two Senators who think money from the California Hospital Association (CHA) is more important that basic human dignity, SB 275 has made it to the Senate Floor. (Btw, the two senators in question have lost their Appropriation Cmte. seats as a result). 

Well, now that the ModSquad has faded to black (hopefully to stay permanently in the Seventies), the bill will likely pass the Senate shortly.  Whether Correa and Calderon have decided whether human decency or corporate lobbying cash is more important is still an open question.

HOSPITAL HOMELESS DUMPING BILL (SB 275) HEADS TO SENATE FLOOR WITH STRONG SUPPORT

After delaying a vote on the hospital homeless discharge bill (SB 275) in order to engage the California Hospital Association (CHA) in another round of negotiations, Sen. Gilbert Cedillo’s (D-Los Angeles) bill heads to the Senate floor for a final vote in that house. SB 275 passed out of the Appropriations Committee today on a strong vote, 11 to 4, with Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn included in the bi-partisan support for the bill.

The bill makes it a specific crime to discharge hospital patients to any facility other than a residence without patient consent.  Sponsored by Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, SB 275 seeks to address a deficiency in the law when prosecuting cases specific to patient dumping.

The CHA, a lobbying association representing the state’s hospitals, has contented they have policies in place to address the safe transfer of homeless patients to shelters upon discharge.  However on May 14th as Cedillo presented the bill to committee, a new dumping incident was reported in Los Angeles. The incident occurred at the Union Rescue Mission, a shelter located in downtown Skid Row, which has dealt with prior episodes of patient abandonment.

Detractors feel that SB 275 sets too high of a standard for the medical facilities.  “What does it say about our ethics and humanity? These people are more vulnerable than when they went in to the hospital. Currently there is no law that punishes the transportation of patients without their consent,” said Cedillo.

Cedillo has introduced a series of bills on issues surrounding homelessness – SB 2, Fair Share Zoning, which would require cities and counties to plan for emergency shelters, special needs facilities and transitional housing, SB 119, Medical Drug Treatment for Minors, and SB 275, hospital homeless discharge bill. “I acknowledge there are larger issues at hand involving lack of adequate care offered to homeless populations. This is why we have proposed a package of bills to proactively address the interrelated issues that cause homelessness before they become acute,” remarked Cedillo.