| Senate
Bill 1773 (Alarcon)--chaptered
California Code, Government Code,
Section 76000
Santa
Barbara Study
Santa
Barbara County GC 76000 Funds
Santa
Barbara Penalty Assessments
Resolution
of the Orange County Board of Supervisors
dated November 21, 2006
Orange
County Final Staff Report
Orange
County HCA Communication
OCEP
Letter to Board of Superviors
DRAFT
Letter from SFEPA to Board of Supervisors Re SB 1773
|
|
Dear
EMS
Administrators and other Interested Parties:
You are probably aware that the Governor recently signed into law SB 1773 (Alarcon).
SB 1773 allows a
County
Board
of
Supervisors to levy an additional penalty assessment under the Emergency
Medical Services (Maddy) Fund. This
new law
requires follow-up action in order to take effect and, as the sponsor of
this legislation, we are writing to request your assistance.
Effective January 1, 2007, this new law permits a county to raise penalty assessments, in the amount of $2 for every $10 or fraction
thereof, upon court imposed and collected fines, penalties, and forfeitures for specified criminal offenses.
The new funds collected are to be deposited into the EMS Fund (similar to the current statutory directives) and new language directs
that 15% of the funds collected must be used to provide funding for pediatric trauma centers throughout the County. If there is no
pediatric trauma center located in the County, the 15% must be used to improve access to, and coordination of, pediatric trauma and
emergency services in the county, with preference given to hospitals that specialize in services to children, and physicians and
surgeons who provide emergency care to children. The 15% allocation of these new funds for pediatric emergency care shall be known
as Richie's Fund, after Senator Alarcon’s deceased son.
The funds will be distributed according to the following breakdown: reduced by the amount for administration of up to 10% with the
balance distributed to trauma hospitals (25%), physicians providing emergency care, (58%) and to the Health Care Agency's
Emergency Medical Services Program (17%).
This
statute is prescribed by Government Code 76000.5 upon every fine, penalty, or
forfeiture imposed and collected by the Courts
for specified criminal offenses, for deposit into the Emergency Medical Services
Fund for distribution and use in accordance with
Health and Safety Code 1797.98a and following.
This increased penalty shall remain in effect
only until January 1, 2009, unless an
extension is granted by the Legislature, so your immediate action is warranted.
The increased funds will greatly assist hospitals
and physicians who treat uninsured patients, providing much needed resources to
keep the emergency care system intact.
In
addition to CAL/ACEP, many organizations were behind SB 1773, including the California
Children's Hospital Association, the
Emergency Nurses Association - California State Council, the California Hospital
Association, California Medical Association,
California Nurses Association,
County
of
Los Angeles
and the
University
of
California
.
These
additional fines and forfeitures may be collected only if the county board of
supervisors provides that the increased
penalties do not offset or reduce the funding of other programs from other
sources, but that these additional revenues result in
increased funding to those programs. Links to pertinent reports and documents
are included at the bottom of this page. These
documents included a downloadable report conducted by
Santa Barbara
County
, which demonstrates that increased penalty
assessments will have no negative affect on the collection of fines.
Also included is a sample Resolution drafted by
Orange
County
staff that you may wish to emulate.
Please
call the CAL/ACEP office at 800-735-2237 or our county advocate, Michele Revelle,
at 714-969-5335, if you have any
questions concerning this matter. Thank
you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
R.
Myles Riner
,
MD
President
|
