As Chair of the Human Services Committee, Assemblywoman Dion
Aroner works hard to ensure that the citizens of California have access to the
services to help them thrive. The issues she works on include child care,
healthcare and juvenile justice.
In this current legislative session,
Assemblywoman Aroner is particularly proud of a bill that she says "puts
the public interest back at the health care table not just private
interests." In California, the public pays about 70% of hospital costs
through taxes but citizens have no community control or input on crucial issues
such as the closing of emergency rooms. Aroner represents a district that has a
critical shortage of emergency room facilities, so she is acutely aware of how
stressful lack of emergency care can be for a community. Her "Emergency
Room Bill" (AB 421) is a measure to ensure that all citizens in California
have access to emergency medical care. While it is generally assumed that there
is community input in emergency room closures, that is an exception not a rule.
Aroner’s bill is innovative and important because it institutionalizes the
community input that is so desperately needed.
If passed, this legislation will
give California residents say in the way local jurisdictions decide whether a
hospital is important to a community. According to this bill, if a community
impact evaluation concludes that a downgrade to stand by emergency services or
the closure of an emergency service is not in the best interest of the public,
the California Department of Health and Human Services may not grant a permit to
the standby emergency facility or allow the closure.
This bill is just one
example of how Aroner’s values and principles are empowering communities to
survive in these trying times. It is also a perfect example of why Aroner is a
leader in CPA’s Family Investment Initiative, which will convene a legislative
strategy meeting in California on October 5-7, 2000.
