Recommendation to request City Council to support SB 687 regarding emergency rooms and request City Manager to communicate the City's support to the bill's author and our state legislative delegation.
The last item that's been asked to be moved forward tonight, I know it's been a lot of them. Tonight is item 27. And then we'll start with the regular agenda. And Madam Clerk. Item 27 is a communication from Councilman Austin Councilmember Peers. Councilwoman Price Recommendation to support SB 687 regarding emergency rooms. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you very much. I think this this bill is SB six, eight, seven, I think is pretty cut and dry and self-explanatory. It would require nonprofit hospitals in California to obtain approval from the state attorney general before closing an emergency department or at least hold a one public hearing about planning codes closure. Currently, the Attorney General has regulatory authority over the state sale of state nonprofit hospitals, but not over the plant closures. This legislation is supported by emergency room nurses, as well as the California professional firefighters. This is a time sensitive matter as this legislation is about to be considered an important policy committee. I know there are few people here to speak on this, but I would ask for your support. I think this is something important to Long Beach because we do have some large nonprofit hospitals in the city of Long Beach. Thank you, Councilmember Pearce. Yes, I wanted to thank my colleague, Councilmember Austin, for bringing this forward. I know that some of us are supporting statewide bills, that there's some urgency to those bills to make sure that we are putting our support in front of those. And obviously, any closing of emergency rooms or any access to health care that might impact our residents is something that's of high importance to us. And so thank you for bringing this forward. I know it's time sensitive and I would urge my colleagues to support it. Thank you. Thank you. Any public comment on this? C No public seeing no public comment on this or someone please come forward. But good evening, Mayor and. Distinguished members of the Long Beach City Council and those present in the audience today. My name is Joe Celestin and I am a community member of SEIU U EASTVIEW and proud millennial I to support the SB 67 resolution. Because over the past few decades there have been too many emergency rooms closures in the state of health in California. Excuse me. California is the last in the country. In the country when it comes to emergency departments per capita, a 6.7 per 1 million people. These emergency rooms closures have resulted in overcrowding, longer waits and ambulances to have to drive further distance to get patients to the. You're seeing how nonprofit hospitals are heavily subsidized by taxpayers such as myself and all of you. They should have an obligation to. The communities they are surrounded by. If we don't do something now to stop breeding of air closures, then my generation will be worse off than previous generations. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mayor. City Council and Long Beach Community. My name is Edna Rivera and I'm a financial counselor at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and I'm a proud member of SEIU United Health Care Workers. It's a statewide union that represents 90,000 members. I'm here to voice my support for the State Bill 687 resolution. This closing of the emergency rooms across the state of California can have a devastating effect on our communities, especially the communities that include Latinos, African-Americans, women, the uninsured, Medi-Cal beneficiaries, E.R. closures, forcing emergency responders to travel long distance to transport patients to an unavailable E.R., which may cause negative health impacts for patients in need of emergency treatment. SB 687 would require any nonprofit that operates are control of health facilities to write a notice to and obtain consent of the Attorney General prior to a reduction of eliminations of the level of emergencies emergency services. It also requires that public hearing be held to allow community members, like all of us, to voice how the closures would impact our community. In the end, this bill would help ensure that the hub. For. The harmful ripple effect of air closures are minimized or minimized in our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Austin, any other words? Okay, we can do a voice vote starting on. Councilman Austin. I. I. I. I. Kate. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to the next item. We're actually we had one other request we're going to do item 14. So.