State Funds Asked for Trauma Centers
Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said they will ask state budget conference committee members to earmark more than $100 million generated by new tobacco taxes for hospitals sharing a heavy portion of trauma and emergency care.
“We once had a safety net. Now there is a huge hole in that net,†said Roos, noting that Whittier Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital’s recently announced plans to close its trauma facility would leave the Los Angeles area with only 13 of its original 23 trauma centers.
Roos and Waters told a news conference at the Queen of Angels/Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, which has closed its trauma facility, that the funds could come from the accounts established under Proposition 99, a tax measure approved by voters last November.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
![[20060326 (LA/A20) -- STATING THE CASE: Marchers organized by unions, religious organizations and immigrants rights groups carry signs and chant in downtown L.A. "People are really upset that all the work they do, everything that they give to this nation, is ignored," said Angelica Salas of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights. -- PHOTOGRAPHER: Photographs by Gina Ferazzi The Los Angeles Times] *** [Ferazzi, Gina -- - 109170.ME.0325.rights.12.GMF- Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times - Thousands of protesters march to city hall in downtown Los Angeles Saturday, March 25, 2006. They are protesting against House-passed HR 4437, an anti-immigration bill that opponents say will criminalize millions of immigrant families and anyone who comes into contact with them.]](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/722dda1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1983x1322+109+0/resize/840x560!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fzbk%2Fdamlat_images%2FLA%2FLA_PHOTO_ARCHIVE%2FSDOCS%2854%29%2Fkx3lslnc.JPG)
