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The financial toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitals has prompted CHA to work with the author of its top-priority sponsored bill on key amendments to provide immediate seismic mandate relief to hospitals. Senate Bill (SB) 758 (Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge) will be amended to extend by seven years the 2030 seismic requirement that hospitals remain fully operational after a seismic event.
The bill will also be amended to create an expert advisory committee at the California Department of Public Health to make recommendations on how to provide care during and after the next disaster.
CHA’s issue brief about SB 758 — to be shared with lawmakers and key legislative staff — explains the long-term financial implications of hospitals’ COVID-19 response, the fact that 100% of them will be safe during an earthquake by 2025, and the immediate seismic mandate relief needed to ensure hospitals can keep their doors open to care for all Californians in all ways, whatever disaster may come.
SB 758 is scheduled to be heard next in the Assembly Health Committee in late July.
