A bill to oversee trauma care funding for Los Angeles County has cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 792 is now headed to the Senate floor for a vote.
The majority of County funding is currently allocated to three county-run hospitals who receive come 76 percent, or $190 million.
Less than 15 percent of the funds go to other trauma care centers in the county, including Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
On the heels of 9/11, parcel tax Measure B was passed by voters in 2002 to avoid the life-threatening shutdown of L.A. County’s trauma network and position hospitals to be able to respond to biological and chemical terrorism.
The use of those funds, however, came into spotlight in 2014 when a state audit found the county couldn’t prove the money was being spent properly.
In 2015, the Antelope Valley Hospital filed a claim against the county, saying it had been shortchanged on funds for its trauma center and claiming it was owed millions of dollars.
