(The Center Square) \u2013 A small handful of nonprofit hospitals in California would get some or all of a proposed $25 million bailout debated by state lawmakers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Hospitals will have a chance to apply for those funds, according to agency officials who testified Tuesday morning before the state Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. Legislators on both sides of the aisle voiced support for the funding bill<\/a>, which the committee approved\u00a0unanimously with an 18-0 vote. It now goes to the Senate floor.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that both sides have spoken up about hoping we address distressed hospitals in some way with the budget that starts July 1,\u201d Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, the committee chair,\u00a0said at the outset of the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers on the committee spoke about the urgency of passing a funding measure that would provide hospitals some relief, expressing concern that some hospitals wouldn\u2019t make it until July 1 without immediate aid.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a needed proposal,\u201d Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said during his opening remarks. \u201cI\u2019m happy to see the Democrats address distressed hospitals. There are those with severe cash issues that might not make it to receive help in 2026-27.\u201d<\/p>\n The $25 million emergency expenditure would come from the state\u2019s general fund, according to a California Department of Finance official who testified before the committee.<\/p>\n Department officials told the committee that hospitals must apply for the money, which would be awarded in the form of a grant. Hospitals would have to have less than 10 days\u2019 worth of cash on hand and must demonstrate that they exhausted all other efforts to stay afloat.<\/p>\n Some lawmakers were concerned that the proposed $25 million cash infusion would not be enough for some hospitals to remain open and talked about even larger dollar figures. Questions went unanswered from Department of Finance and Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office staffers about how the agency arrived at the $25 million amount. Neither agency was able to answer how many hospitals could qualify.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Department of Health Care Access does collect certain financial data from hospitals, we can\u2019t definitively say the number or which specific hospitals would be eligible,\u201d Sonal Patel, assistant program budget manager for the Department of Finance, testified. \u201cWith respect to the dollar amount, the chair\u2019s comments are accurate. We have less than two months left in this fiscal year, and the intention of these funds is just to provide a bridge so that hospitals can stay open until July 1.\u201d<\/p>\n The stopgap funding measure isn\u2019t lawmakers’ only effort to keep endangered hospitals open.<\/p>\n The Distressed Hospital Loan Program<\/a>, which was created in 2023<\/a>, provides interest-free loans to hospitals at risk of closing. According to the Department of Health Care Access and Information<\/a>, that program gave $300 million to distressed hospitals in its first year. That includes $33.2 million to TriCity Medical Center in Oceanside, $29 million to the Dameron Hospital Association, $28 million to El Centro Regional Medical Center, $28 million to Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District and $20.75 million to Kaweah Delta Health Care District in Central California, among other recipients.<\/p>\n That loan program allows hospitals to repay the loans over 72 months, and it sunsets on Dec. 31, 2031.<\/p>\n