Topline:<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed on the June ballot a proposed temporary half cent sales tax increase to fund the county\u2019s struggling health care system, which has been hit hard by federal funding cuts.<\/p>\n
The details: If passed by voters, the half-cent sales tax increase would bring L.A. County\u2019s tax rate to 10.25%. It is projected to raise one billion dollars annually over five years. The tax would expire in five years.<\/p>\n
Potential cuts: County health officials testified that President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d will cut $2.4 billion from county health programs over three years, threatening closure of some of the county\u2019s 24 clinics and an array of public health programs. Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who co-authored the proposal, said the county faced a \u201cfederally imposed crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dissent: The vote was 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger the lone dissenter. Barger is the board\u2019s sole Republican. She worried shoppers would go to Orange County, where the sales tax is 7.75%. She also said the state should take the lead on addressing federal funding cuts to county health care systems.<\/p>\n
Testimony: More than 700 people showed up to testify for and against the proposal.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed on the June ballot a proposed temporary half-cent sales tax increase to fund the county\u2019s struggling health care system, which has been hit hard by federal funding cuts.<\/p>\n
If passed by voters, the increase would bring the county\u2019s tax rate to 10.25%. It is projected to raise one billion dollars annually over five years. <\/p>\n
The tax would expire in five years.<\/p>\n
The background<\/p>\n
County health officials said Tuesday that President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d will cut $2.4 billion from county health programs over three years, threatening closure of some of the county\u2019s 24 clinics and an array of public health programs.<\/p>\n
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who co-authored the proposal, said the county faced a \u201cfederally imposed crisis\u201d that in the absence of state action, could only be addressed by raising taxes on county residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis motion gives the voters a choice, given the stark realities that our county is facing,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
The vote was 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger the lone dissenter. Barger is the board\u2019s sole Republican. She worried shoppers would go to Orange County, where the sales tax is 7.75%. She also said the state should take the lead on addressing federal funding cuts to county health care systems.<\/p>\n
Public reaction<\/p>\n
More than 700 people showed up Tuesday to speak out on the proposal. Health care providers pleaded with the board to place the measure on the ballot, saying federal funding cuts to Medi-Cal had hit them hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a crisis,\u201d said Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of L.A. County. \u201cMedi-Cal accounts for over half of clinic funding. So these changes will lead to clinic closures, longer wait times, overcrowded E.R.\u2019s and higher costs for the county.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others opposed any plan that would increase the sales tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city is opposed to the adding of this regressive tax to overtaxed residents and making it even more difficult for cities, especially small cities, to pay for the increasing cost of basic resident services,\u201d said Rolling Hills Mayor Bea Dieringer. \u201cThe county needs to tighten its belt further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details on the proposed plan<\/p>\n
Under the plan, up to 47% of revenue generated will be used by the Department of Health Services to fund nonprofit health care providers to furnish no-cost or reduced-cost care to low-income residents who do not have health insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Twenty-two percent would provide financial support to the county\u2019s Department of Health Services to safeguard its public hospital and clinic services. Ten percent would be allocated to the Department of Public Health to support core public health functions and the awarding of grants to support health equity.<\/p>\n
The rest would be sprinkled across the health care system, including to support nonprofit safety net hospitals and for school-based health needs and programs.<\/p>\n
A last-minute amendment by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath set aside 5% of funding for Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n
The spending would be monitored by a nine-member committee but ultimately would be up to the discretion of the Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed on the June ballot a proposed temporary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":["post-461902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}