Pioneers Memorial Hospital District requests for veto on Assembly Bill 918  

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Assembly Bill 918 is on its way to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk for approval.

The bill passed unanimously through the Senate and Assembly floors last Thursday night and needs Governor Newsom’s signature in order to become law. 

Pioneers Memorial Hospital District has sent out a request to Governor Newsom to take into consideration vetoing Assembly Bill 918. 

Assembly Bill 918 would create a single healthcare system in the Imperial Valley, consolidating the Heffernan Memorial and Pioneers Memorial healthcare districts.

It also sets up the acquisition of El Centro Regional Medical Center into the new healthcare district. 

According to Pioneers, they are ruling against this bill that Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia and State Senator Steve Padilla authored. 

In a press release from Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District, they stated this:

“Assembly Bill 918 claims that ‘The establishment of the Imperial Valley Healthcare district will result in Multimillions of dollars in savings to the Imperial Valley Healthcare District through the coordination of medical services, combined economics of scale of the prior health care districts, including having a single governing body and hospital administration, clinical integration, unified contracting and supplies management, and an integrated medical system..."

"...Assembly Bill 918 and its author offers no proof for any of this."

Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District

Pioneers initiated the idea of expansion of its district back in February 2023 to gain additional revenue to enhance services and are using the existing Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) process due to following procedural approach and includes a feasibility study to determine economic viability, identifying funding sources before making any changes and incorporates local community input before the process.     

Recently, the City of El Centro lost the injunction request.

The original intent of the request was to get LAFCO to correct its current California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process, which was accomplished.

The intent of the injunction request was not to stop the Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District’s expansion application but to request that LAFCO properly follow the CEQA guidelines. 

On September 6, LAFCO submitted a response to the court regarding the city’s injunction request.

In that document, LAFCO admitted it had not prepared a Negative Declaration, and to do so, a proposed Negative Declaration must be circulated, notices must be given, and comments on the proposed negative declaration have to be reviewed and responded to, among other things. 

The court then later confirmed the need for additional CEQA review before any project can be approved. 

According to the City of El Centro, LAFCO failed to provide the city of the public with reasonable advance notice and comment period for the Negative Declaration in the manners required by the CEQA guidelines.

Including failure to notice its intention to adopt the Negative Declaration to be posted by the Imperial County Clerk per CEQA guidelines.  

Governor Gavin Newsom will have until October 14 to veto or sign approval of the bill.