What's at stake?
Senate Bill 1432, which would have allowed hospitals in California to apply for a five-year extension to the 2030 seismic safety standard deadline, was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, leaving hospitals out of compliance with limited time to meet state standards or face closure.
A bill that would’ve given Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Center, as well as other hospitals across California more time to meet state seismic standards has been vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Championed by Fresno-area state Sen. Anna Caballero, SB 1432 would have created a process for hospitals like CRMC to apply for an extension of five years if they could not reach the state’s 2030 deadline. Hospitals that fail to retrofit their facilities and meet state seismic safety standards face immediate closure.
The governor, however, returned the bill without signature, citing safety and previous impacts that earthquakes have had on hospitals.
“The question is not if California will experience a significant earthquake, it’s when,” Newsom said in a news release on Sep. 12.
“Any extensions that may be considered to the 2030 deadline must balance the increased risk for the patients, hardworking hospital staff and emergency responders, and people living in that community,” he added.
With this development, CRMC has only five years to retrofit the east and west towers, which are out of seismic compliance, according to state documents. They face this deadline amid scrutiny and a lawsuit for funding a $1 billion expansion for the Clovis campus, all while needing about $2 billion to complete the retrofitting needed to meet state standards.
The governor argued that extensions to the deadline should be limited and approved on a case-by-case basis, saying that giving all hospitals a five year extension is too long. Newsom also urged all hospitals currently not meeting the standards to prioritize any remaining work.
Caballero, D-Merced, told Fresnoland in an interview that the bill would’ve required hospitals who applied for extensions to present a seismic compliance plan, a financial plan to fund retrofitting of facilities and a healthcare system plan to abide by while also continuing to provide services during the construction.
“What’s happening right now is that the hospitals are coming in and one by one they’re getting extensions, it doesn’t make any sense to me,” Caballero said in an interview with Fresnoland before the bill was vetoed. “So rather than do them one at a time, what I tried to create is a framework (for all hospitals).
“The reality of this situation is nobody is going to let their hospital in their community close; nobody wants that.”
How does this affect the Valley?
According to the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), the following facilities within the Central Valley do not meet the state’s seismic standards:
- Selma Adventist Health Hospital
- Reedley Adventist Health Hospital
- Downtown Community Regional Medical Center – West Wing, East Wing, Radiology Addition, Skilled Nursing Facility
- Saint Agnes – main building, canopy and bridges
- Madera Community Hospital – main building
- Tulare Adventist Health Hospital – main building, first and second additions
- Kaweah Delta Hospital, Visalia – main/original building
- Sierra View Medical Center, Porterville
Moreover, Michelle Von Tersch Senior VP, Communications & Legislative Affairs for the Community Health System, said they are still working through their seismic operational plan with HCAI and can’t share details about CRMC’s timeline to meet standards.
Von Tersch says that Community’s hospitals, including the downtown Fresno’s campus, meet the standard outlined by the previous 2020 seismic safety standards. The standards outlined by the 2030 deadline were established in 1994.
“The 2030 deadline requires more extensive hospital upgrades to ensure systems within a hospital can operate for 72-hours post a major seismic event,” Von Tersch said on Sep. 12, before the bill was vetoed. “Our buildings are safe for our staff and for our patients.”
A history of deadlines
The bill’s supporters and opposers drew a distinct line between each other, with hospital systems in support of SB 1432 and labor unions and organizations against. The bill’s support in the state legislature, however, was overwhelming, with a handful of no-votes and zero votes against when moving through floors.
Although the governor’s veto in the face of a bill that saw virtually no opposition in the state legislature may seem unexpected, the 2030 deadline is far from the first of many times that California hospitals have been expected to reach state seismic standards.
Originally, the Seismic Safety Act was passed in 1973 as a result of the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, establishing seismic safety standards for hospitals built after March 7, 1973.
However, by the time the 1994 Northridge Earthquake occurred, 80% of hospital beds in the state resided in facilities constructed before 1973 and thus did not meet the state’s standards, according to information included in a Senate Floor analysis of the bill on Aug. 29.
Updates were made to the 1973 Seismic Safety Act with SB 1953, requiring HCAI to create earthquake performance categories for hospitals. These statutes also created a deadline of Jan. 1, 2008, that required hospitals to be retrofitted to withstand an earthquake without risk collapsing.
Senate Bill 1801, passed in 2000, created a five-year extension to the 2008 deadline. A later bill, SB 306, passed in 2007 and extended this deadline by a further seven years for hospitals that face financial hardship.
In 2007, the Hazus reassessment program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allowed hospitals that were determined to be at lower seismic risk to be reclassified to SPC 2, thereby giving them until January 1, 2030, to meet other SB 1953 requirements.
