Assembly Panel Votes to Oppose Closure of Camarillo State Hospital

Some blamed Gov. Pete Wilson for moving too fast. Others said his budget puts dollars ahead of human need.

But whatever their reasons, the four members of the Assembly subcommittee who snubbed Wilson’s call to shut Camarillo State Hospital next year said Tuesday that they hope the governor will rethink his position.

Two Democrats and two Republicans combined to reach that decision, sending a signal to Wilson that the issue is not divided along party lines.

One powerful lawmaker, Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar), said it was not the measured testimony of Camarillo State workers, Ventura County officials or patients’ relatives that swayed him.

“Nobody really lobbied me,” Miller said Tuesday. “I just looked at the issue. I think we’re putting fiscal issues ahead of being responsible, and I don’t think we have adequate information to do that.”

No one from Wilson’s office would discuss the subcommittee vote Tuesday, referring questions to the California Health and Welfare Agency, which oversees the Mental Health and Developmental Services departments.

“This is just the first step in a long process,” Health and Welfare spokeswoman Lisa Kalustian said. “The proposal to close Camarillo is still in the governor’s budget and we’ll be dealing with it in the May budget revision.”

After two hours of public testimony late Monday, including speeches by local hospital union leaders and relatives of patients, the Assembly budget panel voted 4 to 0 to reject Wilson’s proposal to close Camarillo State. Two members did not vote.

The lawmakers then recommended looking at a plan to bring mentally ill prisoners to Camarillo to reduce the per-patient cost.

“The impact of the testimony was profound,” said Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles). “But frankly, I had already decided after evaluating the issue that Camarillo State should stay open.

“What the testimony did was confirm the analysis I had received from the provider community, the developmentally disabled community and a number of others that we need to support the hospital.”

Two members who chose not to challenge the governor’s closure plan were chairwoman Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks) and Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach).

Alby said she was moved by testimony from the Ventura County contingent but wanted more information before making a decision. She abstained from the vote.

“People’s lives are in the balance, and I have trouble making such serious decisions in the course of a two-hour hearing,” she said. “We heard information that was very persuasive, but I want to see the data.”

Baugh, who faces a Friday hearing in a felony perjury case filed in Orange County Superior Court, failed to abstain or cast a ballot on the issue. No one at his Sacramento office would comment on that decision Tuesday.

Most analysts and union officials expected the panel to delay any position until after Wilson releases his revised budget later this month.

But even though the panel’s recommendation favors workers and relatives of patients, key decisions lie ahead.

The Senate budget subcommittee will consider the same proposal Monday.

Nonetheless, Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles) said Wilson failed to present clear-cut reasons to close California’s second developmental center in as many years. A center in Stockton shut down earlier this year.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100, we move too slowly,” Bordonaro said. “But for once, government may have been moving too quickly.”

The assemblyman, who represents the district served by Atascadero State Hospital, said he wanted time to study a plan to keep some local patients at Camarillo and bring in prisoners to reduce per-bed costs.

“That idea has a lot of merit,” Bordonaro said. Closures cause “a lot of ripple effects, and we need to be very careful.”

Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park) said she has her own reasons for supporting the proposed conversion of Camarillo State into a locked facility like those at Atascadero and Patton state hospitals.

“I don’t want any additional inmates to be sent to Metropolitan [State Hospital],” Escutia said Tuesday. “So if we have an additional facility in Camarillo, I would want them there.”

She also cautioned Camarillo State supporters not to relish in their immediate victory and to redouble efforts to convince Wilson and key senators not to close the hospital.

“We won at the subcommittee level,” she said. “But I don’t know how it will survive in the whole budget process.”

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NEXT STEP

The Senate budget subcommittee will consider Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to close Camarillo State Hospital at a hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday in Room 113 at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Wilson will release his revised budget for the upcoming fiscal year May 21. That spending plan is expected to include a new recommendation for the hospital.