Thursday, 09/04/2008 Print Version |
Governor Holds Press Conference Regarding Budget Impasse
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BARRY
WOLFMAN: Good morning. I guess we'll get started now
that the Honorable Governor is here. My name is Barry Wolfman, I'm the Chief
executive officer of Providence St.
Joseph Medical
Center. We're honored to
have the Governor, we're honored to have our employees and honored to have the
media here today to talk about this important discussion on the state's budget
crisis and its impact on all Californians.
Every day I am privileged to work alongside
some 3,000 people -- nurses, clinicians, technicians and physicians and all
employees in our medical center -- providing health care to the citizens of
California and, more importantly, to those in our community in need of services.
Health care in California is really in
critical condition, particularly with no state budget and it seems to be getting
worse every day. We are jeopardizing care to the poor and vulnerable right now
in our state by having physicians, hospitals and other providers not getting
paid for the services that we provide. Statewide, currently, hospitals are owed
more than $1 billion in delayed Medi-Cal payments because there is no state
budget. We have not been paid since July 24th when the Interim Payment Fund ran
out.
However, hospitals like St. Joseph and all of our
other hospitals continue to provide services every day to the citizens of our
community. We pay our vendors, we pay our suppliers, we pay our staff but yet we
are not being paid, in large part, for the services that we render.
A small example of this is right here at
Providence
St. Joseph Medical Center in our Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit. None of the private home health insurance companies will take Medi-Cal
patients and a lot of our neo-natal intensive care patients are Medi-Cal
patients. And when they have to leave the hospital we can't place them with
these agencies when these young infants are ready to go home, so we either have
to keep them in the hospital or we have to pay for it out of our own funding so
that they can go home and join their loved ones and their family. The impact on
our Providence hospitals -- which are four in
Los Angeles County, which include Holy Cross Medical
Center, one of the trauma
centers -- is well over $6 million per month. That's a lot of
money.
There is a real fear in our hospital
community that many hospitals will have to stop providing services to Medi-Cal
and other providers. Right now there is a lot of discussion about hospitals not
being able to keep their emergency rooms open and cutting other services in
southern California. We all know that many hospitals
have closed and many ERs and other hospitals are on the watch list. In passing a
new budget we urge the state to maintain Medi-Cal funding to protect access for
low-income Californians. (Applause)
Governor, on behalf of the Providence family, on behalf of the entire health care
community in California, we thank you for your strong voice
in calling for an end to this crisis and for getting a budget passed. Simply
put, it must be done.
It is now my privilege and honor to turn
the podium over and introduce Supervisor Mike Antonovich. (Applause)
SUPERVISOR
ANTONOVICH: Thank you, Barry. This is a very special
hospital because my two children were born here, as were my little nephews in
the Prenatal Unit -- and they came in at three pounds each -- along with
servicing my family, my wife, my mother and father and myself.
And we applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for
his leadership and ability to bring the state together to urge the state of
California's
legislature to enact a budget, helping to preserve local government's ability to
fund critical programs. This is a coordination between local government, public
safety and our health care communities.
Unlike 49 other states, every city and
county and school district in this state, we have all passed budgets for this
fiscal year. However, the state of California, again, has been stone deaf in
approving a budget by the legislature.
But along with the reforms that we need
with a state budget, we need to also examine very critically the need to have a
two-year budget. Many states have a two-year budget because that provides
stability. It provides stability to every hospital, every school, every city and
county, because they can plan their budgets and move ahead and not be caught in
this war, this chaotic war that continues to go on for over 60 days without a
budget.
And secondly, 40 states have a part-time
legislature. A part-time legislature would allow those legislators to be in the
communities working at their jobs and then taking time to pass a budget and deal
with other vital issues at the state level, thereby allowing every city, county
and school district the ability to do what they do best and that's representing
the people at the local level.
So again, it's very important and vital
that we stand together as one unit to support the Governor's stand against the
vested interests and to ensure that public safety, education and our health care
providers receive the support that is necessary. That can only be achieved by
passing the 2008-2009 budget and we ask and call upon the legislature to meet
their responsibility and we support the Governor in his efforts to bring them to
the table. Thank you. (Applause)
Now I would like to introduce Dr.
Schaerf.
DR. SCHAERF: Hi, I'm Dr. Raymond Schaerf, I'm the Incoming
Chief Of Staff at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center. I represent my 600 colleagues who
provide care here. Governor, let me thank you for the opportunity to say a few
words.
Many of you may, or may not know, that
Medi-Cal is one of the poorest paying insurances that there is in the
United States and because of
that reason there are many physicians in California who do not see Medi-Cal patients.
This limits access for a great many of these patients to see physicians or to go
to certain hospitals. This is a major problem. What we're seeing here now is
that even more physicians and more facilities are not taking on Medi-Cal
patients because of the budget crisis. We are, therefore, seeing more patients
here, particularly through our emergency rooms. And also, because they don't
have the access to the care they deserve, they're coming in here sicker than
they should be. Some of the things should have been handled outside but they're
coming here pretty much at the end of their disease process. It puts a
tremendous strain on all of us.
We have physicians who can't freeze their
rent, they can't freeze what they have to pay their employees, they can't freeze
their insurances and they can't freeze their overhead. Some of us who do see
Medi-Cal patients haven't received a check for over four months. This puts a
tremendous strain on physicians.
What you can see is that we need some
resolution over here. And what I can say very succinctly is politics should not
adversely affect the health, the welfare or the security of the people in our
community that we serve. And I pledge, Governor, that we will help you in any
way we can to get this thing solved and I appreciate your efforts. Thank you.
(Applause)
It's my privilege now to introduce Sheriff
Lee Baca. (Applause)
SHERIFF
BACA: Well, thank you, Doctor. I too will echo
the comments of those who have spoken and that is to say thank you, Governor,
for convening this press conference at a critical time in the state of
California's
history. We're here particularly, because standing behind the Governor and
myself and others, is the fact that we have a fine hospital staff that have been
duty all the time. This is a 27/7 operation, just as the Governor is a 24/7
leader in the state of California.
And we understand in law enforcement,
because we're 24/7 as well, that the relationship between the state, the
counties and the cities is a partnership. It's a partnership that requires
consistent performance. And when the legislature decides that they're not going
to do something that's reasonable -- and what is reasonable? Look at the
Governor's proposed budget. I've looked at it, I've read it. I challenge any
legislator who is not acting on this recommended budget to tell me whether or
not they've read it.
And reading alone is something that we also
have to do in the way of our school system, is teach our children how to read
and write and how to do arithmetic and how to become prepared for adult
responsibilities.
But while we're talking about adult
responsibilities, some of our legislators are not even in town, they're not even
in the state, they're somewhere else. And, as a result, they're not doing their
fiduciary responsibility as partners. Partnership means that when we in law
enforcement encounter a mentally ill person on the street -- and some of this
funding is going to be cut if they don't pass this budget -- then the hospitals
will eventually acquire that patient and then the hospitals are not going to be
paid. And, as a result, the patient may not even get the proper treatment. The
point of the matter is that we have a relationship. The California legislature
should think about the state first and their partisan politics second.
(Applause)
Public safety is a primary responsibility
of all government, whether it's federal, state or local and if we don't get this
budget passed -- we have a serious methamphetamine problem. There are 350 police
departments and 58 sheriff's departments that will have a lesser capacity to
deal just with the problem of meth. And meth in itself is one of those most
insidious drugs, that even if you're a casual user you're playing with poison.
That is not appropriate, that's not an appropriate thing for a message out of
the legislature to send to local law enforcement, that somehow you're going to
be cut.
At the same time, in the world of
technology, the High-Tech Crime, technology task forces that are throughout the
state, that we're all partnered with, with even our federal partners -- they
will be cut. All the community based policing programs that we do to build
public trust in what we do, to provide quality service, to be innovative in our
solutions in crime fighting, that will be cut. I did mention the mentally ill
program that will be cut. And then when it comes to gangs, since we're in the
gang capital of the Untied States, that program will get cut.
When you look at the whole of it, our
Governor has proposed a sensible budget proposal. Now let's just get on with it,
pass it so the rest of us who have to do the real work can get that work done.
Thank you, Governor. (Applause)
Now the Superintendent of Burbank Unified
School District will now speak to you, Dr. Bowman. (Applause)
SUPERINTENDENT
BOWMAN: Good morning, everyone. Well, here we are.
It's September. And what happens in September? Seven million students, K-12,
return to the classroom. And there are hundreds of thousands of teachers who are
there to greet them right now, this week, there are hundreds of thousands of
classified and other employees and administrators. And why are they there?
Because they are delivering on the promise of the expectation to improve what is
happening for young people in this state.
What is not there? A state budget. This
creates many uncertainties and angst for those of us who are in public
education. I would encourage the parents of the 7 million students, along with
all of our employees, to contact their legislators. Why? Because the Governor
has offered a plausible plan for us to consider in the
state
And it is my pleasure at this time to
introduce to you the Governor of the great state of California, Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, thank you very much for the nice
introduction. And I want to thank Dr. Bowman for talking so eloquently about the
importance of taking care of our children and our education. I also want to
thank Supervisor Antonovich for being here today, Sheriff Baca, Superintendent
Bowman and Barry Wolfman and Dr. Schaerf -- or actually in Austria it's Schaerf, so I just want you
to know, this is how you pronounce it the right way. (Laughter) Exactly. And
Assemblyman Krekorian, thank you very much also for being here today.
And, of course, it's wonderful to be here
at the Providence
St. Joseph Medical Center; We have been here several times
before. And they're doing an extraordinary job here with emergency preparedness
and also in supporting us with health care reform and this is why we are back
here again with this hospital
But this time I'm here for a very serious
problem that we are facing. We have heard that and that is because of a lack of
budget hospitals like this, that you see in the background here, are suffering
and will not get paid. And I want to say first of all, also, thank you to the
extraordinary staff that is standing around here behind us. Let's give the
nurses and the doctors, spectacular people and hardworking people, a great hand.
(Applause)
And I have said this many times, that when
we ran into a problem, I said there is a massive weight we must lift off our
state and alone I cannot lift it but together we can. And this is why I'm here
today, to ask all of the people to come together and to help us here and to call
the legislators to solve this budget problem once and for all, to go and to meet
in the middle. I mean, it is inexcusable now that we are two and a half months
late with the budget and we still don't have any kind of a goal in sight that
there will be a budget solved.
And it is every single time when there is a
decline economically and the reason is because our budget system has failed the
people. We have a broken budget system where we don't put enough money aside
when the economy is good so that we can supplement the shortfall in revenues,
like right now. We have no rainy day fund to draw from, nothing. So this is why
then we have the fights. Should we raise taxes? Should we borrow the money?
Should we make cuts? And all of those things.
Now the legislators, the Democrats have put
up their budget. They have introduced $10 billion in tax increases and to make
spending cuts. That's too much. The Republicans, they don't have yet a budget
but they are proposing one and they're putting it up this Friday. Well, we know
that's not going to work and it's going to get voted down because it relies on
borrowing and also on deep cuts.
So this is why I say, put up my compromise
budget that I have, which says cut $10 billion and have $5 billion of additional
revenues. And also, have budget reform so that we can once and for all have a
rainy day fund of $12.5 billion and that the governor can make mid-year cuts. So
this is why I ask and urge the legislators, put up my compromise budget so that
we can vote on that. And if we don't get the vote then we move on and try
another idea.
But the fact of the matter is, we've got to
compromise on this. Democrats and Republicans cannot get stuck in their
ideological corners and just say I'm a Republican and I want to be fiscally
responsible, I'm a Democrat and I don't want to make any cuts. They have to come
together. They are so far apart. They have to come together and compromise to
get this done. Not to do what is best for their party, not to do what is best
for their ideology but what is best for the people of California, what's best
for the hospitals, what's best for education, what's best for law enforcement
and for all of those areas. (Applause)
So this is why I want to urge all of you to
call your legislators and let them know to pass a sensible budget and a
compromise budget. And I want to thank you again, all of you, for being here
today and showing this kind of a great interest. Thank you very much. And now I
would like to open it up to questions.
QUESTION/ANSWER:
GOVERNOR:
Yes, please.
QUESTION:
You talked about a per diem that some state senators are collecting. What sort
of sacrifices in expenditures or spending are you doing personally, or in your
office?
GOVERNOR:
Well, you should not forget that we have handed in our budget exactly
at the constitutional deadline on January 10th. Our office has handed in the May
Revise exactly at the constitutional deadline, which was May 14th. And the
legislators have the responsibility to hand in their budget at the
constitutional deadline, which is June 15th and now we are two and a half months
late. So that is what we're talking about. They have not handed in the budget.
They have the responsibility to negotiate, Democrats and Republicans and give me
a budget that is responsible, that I can sign and they have failed doing that.
Yes, please.
QUESTION:
Governor, the question I think she asked was, what sacrifices is
your office making? You went off launching an attack on the legislature, which
is back to the me-versus-them mentality. So if you could answer Jane's question,
what sacrifices is your office making financially?
GOVERNOR:
Well, financially we have cut back. But I think that the most
important thing is that we are staying in town. Our office stays in town, I am
staying in town. I said I will not leave town and I will not leave this state
until there is a budget. For instance, I did not go to the Republican
Convention.
And I have said that
the legislators go and they go on recess, the legislators go to the conventions
and all of those things. I think that the legislators should stay in the office,
should stay in our building, not leave until they have passed a budget. I think
this is the least thing that we can ask them to do. (Applause)
QUESTION:
Governor, you are a seven-time Mr. Olympia and amazing record physically. What
happened to your political muscle? You can't even move your own party to come in
your direction.
GOVERNOR:
Well, I think that -- thank you for the compliment of me winning seven
Mr. Olympia contests. You forgot the five Mr. Universe contests and Mr. World
and Mr. International. Don't forget those titles, okay? (Applause)
I think that, as I
said earlier, this is something that you can't do by yourself. I think that, as
I've said many times, the system, the way it is set up, you cannot make the
legislators pass a budget, you know? And we have seen it over and over again, if
there is a Democratic governor or a Republican governor. Whenever we have an
economic decline the budget drags on into September. We have seen under Governor
Wilson, it dragged into September 2nd. Under Governor Davis it dragged all the
way to September 5th. As a matter of fact, by tomorrow we are breaking a record,
we are going beyond that September 5th.
So it is because we
have a broken budget system. If we would have right now a rainy day fund of
$12.5 billion, which I request, imagine, we would not be debating this issue,
how do we get this extra $5 billion, should we raise taxes or should we go make
extra cuts, or should we borrow that money? We would be drawing down from the
rainy day fund and we would be covered. That's what you do. That's what all the
cities do in California, that's what other states are
doing. California does not have a rainy day fund.
That is the sad story.
And this is why we
have to reform the system to be fiscally responsible, that when we have an
increase economically and we see the economy taking off, let's put some money
aside and not spend it all. And then, when we have a decline economically, we
can pull from that money and then we don't have to have those fights and
arguments all the time.
And it is sad to say
that our legislators are ideologically locked in and they put themselves in the
corner and now they don't know how to get out of it. And I think it is sad, not
to see people in Sacramento do what they're
supposed to do, which is to represent the people of California and to work for the people of California.
There are some in my
party that say well, you know, raising taxes will hurt the economy. Right now,
because we don't have a budget, it has cost us already $1 billion. It costs the
taxpayers $1 billion because of the programs that we are spending on. We are
spending as if we have $113 billion and, in the meantime, we only have $102, so
we are spending more money right now than we are supposed to. So this is the
kind of things. Then, when we go and take a RAW, when we take out a loan, it
will cost us another $.5 billion extra. So we are wasting money because we don't
make a decision and we don't have a budget.
And I want to bring
both of those parties together and say look, I understand it is very difficult,
it is very challenging. I know the way the redistricting works, that when you go
back to your districts that you get beaten up and that you get accused of having
changed your mind and flip-flopping and all of those kind of things. But I think
we have to do that sometimes. We have to go and make the decisions that are the
best for the people, rather than best for ideology and the party. (Applause)
Yes?
QUESTION:
Who is hurting the most in this? Who is suffering the most and who
are you most worried about?
GOVERNOR:
Well, the sad story is, one thing we know for sure is the legislators
are not suffering. Not a bit. They get their per diem, they get their salary.
And if they don't get it, they get it paid later on when we have a budget. So no
one is suffering there. No consequences, no consequences whatsoever.
But who is suffering
is the patients behind us, the patients in this building, in this hospital. The
children are suffering, the vendors are suffering. All of those different people
out there that are not being paid now will be suffering. And I think that is a
sad story and I think that we can do much better than
that.
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