Ballot Measure Gets Five Thumbs Up!

On November 25th, all five Alameda County Supervisors passed language for a ballot measure for March, 2004, that will read "a tax for the purpose of providing additional support for emergency medical, hospital inpatient, outpatient, public health, mental health and substance abuse services to indigent, low-income and uninsured adults, children, families, seniors and other residents of Alameda County." It will be referred to as the Essential Health Care Services Tax, and will be a 1/2 cent sales tax just in Alameda County, raising the sales tax from 8.25% to 8.75%.

1. 75% of collected revenues will go to the Alameda County Medical Center, none of which will be used for buildings.
2. 25% of collected revenues will go to other health care providers to the indigent, with special attention paid to the CBOs (and if that doesn't happen, we will fight for it as often as necessary).
3. All of the money will be "new," meaning it will not be displace money the county already gives to the medical center for indigent care.
4. In years that there is a budget deficit and the county must require its departments to make cuts, the money the county already gives ACMC will be cut in the same amount as other programs, but the measure's tax revenues will not be cut and distributed elsewhere.
5. The Supervisors will continue to have flexibility with the 25% within the parameters of programs that offer health care-related services to the poor.
6. The tax will "sunset," meaning end, in 2019, fifteen years from the start. The taxpayers watchdog association declared publicly that with this included, they would support and not oppose the measure.
7. There will be a Citizen Oversight Committee, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, to annually review the expenditures of the fund for the prior year.
8. The tax will begin 110 days after adoption of the Ordinance, which means ACMC will need continued county support until then. They have been covering ACMC's huge deficit for months now.

The negotiations went on during and even at the end of the hearing, but in fact, most stakeholders expressed surprise and gratitude that the many disputed points were hammered out as well as they were. We will be calling on Vote Health members and allies to work harder than they have for years (since Measure E was on the ballot) to help us pass with a 2/3 vote on March 4, 2004, so make time in your calendars for hard work in January and February!