Los Angeles County officials backed a bill to give Community Medical Center Long Beach (Calif.) more time to meet California earthquake safety standards, according to a Press-Telegram report.
Here are four things to know.
1. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted March 27 to back A.B. 2591 to provide the Long Beach hospital with more time to comply with the state's earthquake safety requirements, according to the report. The hospital is currently scheduled to close within the next four months.
2. Community Medical Center's operator, Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare Health System, decided to end its lease after studies found the facility sits on an active fault line and could not meet the state's earthquake safety requirements that take effect June 30, 2019. The lease is scheduled to end around the beginning of July.
3. The city of Long Beach, which owns the hospital land and the facility, urged the Los Angeles County board to support A.B. 2591 because the bill's approval would allow city officials time to find another organization to manage the hospital, according to the Press-Telegram.
"We are confident, should this legislation go through with the support of the board of Supervisors, we will be able to identify a new partner," City of Long Beach Councilman Al Austin said in the report.
4. As efforts to keep the hospital open continue, Community Medical Center's emergency department has already stopped accepting advanced life support patients.
Ayla Ellison contributed to this report.
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