The Senate Local Government Committee voted 6-0 for Berg's Assembly Bill 1199, an urgency measure that would allow the Trinity Public Utility District to temporarily step in and take over administration of Trinity County Hospital, which was threatened with imminent closure while struggling with millions of dollars of debt.

"Allowing that hospital to close would leave 13,000 people, many of them elderly, without any nearby surgery or emergency care," said Berg, D-Eureka. "We don't want to let that happen."

Despite its economic woes, the hospital also accounts for some 6 percent of local jobs and 10 percent of County's economic activity. The Trinity County Board of Supervisors and the Trinity County Public Utility District recently approved resolutions in support of this measure.

"There are a lot of reasons to protect this important community resource," said Berg.

Under AB 1199, which, as an urgency bill, would take effect as soon as the governor signed it, the local utility would assume the powers of a health district for the next three years. To make the plan feasible, the utility may have to raise rates, which would require a vote of the people.