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Attorney general brief supports lawsuit against Santa Barbara County

December 5, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief in Santa Barbara Superior Court last month supporting the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses Santa Barbara County of violating regulations when it awarded itself a contract for ambulance services.

In September, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors awarded the contract for ambulance services to the County Fire Department, ending a 50-year agreement with American Medical Response (AMR) and starting a legal battle. AMR slapped back with a lawsuit that accuses the county of violating state laws.

AMR also filed for a preliminary injunction to stop the transfer of ambulance services while the court hears their case. The county had planned to take over ambulance services on March 1.

Attorneys for Santa Barbara County filed a response against the injunction arguing “the county’s ambulance system will be thrown into chaos.”

On Nov. 22, the Attorney General of California filed an amicus brief arguing that the county’s application for ambulance services potentially undermines the purposes of the Emergency Medical Services Act.

“The county, by awarding a single operating permit, may have created a de facto monopoly on ambulance services without the strict oversight and approval by EMSA that would otherwise be mandated by law to ensure that services provided are equitable and of high quality,” according to the State Attorney General’s brief. “These alleged facts, if true, would undercut the careful balancing of interests struck in the EMS Act and, in doing so, weaken the law’s patient-focused protections that ensure a statewide quality and equitable access of EMS care.”

Before the county awarded itself the contract, it bought 38 ambulances. The county plans to hire 130 people for ambulance services staffing.

State law bars counties from charging fees that generate revenues beyond the cost of providing municipal services without voter approval. However, while bidding for the contract, the County Fire Department projected it would generate approximately $8 million in revenue for the county above the cost of providing ambulance services.

Currently, AMR is restricted from making more than 8% profit on its services.

A hearing on the injunction request is scheduled for Dec. 10 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.


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Santa Barbara County government has a host of self-inflicted injuries.


Under 5th District supervisor Steve Lavignino, SB County has allowed corruption, bad government, and special-interests to take over the SB county board of supervisors. Lavignino sold out to the far left liberals in Santa Barbara and expanded county spending on illegal aliens, which has blown a hole in the budget.


Lavignino also took money from the Marijuana growers when he was writing the ordinances which would affect their industry, and, in return, he wrote a shoddy plan protecting them from the rightful taxes they own in producing their product. Lavignoino has also thumbed his nose at average citizens objecting to the foul odor of the marijuana grow sites set up next to residential neighborhoods. Corruption.


Now, this harebrained attempt to unfairly game the ambulance contract has been met with lawsuits and legal pushback. How can the county oversee a ‘fair’ process to grant the contract to the most competitive applicant, when they were financially securing the ambulances in advance of deciding who to awards the contract to? This is just another example of big government expanding at the expense of the private sector, and no amount of rationalization can convince people that this was done for citizen benefit. Lavignino was at the center of this harebrained idea, and now the lawyers are suing, which involves taxpayers funding more expensive layers to defend the lawsuits.


Get it? As a Santa Barbara County Supervisor, Steve Lavignino has sold out the taxpayers and the advocates of good government time and time again. His corruption and malfeasance has gotten so bad that he is retiring in shame instead of pursuing reelection, and voters need to learn not to trust people with such obvious character deficiencies.


Good luck to AMR Ambulance as they pursue legal recourse, I just wish political corruption didn’t force average citizens to see tax increases, shame on Lavignino.


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