Should Los Angeles limit how much hospital drivers are paid?

That decision could be put before the voters of the City of Los Angeles, under a ballot measure backed by a union representing health

caretakers.

But whether that happens may depend on another question: how much does the president of the United States earn?

The California Hospital Assn. has gone to court to stop a ballot measure that would cap annual compensation for executives at private hospitals and other health facilities in Los Angeles, arguing that the proposed measure rests on a statement that is “factually and demonstrably false” .

The LA ballot measure, backed by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, would set the annual health limit

healthcare managers against “the total compensation for the President of the United States,” which is listed as “currently $450,000.” That dollar limit for healthcare executives includes their salaries, bonuses and a range of other benefits and payments, including severance payments.

The hospital association argued that the president is entitled to other payments and benefits, including travel expenses, discretionary funds and

free

stay in the White House, which brings his annual fee well above $450,000. As a result, it argued in its lawsuit, the LA petition contained “calculated falsehoods” that misled voters asked to sign it.

California law clearly states that voters cannot be lied to or misled when they submit an initiative petition for signature,” said Jan Emerson-Shea, California Hospital Assn. vice president of external affairs, who called the petition “clearly false.”

The hospital association is calling on the courts to prevent the initiative from being passed or appearing on the ballot paper.

Supporters of the initiative are fighting the legal challenge, as is the city itself. The lawsuit is “nothing more than a thinly veiled pre-election attack on the substance of the initiative itself, an action strongly frowned upon by the courts,” lawyers representing the proponents wrote.

A federal code titled “President’s Compensation” states that the president receives $400,000 annually and has an expense allowance of $50,000.

But the hospital association cited calculations from a consultant who concluded that the total amount, using the same definition of “covered compensation” that the initiative proposes for LA health care executives, is more than $1.2 million.

That amount includes hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual pay for former presidents after their term, as the LA measure says health manager compensation includes “post-employment benefits,” the advisor wrote. It’s also based on a calculation for how much expense accounts and housing that are tax-exempt would have to scale up if they were taxable, as would be the case for hospital drivers getting similar benefits in Los Angeles, the consultant said in a legal statement. . declaration.

Supporters of the ballot measure derided that as a “tortured statement” and called such arguments “completely irrelevant red herrings” in a lawsuit, saying the definition of compensation in the ballot measure applied to the health care executives, not the American president. .

They also argued that the petition clearly stated that health

health care administrators would have their compensation capped at an amount currently set at $450,000.

If the hospital association wants to argue that the US president is actually being compensated more than $450,000 a year, “that’s an argument best given to voters in their efforts to oppose the initiative; the initiating process their lawyers wrote.

Supporters of the ballot measure have already submitted their petition and signatures to the Los Angeles City Clerk, who verifies that proposed measures have enough valid signatures to be placed on the ballot. If the measure meets that requirement, city councilors can also choose to pass a measure outright to voters.

SEIU-UHW spokesperson Renee Saldaa argued that the pay for hospital executives in its current form is “excessive, unnecessary and inconsistent with what the hospital system’s mission should be to provide quality and affordable medical care for all” and that “These executives paying millions are really setting the wrong priorities.”

Saldaa pointed out that hospital groups have been pushing to prevent $25-an-hour wage measures for a range of private hospital workers from being adopted outright by Los Angeles County cities, arguing instead that they should go to the ballot. A wage measure in LA defended by SEIU-UHW has been suspended after hospital groups successfully push for a referendum.

If the hospital association believes that such wage measures should instead be taken by voters, “it is an opportune time for voters to also weigh in on the salaries of the highest paid,” Saldaa said.

The proposed measure would limit executive pay for a range of top executives, including CEOs, chief financial officers, executive vice presidents and administrators, at private hospitals and their affiliated clinics, skilled nursing facilities and senior housing facilities in the city of Los Angeles.

Emerson-Shea called the proposal “an abuse of the initiative system” by the union. “This measure will harm hospitals’ ability to recruit qualified leaders at a time when hospitals face real challenges, with no benefits to consumers or employees,” she said in a statement.

There is a court hearing on Tuesday.