OC supervisors would be removed from CalOptima board under California bill

State Assemblymember Avelino Valencia is pushing a last-minute bill to boot Orange County supervisors off the board of CalOptima Health, the county’s $4.7 billion health insurer for the poor.

Valencia’s bill, AB 2194, also would strip the county Board of Supervisors’ ability to appoint CalOptima’s directors, handing that task to a committee including state and federal legislators.

Valencia, D-Anaheim, said in a statement late Wednesday, June 17, that he is trying to depoliticize the CalOptima board.

“Today, the same body that appoints the CalOptima board also holds seats on it, concentrating political power over an agency whose decisions should focus on member needs and medical expertise,” he said. “Removing the supervisors and placing selection in independent hands de-politicizes the board and keeps its governance separate from politics.”

Valencia added: “Every dollar CalOptima manages has to deliver full value for members, and strong, independent oversight is how we make sure it does.”

Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Vicente Sarmiento, who sit on the CalOptima Board of Directors, said they were stunned by the bill.

“This is really meant to punish us for being watchdogs,” Nguyen said. “The (CalOptima) executive staff is trying to remove two strong voices off the board … the bill removes the people asking the hard questions.”

Some of those questions revolve around former Supervisor Andrew Do, who also sat on the CalOptima board and is in federal prison after siphoning off more than $10 million in county money meant for the elderly. No criminal charges were brought for his tenure on the CalOptima board.

However, in 2022, Do was fined $12,000 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for his “pay-to-play” activities while on the CalOptima board.

“This is obviously a step backwards. … The Board of Supervisors created CalOptima (in 1993) and they are responsible for its stewardship,” Nguyen said.

Sarmiento, who is chairman of the CalOptima board, said it was especially “stunning and disappointing” that the bill was coming at the 11th-hour of the legislative session, which ends Aug. 31. The bill also comes as CalOptima wrestles with federal cutbacks and intense scrutiny of its members under the Trump administration.

“It effectively removes two (elected) supervisors of color who represent a large Vietnamese population and a large Latino population,” Sarmiento said. “Why is Orange County being singled out of the 34 counties” that have organized health systems?

He added, “We are accountable to the residents. We have to make sure the public that pays for the services have accountability.”

CalOptima CEO Michael Hunn could not comment until after a board meeting on Thursday, his staff said.

CalOptima was created more than 30 years ago by the county to administer Medi-Cal services to recipients in the county.

Currently, two supervisors sit on the nine-member CalOptima board, with one alternate from the Board of Supervisors. Filling out the board are health care experts and community leaders.

Valencia’s bill began as a vastly different proposal. Sponsored by the county and introduced in February, the bill originally proposed that terms for the CalOptima directors be staggered and that the alternate board member be given access to confidential materials and closed-door meetings.

However, the bill was gutted and amended this week to wrest CalOptima out of the county’s hands. “This is no longer the bill that the county sponsored,” Nguyen’s office said.

Under the new proposal, the two supervisors on the CalOptima board would be replaced by the head of the Orange County Health Care Agency and the director of county social services.

The bill also would create a special selection committee to choose the other members of the CalOptima board.

The selection committee would consist of the state senator, assemblymember and congressional representative who represent the most Medi-Cal beneficiaries in CalOptima. Other members would include health industry leaders, a financial or legal representative and a Cal-Optima member.

The bill is scheduled to go before the Senate Health Committee on June 24.

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