Story by Jennifer Gollan

An effort to impose spending restrictions on California's taxpayer-funded health care districts is on hold until next year.

Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, said he plansto introduce a bill in January requiring more "transparency" and more "accountability" from those districts. The new legislation would mandate how much tax revenue districts must spend on community health care programs.

The state's 74 health care districts were created to provide medical care to low-income and rural communities, but a recent Bay Citizen investigation found about 30 of those districts no longer run hospitals. Instead, some districts are managing real estate, stockpiling cash and pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into dubious projects at the expense of community health care programs.

Gordon had co-sponsored legislation earlier this yearrequiring those districts to spend at least 95 percent of their annual tax revenue on community health programs and tosubmit detailed financial reports to local oversight agencies.

But lawmakers failed to take action on his bill last week, after some Assembly members said that some districts could not afford to comply with the bills reporting requirements.The Assembly Appropriations Committee had estimated those requirements would cost districtsmore than $100,000.

The lawmakers who opposed the bill were in session yesterday and unavailable for comment.

Gordon said he would consider ways to bring down those costs before he introduces his new bill.

It gives us an opportunity to say how can we make this bill better, said Gordon,who co-authored the legislation withAssemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento. I remain concerned that health care districts, particularly those that are no longer running hospitals, should guarantee that tax dollars are being well spent.

Supporters of Gordon's bill were disappointed that lawmakers chose not to vote on his legislation.

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Health care district reforms are on hold