Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

Funding will support water and transportation infrastructure, health care services, education, and public safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that he secured over $60.9 million in federal funding for 33 projects across Los Angeles County. These projects were included in the bipartisan FY 2022 appropriations package that passed the House yesterday. The President is expected to sign the bill into law next week after it passes the Senate.  

“I am proud to have secured funding for projects in Los Angeles to improve our water and transportation infrastructure, support health care services, and make our communities safer,” Senator Padilla said. “This funding will go to local governments and community organizations that are directly serving our neighborhoods. Federal dollars will support projects to modernize our transportation infrastructure and spur economic growth by better connecting the Valley and Inglewood to the rest of Los Angeles. We are also investing in projects that will increase California’s capacity to treat patients and deliver mental health services. Funding will allow the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to become the first hospital in the nation to acquire a new high-performance heart MRI machine, help renovate part of the White Memorial Medical Center, and build a new mental health hub in Sylmar.”

Projects across Los Angeles County that will receive federal funding include:

• $10 million for Groundwater Treatment in the San Gabriel Basin
  This funding will help reimburse costs associated with treatment and remediation of the groundwater treatment facilities in the San Gabriel Basin in Los Angeles County.
• $5 million for the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Corridor Project
  This project would provide improved transit service along the busy Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road corridors serving the eastern San Fernando Valley by building and connecting Metro and Metrolink stations.
• $5 million for the Inglewood Transit Connector Project
  This project will provide residents and visitors with a state-of-the-art elevated guideway connecting the Crenshaw/LAX Metro Line directly to destinations in the City of Inglewood, including The Forum, SoFi Stadium at Hollywood Park, and the future Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center.
• $3.7 million for the Harbor South Bay Water Recycling Project
  This funding will support the installation of 3,000 feet of pipeline extensions and assist in saving drinking water to supply households. This project will deliver approximately 35 acre-feet of recycled water for use at Mills Memorial Park and Curtiss Middle School, which are both in a disadvantaged area of the community.This is one segment of the West Basin Municipal Water District’s larger Harbor South Bay project, which is a cooperative effort with the US Army Corps of Engineers to develop up to 48,000 acre-feet of recycled water for municipal and environmental uses in the Los Angeles area.
• $3.5 million for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project
  The Sepulveda Transit Corridor project aims to improve the speed, frequency, capacity, and reliability of transit service between the heavy concentrations of households in the San Fernando Valley and the major employment and activity centers on the Westside. This is part of a larger, future project to extend the corridor further south to LAX.
• $3 million for the San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust
  This funding would help initiate the construction of critical housing and shelter developments in the San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust’s Affordable Housing Project Pipeline.
• $2.5 million for the Pico Rivera Water Authority for a PFAS Groundwater Treatment Project
  This funding will support construction of a water treatment facility in order to abate the toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals,” that contaminate Pico Rivera’s groundwater.
• $2 million for Conversion of Parking Structure to Affordable Housing in Santa Monica
  This funding will support the conversion of a parking structure to affordable housing to provide permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing homelessness.
• $1.8 million to White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles 
  This funding will help White Memorial Medical Center renovate the catheterization lab with state-of-the-art equipment, increasing treatment capacity. Funding would also help two new operatories to provide surgeons with the necessary space and logistical configurations to serve an increasing number of critically ill or injured patients whose surgeries cannot be postponed due to COVID-19 exposure.
• $1.5 million for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps
  This funding will support a collaboration between the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, Conservation Corps of Long Beach, and San Gabriel Valley Conservation to scale up activities and provide more paid job training, educational opportunities, support services, and career development services to young adults, with an emphasis on reaching underserved communities.
• $1.5 million to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for a High-Performance Heart MRI
  This funding will be used to purchase a revolutionary, high-performance, low field 0.55T heart MRI, which is part of an equipment upgrade for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Cardiac Institute. Low field magnets are quieter and deposit less radiofrequency energy into the body than stronger magnets, making them safer for children, fetuses, and any person with a metal implant. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles would be the first hospital in the United States to acquire this instrument, significantly advancing diagnostic and treatment capabilities for children with heart conditions throughout California.

• $1.5 million for Construction of Mental Health Hub on the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center Campus in Sylmar
  This funding will support the construction of a Mental Health Hub to provide comprehensive and coordinated delivery of mental health services to children and youth in or at-risk of entering the foster care system. Staff would provide triage, mental health assessments, crisis interventions, and linkage to mental health care providers.
• $1.5 million for an Alternative Emergency Dispatch Pilot Program in Los Angeles
  This funding will support a pilot program in the City of Los Angeles to test an alternative, unarmed dispatch model for 911 calls involving people experiencing homelessness or a mental health crisis. The program would offer a services-led approach to non-violent crises, so police officers don’t have to respond. The program would help ensure that behavioral health care and homelessness services are integrated from the onset of intervention and treatment.
• $1.5 million for Santa Clarita’s Circulation and Safety Improvement Project
  This funding will support a project to improve traffic safety and flow, reduce congestion, and increase accessibility on City of Santa Clarita roads.
• $1.5 million for San Gabriel Valley Park Center
  This funding will support creation of the San Gabriel Valley Park Center in West Puente Valley to provide outdoor green space to a region lacking in parks.
• $1.5 million for the MacLaren Community Park Project
  This funding will support a project to create a new community park at the old MacLaren Hall site to provide open space for the El Monte community.

• $1.3 million for the Los Angeles Community College District to Expand Health Care and Biotech Programs
  This funding will help increase access to existing biotech academies and develop new cell culture programs at campuses across the Los Angeles Community College District. These career technical education programs will help meet local industry needs.
• $1.1 million for the Henry Mayo Hospital Ingress and Egress Access Improvement Project
  This funding will support improvements to allow safer and more efficient entrance and exit of vehicles to Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita. It will address traffic congestion on McBean Parkway and will result in reduced response time for emergencies as emergency personnel will use improved roadway options when entering and exiting the facility grounds.

• $1 million for Pathway Torrance, a Community Resource and Response Center
  This project would retrofit an unused former community health facility into Pathway Torrance. This dedicated community health facility would provide programmatic and specialized support, city paramedic response, emergency training, and education for area residents, students, and persons who are at risk for, or are experiencing, homelessness.
• $1 million for Homelessness Response in the City of Torrance
  This funding will strengthen city infrastructure, retain outreach workers and housing navigators, and identify city sites for potential permanent supportive or transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness.
  
• $1 million to Help Long Beach Transition to Zero-Emission Buses
  This funding will support the purchase of battery-electric or fuel cell electric buses to help Long Beach transition its aging bus fleet to zero-emission technology.

• $1 million for California State University Northridge’s Equity Innovation Hub
  This funding will support CSUN’s project to develop a Global Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Equity Innovation Hub. The Hub will support Latino and other underrepresented students in pursuing degree pathways to STEM fields and closing student equity gaps.

• $1 million to Expand Cedars-Sinai Los Angeles’s Simulation Center
  This funding will allow Cedars Sinai to expand the Simulation Center at their main campus to enhance the ability of clinicians and other caregivers to receive real-time experience with educators. This will improve patient outcomes by providing advanced training to medical professionals.

• $1 million for Destination Crenshaw
  This funding will support a community-led public and private streetscape improvement and cultural infrastructure initiative designed to celebrate the history and culture of Black Los Angeles on Crenshaw Boulevard.
• $975,000 to Los Angeles City College for Students’ Basic Needs
  This will fund a project to address students’ basic needs to provide underserved students with the support they need to access higher education.

• $938,000 for the City of Torrance Airport Stormwater Basin Project
  This will fund a regional stormwater basin project at the Torrance Municipal Airport to divert, capture, and treat urban stormwater runoff.
• $700,000 for the City of Torrance’s Emergency Operations Center Power Supply
  This funding will allow for a back-up power source at the City of Torrance’s new Emergency Operations Center.
• $600,000 for the AltaSea Ocean STEM Pathways Program at the Port of Los Angeles
  This program will provide Los Angeles area students in grades 3-12 who qualify for free lunches with hands-on educational experiences in four sectors of the Blue Economy: sustainable aquaculture, ocean exploration and mapping, clean energy, and underwater robotics.
• $500,000 for Development of the City of Lancaster’s Emergency Operations Center
  This funding will support the development of a fully functioning off-the-grid emergency operations center at Lancaster City Hall.

• $500,000 for Mount San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) for Vocational Health Training ProgramsThis funding will create a short-term certification program to train people to fill health care-related jobs, such as ambulance technicians, pharmacy technicians, medical technicians, and other related fields with strong job growth.

• $480,000 for Southern California Highways to Boulevards Regional Study
  This will fund a study to identify and evaluate urban highways in Southern California for conversion to city streets or placing a lid over existing rights-of-way, particularly those intersecting with environmental justice areas and disadvantaged communities. These conversions would free up additional land for affordable housing or green spaces.
• $450,000 to Establish a Basic Needs Program for UCLA Students
  This funding will allow for the creation of the BruinHub, which will provide space and services for UCLA students impacted by the twin burdens of extreme commutes and housing insecurity. Research shows that 43 percent of students who commute over 60 minutes to UCLA report having slept overnight on or near campus because of the long commute. Last year, Padilla introduced the Basic Assistance for Students in College (BASIC) Act, bicameral legislation to ensure college students are able to meet their basic needs while pursuing their education.
• $225,000 for a Fire Suppression Apparatus in the City of Burbank
  This funding will help the City of Burbank replace a water tender—firefighting equipment that helps transport water to the fire-line—with a new apparatus to better serve as a regional asset for urban and wildland fire suppression services.

A full summary of the FY 2022 Appropriations Omnibus package is available here.

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