RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A failed bill seeking to help reopen a shuttered hospital in Virginia has been given another chance by a state Senate committee.
The Roanoke Times reports the Senate Education and Health panel passed the refiled bill by Republican Sen. William Stanley 11-to-0 on Thursday. The emergency legislation was short of the supermajority needed when a vote on Tuesday was 30-to-10 with all 21 Republicans, along with nine Democrats, for it.
Stanley, who opposes Medicaid expansion, says some of his Democratic colleagues told him they would kill the bill unless he voted in favor of expanding Medicaid to about 400,000 more Virginia residents.
Stanley’s bill would retroactively extend expired state certification of Patrick County’s 25-bed Pioneer Community Hospital from Dec. 31, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2018.
