The city of Oxnard won’t be allowed to take over the community’s ambulance services from the County of Ventura under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill Saturday.
State Assemblyman Steve Bennett, D-Ventura, authored the bill that would give Oxnard the authority to administer ambulance services within city limits after two California courts ruled against Oxnard’s lawsuit to do the same thing in 2021. The city appealed to the state Supreme Court, but the high court declined to review the case in 2022.
City officials argued they could provide better ambulance service, particularly in Oxnard’s lowest-income neighborhoods, than the community gets through the system administered by the county…