A California Assemblywoman, who is also a physician, recently introduced a bill to force the hand of the University of California in hopes of opening a medical school by next year in an underserved area of California. 

Since 1960, the University of California has been the only public education system authorized to confer medical degrees in the state. However, a new bill, introduced by Jasmeet Baines, a family physician and Democrat representing Kern County’s city of Delano, allows California State University, Bakersfield, and the Kern Community College District authority to establish a medical school if the University of California doesn’t do so within a year. 

In 1978, the Fed formally designated Kern County an area with a physician shortage. The County is located in the California Valley, which has fewer than 45 primary care physicians per 100,000 people compared to 156 per 100,000 across California.

Dr. Bains was quoted as saying, “If the UC won’t build it, we’ll build our own damn medical school.”