Bill Text: CA AB852 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 852 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Driver's licenses: applications.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-19 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 447, Statutes of 2014. [AB852 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB852-Amended.html

BILL NUMBER: AB 852	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to add Section 129788 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 852, as amended, Quirk. Skilled nursing facility construction,
alteration, or addition: review.
   Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983, requires design and construction standards for
hospital buildings that house patients who have less than the
capacity of normally healthy persons to protect themselves. Existing
law also requires that those standards specify that hospitals must be
reasonably capable of providing services to the public after a
disaster.
   Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development (OSHPD) to approve or reject all plans for the
construction or alteration of a hospital building. Existing law
specifically requires the office, contingent upon an appropriation in
the annual Budget Act, to establish a program for training fire and
life safety officers to facilitate the timely performance of the
office's duties and responsibilities relating to the review of plans
and specifications pertaining to the design and observation of
construction of hospital buildings, as specified. Existing law
authorizes the office to establish other training programs as
necessary to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified persons are
available to facilitate the timely performance of the office's
duties and responsibilities, as specified.
   This bill would set specific   require 
OSHPD  , except as prescribed, to develop, with stakeholders,
reasonable timeframes for  review and approval 
timeframes for   of  skilled nursing facility
construction, alteration, or addition  projects  and would
authorize the office to assess a reasonable fee for this review ,
as specified  . The bill would authorize the office to seek
outside assistance through contracts with qualified professional
architectural or engineering firms to meet  the 
 those  review turnaround times  required by this
bill.  or coordinate with local building officials to
  delegate jurisdiction on specific types of projects. The
bill would require OSHP   D to monitor document submissions
related to new or comparable design concepts meeting approval
requirements and, when feasible, publish standard requirements for
use by sta   keholders. The bill would require OSHPD to work
with sta   keholders to establish education and out 
 reach programs directed at reducing document submission error
rates and turnaround times. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) A variety of factors have contributed to making health care
construction costs in California among the highest in the nation. The
costs are driven by the escalating price of raw materials, high
demand for skilled labor, and the complexity of design, plan review,
and approval of skilled nursing facility construction.
   (b) Skilled nursing facilities are licensed health care facilities
that care for the state's most fragile and vulnerable citizens.
   (c) The physical infrastructure and related systems of these
licensed health facilities are governed by building and fire and life
safety code requirements regulated by the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and
the State Department of Public Health.
   (d) As the industry moves to update the aging health care
infrastructure, incorporate advances in medical technology, implement
a modern health care delivery system, and improve electronic medical
records systems, health care construction activity will increase to
unseen levels, creating additional economic pressure on the skilled
nursing and construction industry.
   (e) Licensed health care facilities are required to go through a
building application and plan check process under the jurisdiction of
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
   (f) This process is bureaucratically efficient, but is subject to
inherent delays impacting timely approvals of projects. Although the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has developed
internal policies that set timeframes for plan review and approval,
these policies are targets rather than enforceable requirements.
   (g) Improving the efficiency of health care building plan review
and construction efforts will not only reduce the time to design,
review, and complete facility construction, but also lower the cost
of the project and reduce overall cost pressures on the health care
system, allowing more resources to be directed to direct patient
services.
   (h) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to codify the
timeframes and due dates for completion by the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development of the review of facility
construction documents and to require the office to notify applicants
of the anticipated date the review will be completed and returned to
them.
  SEC. 2.  Section 129788 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   129788.  (a) Documents submitted to the office for new
construction of, alteration of, or additions to, health facilities
licensed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1250,  shall
include the name and contact information for an individual designated
to be the project coordinator, and  shall be reviewed and
approved within the timeframes established by this section.
   (b)  (1)    Upon receipt of the documents
submitted pursuant to subdivision (a), each submittal shall be logged
in by the office and given  an  preliminary review
within 48 hours by  architects, engineers, and fire and life
safety officers   designated qualified professional
staff  of the office  familiar with health facilities
providing skilled nursing care  to determine if the submittal is
complete. 
   (2) Within 48 hours, the office shall notify the project
coordinator telephonically if the submittal is incomplete and of the
specific documents that may be missing or require correction. 

   (3) Upon notification, the project coordinator may request the
submittal to be returned for correction and resubmission, or an
appointment with the office to meet and deliver any missing documents
or make corrections to the documents as necessary to meet the
requirements of the office. 
   (c) For projects not qualifying for rapid review under Section
129856, the Facilities Development Division shall meet  the
following timeframes:   reasonable   timeframes
developed by the office, in conjunction with stakeholders, that
include all of the following   : 
   (1) First review of new projects  and deferred items shall
be completed within 30 days  .
   (2) Backchecks  shall be completed within 15 days
 .
   (3) Amended construction documents  shall be completed
within 15 days  .
   (d) New projects that qualify for review by the Rapid Review Unit
shall be completed within  an average of  15 business days.
 Projects qualify if they are new projects up to a maximum
estimated construction cost between one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000) and one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000),
dependent upon the unit's fluctuating workload. Rapid review does not
apply to any of the following:  
   (1) Existing projects that were initially reviewed by a regional
office, including backchecks, post approval documents (PADs), and
deferred items (DI's).  
   (2) Projects requiring an alternate method of compliance.
 
   (3) Projects having equipment missing required project numbers for
special seismic certification.  
   (e) For projects that include primary gravity or lateral load
elements or systems, structural shall be completed within 30 days for
first reviews and 15 days for deferred item reviews. Backchecks for
these projects shall be completed within 15 days.  
   (f) The review schedules for managed projects will be negotiated
between the office and the applicants.  
   (g) 
    (   e)  The office shall charge a reasonable
fee for the review and approval of plans submitted pursuant to this
 subdivision   section  . This fee shall be
based on the estimated cost,  including costs associated with
the designated qualified   professional staff,  but
shall not exceed the reasonable cost of the entire phased review and
approval process for those plans. 
   (h) 
    (   f)  The project cost threshold under
subdivision (a) of Section 129880 shall be increased to one hundred
thousand dollars ($100,000) without regard to the cost of equipment
or other items not related to the actual repair or construction
costs. 
   (i) 
    (   g)  In order to meet the review turnaround
times required by this section, the office may seek outside
assistance through contracts with qualified professional
architectural or engineering firms  , or coordinate with local
building officials to delegate jurisdiction on specific types of
projects  . 
   (h) The office shall monitor document submissions related to new
or comparable design concepts meeting approval requirements and, when
feasible, publish standard requirements for use by stakeholders.
Design concepts may include new construction, renovation, or
replacement.  
   (i) Design concepts to be considered under subdivision (h) may
include, but are not limited to, reduction in beds; installation and
use of new technology, such as electronic medical records; space
conversion dedicated to changes in care delivery models; and common
replacement of major infrastructure equipment, including roofing,
HVAC, generators and emergency power systems, water heaters and
boilers, kitchen, and laundry room equipment. 
   (j) The office shall work with stakeholders to establish education
and outreach programs directed at reducing document submission error
rates and turnaround times.