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 SENATE  SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 10, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 25, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member  Quirk  
Dickinson 
    (   Principal coauthor:   Senator 
 Steinberg   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

    An act to add and repeal Section 129788 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to health facilities, and making an
appropriation therefor.   An act to amend Section
21155.4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental
quality. 



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 852, as amended,  Quirk   Dickinson 
.  Health facility construction, alteration, or addition:
review.   Environme   ntal quality: exemption.
 
   The California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA,
requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be
prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact
report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may
have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative
declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the
environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that
effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as
revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. 

   This bill would revise the exemption from CEQA established by
certain provisions of law for residential, employment center, and
mixed-use development projects to require both the project and the
appropriate specific plan to be consistent with the general use
designation, density, building intensity, and applicable policies
specified for the project area in either a sustainable communities
strategy or an alternative planning strategy for which the State Air
Resources Board has accepted as a metropolitan planning organization'
s determination that the sustainable communities strategy or the
alternative planning strategy would, if implemented, achieve the
greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Because a lead agency
would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for this
exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
 
   This bill would provide that the bill becomes operative only if SB
743 of the 2013-14 Regular Session is enacted.  
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.  
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.  
   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.  
   Existing law authorizes the office to determine and assess an
application fee not to exceed 2% of the project's estimated
construction costs for certain hospital facilities, and not to exceed
1.5% of the estimated construction costs for prescribed skilled
nursing facilities or intermediate care facilities. Existing law
establishes the Hospital Building Fund, requires deposit of these
fees into the fund, and continuously appropriates the moneys in the
fund for the purposes of administration of these provisions.
 
   This bill would, until January 1, 2019, increase the maximum fee
assessed to certain of those skilled nursing facilities or
intermediate care facilities to 2% of the project's estimated
construction costs. By increasing the amounts to be deposited into a
continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an
appropriation.  
   This bill would require OSHPD to develop, with stakeholders, and
would require the Facilities Development Division of OSHPD to meet,
reasonable timeframes for review and approval of skilled nursing
facility and intermediate care facility construction, alteration, or
addition projects, except as prescribed. The bill would require
documents submitted for review to include the name and contact
information of a project coordinator. The bill would authorize the
office to seek outside assistance through contracts with qualified
professional architectural or engineering firms to meet those
timeframes. The bill would authorize OSHPD to, when feasible, publish
standard requirements for design concepts for use by skilled nursing
and intermediate care facilities when submitting plans for new
construction, renovation, or replacement. The bill would authorize
OSHPD to work with stakeholders to establish education and outreach
programs directed at reducing document submission error rates and
turnaround times. The bill would require OSHPD, if resources are
available, to publish the timeframes and other requirements on its
Internet Web site. The bill would provide that these provisions shall
be operative until January 1, 2019. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation:  yes   no
 . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: 
no   yes  .


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

   SECTION 1.    Section 21155.4 of the  
Public Resources Code   , as added by Section 6 of Senate
Bill 743 of the 2013-14 Regular Session, is amended to read: 
   21155.4.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a
residential, employment center, as defined in paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) of Section 21099, or mixed-use development project,
including any subdivision, or any zoning, change that meets all of
the following criteria is exempt from the requirements of this
division:
   (1) The project is proposed within a transit priority area, as
defined in subdivision (a) of Section 21099.
   (2) The project is undertaken to implement and is consistent with
a specific plan for which an environmental impact report has been
certified.
   (3) The project  is   and specific plan are
 consistent with the general use designation, density, building
intensity, and applicable policies specified for the project area in
either a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning
strategy for which the State Air Resources Board, pursuant to
subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 65080
of the Government Code, has accepted a metropolitan planning
organization's determination that the sustainable communities
strategy or the alternative planning strategy would, if implemented,
achieve the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
   (b) Further environmental review shall be conducted only if any of
the events specified in Section 21166 have occurred.
   SEC. 2.    This   measure shall not become
operative unless Senate Bill 743 of the 2013-   14 Regular
Session is enacted. 
   SEC. 3.    No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.  
  SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
   (a) A variety of factors have contributed to making health
facility 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 and
intermediate care facility construction.
   (b) Skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities
are licensed health 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 facility construction activity will increase
to unseen levels, creating additional economic pressure on the
skilled nursing, intermediate care, and construction industries.
   (e) Licensed health 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 facility 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) For projects submitted by health facilities licensed
pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 1250 that do not
qualify for rapid review under Section 129880, the Facilities
Development Division shall meet reasonable timeframes developed by
the office, in conjunction with stakeholders, that include all of the
following:
   (1) Preliminary review of documents submitted to the office.
   (2) First review of new projects.
   (3) Backchecks.
   (4) Amended construction documents.
   (b) Documents submitted to the office for new construction of,
alteration of, or addition to, health facilities licensed pursuant to
subdivisions (c) and (d) 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
set forth in this section.
   (c) In order to meet the review timeframes developed pursuant to
this section, the office may seek outside assistance through
contracts with qualified professional architectural or engineering
firms.
   (d) If resources are available, the office may publish standard
requirements, when feasible, for design concepts for use by skilled
nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities when submitting
plans for new construction, renovation, or replacement. Design
concepts to be considered 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, and kitchen and laundry room
equipment.
   (e) The office may work with stakeholders to receive input for, or
assistance with, the establishment of education and outreach
programs directed at reducing document submission error rates and
turnaround times. To the extent resources are available, the office
shall publish on its Internet Web site these requirements, including,
but not limited to, the timeframes developed pursuant to this
section.
   (f) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 129785, the maximum
application filing fee for a skilled nursing or intermediate care
facility, as defined in subdivision (c) or (d) of Section 1250, shall
not exceed 2 percent of a project's estimated construction cost.
   (g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.