Bill Text: CA AB411 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Health facilities: seismic safety.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-09-11 - Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. [AB411 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB411-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 411	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 1, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 6, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly  Member   De La
Torre   Members   Garrick   and Harkey

    (   Coauthor:  
Assembly Member   Jones   )

    (   Coauthors:  
Senators   Alquist  
 and Strickland   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2009

    An act to amend Sections 1324.20, 1324.21, and 1324.27 of
the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 14126.033 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to skilled nursing
facilities, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.   An act relating to health facilities.




	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 411, as amended,  De La Torre   Garrick
 .  Skilled nursing facilities: quality assurance fee:
Medi-Cal reimbursement.   Health facilities: seismic
safety.  
   Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office
of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic
safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and
after March 7, 1973. Existing law authorizes the office to assess an
application fee for the review of facilities' design and
construction, and requires that full and complete plans be submitted
to the office for review and approval.  
   Existing law requires that, after January 1, 2008, any general
acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential
risk of collapse or pose significant loss of life be used only for
nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant an
extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law allows certain
hospital owners who do not have the financial capacity to bring
certain buildings into compliance by 2013 to, instead, replace those
buildings by January 1, 2020.  
   This bill would require a health care district that has been
denied an extension of the seismic retrofit and replacement deadlines
to make a specified report to the office, on or before March 1,
2010.  
   Because this bill would impose additional duties upon local
officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
 
   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, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.  
   Existing law, as long as prescribed conditions are met, provides
for the imposition of a uniform quality assurance fee on skilled
nursing facilities, subject to prescribed exemptions, to be
administered by the Director of Health Care Services and deposited in
the State Treasury to be available to enhance federal financial
participation in the Medi-Cal program or to provide additional
reimbursement to, and support facility quality improvement efforts
in, licensed skilled nursing facilities. Existing law provides that
the quality assurance fee shall be based upon the entire net revenue
of all skilled nursing facilities subject to the fee, except an
exempt facility, as defined to include, among other facilities, a
skilled nursing facility that is part of a continuing care retirement
community. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. 

   This bill would eliminate the exemption for a skilled nursing
facility that is part of a continuing care retirement community. By
changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.  
   Existing law provides that for the 2005-06 rate year and
subsequent rate years through and including the 2010-11 rate year,
the net revenue projected for all skilled nursing facilities subject
to the fee shall be based on the prior rate year's data. 

   This bill would require the prior rate year's data to be updated
to the midpoint of the upcoming rate year.  
   Existing law, the Medi-Cal Long-Term Reimbursement Act, requires
the department to implement a cost-based reimbursement rate
methodology for freestanding skilled nursing facilities, excluding
skilled nursing facilities that are a distinct part of a facility
that is licensed as a general acute care hospital. Reimbursement
rates for these facilities are funded by a combination of federal
funds and moneys collected pursuant to the above-described uniform
quality assurance fees. Existing law provides that this rate
methodology shall cease to be implemented on July 31, 2011, with
these provisions to be repealed on January 1, 2012. Existing law
provides, for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 rate years, that the weighted
average Medi-Cal reimbursement rate required for purposes of the
above-described provisions shall not be increased with respect to the
weighted average Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for the 2008-09 rate
year.  
   This bill would, instead, provide that for the 2009-10 rate year,
the weighted average Medi-Cal reimbursement rate required for
purposes of the above-described provisions shall not exceed 2.5% of
the weighted average Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for the prior fiscal
year.  
   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.  
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  2/3   majority  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.


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

   SECTION 1.    On or before March 1, 2010, a health
care district established pursuant to Division 23 (commencing with
Section 32000) of the Health and Safety Code that owns or operates a
general acute care hospital building and has been denied a request
for an extension of the seismic retrofit and replacement deadlines
shall report to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development both of the following:  
   (a) The health care district's efforts to comply with the seismic
retrofit and replacement deadlines, including, but not limited to,
the reassessment of the structural performance level of a general
acute care hospital building owned by the health care district. 

   (b) The health care district's efforts to secure passage of a
local bond measure to fund seismic safety compliance, including the
failure or passage of a ballot measure to approve the issuance of
these bonds, the extent to which the number of voters who voted in
favor the ballot measure exceeded 50 percent of the votes cast but
failed to reach the percentage of votes required for passage and the
extent to which the vote requirement is a barrier to the ability of
the health care district to obtain necessary revenues to comply with
the seismic safety deadlines and standards. 
   SEC. 2.    If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.  All matter
omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in
the Senate, September 2, 2009 (JR11)