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  JUNE 25, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to amend Section 129785 of, and to add Section 129788 to,
the Health and Safety Code, relating to health facilities, and making
an appropriation therefor.


	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.
   Existing law authorized 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  continously  
continuously  appropriates the moneys in the fund for the
purposes of administration of these provisions.
   This bill would increase the maximum fee assessed to 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 continously appropriated fund, this bill would
make an appropriation.
   This bill would require OSHPD, except as prescribed, to develop,
with stakeholders, reasonable timeframes for review and approval of
skilled nursing facility construction, alteration, or addition
projects and would authorize the office  , until January 1, 2019,
 to assess a reasonable fee for this review, as specified. The
bill would require documents submitted for review to include the name
and contact information of a project coordinator. The bill would
, until January 1, 2019,  require the office to designate
 a  professional staff  to review the projects and
to complete the review within the timeframes   member to
conduct a peer review of projects relating to skilled nursing
facility construction or alteration  . The bill would authorize
the office to seek outside assistance through contracts with
qualified professional architectural or engineering firms to meet
those  review turnaround times   timeframes
 . The bill would  require OSHPD to monitor document
submissions related to new or comparable design concepts meeting
approval requirements and,   authorize OSHPD to, 
when feasible, publish standard requirements  for design concepts
 for use by stakeholders  when submitting plans for new
construction, renovation, or replacement  . The bill would
require 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  the
office   OSHPD, if resources are available,  to
publish the timeframes  and other requirements  on its
Internet Web site.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. 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 129785 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   129785.  (a)  (1)  The office shall determine an application
filing fee that will cover the costs of administering this chapter.
For a hospital facility, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), or (f)
of Section 1250, and for a skilled nursing or intermediate care
facility, as defined in subdivision (c), (d), (e), or (g) of Section
1250, the fee shall not exceed 2 percent of a project's estimated
construction cost. Application filing fees shall be established in
accordance with applicable procedures established in Article 5
(commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division
3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
   (2)  Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the minimum application filing
fee in any case shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250).
   (b)  The office shall issue an annual permit upon submission of an
application, pursuant to Section 129765, for one or more projects of
a hospital facility, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), or (f) of
Section 1250, if the total estimated construction cost is fifty
thousand dollars ($50,000) or less per fiscal year. The fee for the
annual permit shall be five hundred dollars ($500) and shall be in
lieu of an application filing fee. The annual permit shall cover all
projects undertaken for a particular hospital facility up to a total
estimated construction cost of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)
during the state fiscal year in which the annual permit is issued. If
a hospital facility chooses not to apply for an annual permit to
cover a project or projects costing fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)
or less in total, the hospital facility may instead submit the
project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in
this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined
under subdivision (a).
   (c)  The office shall issue an annual permit upon submission of an
application, pursuant to Section 129765, for one or more projects of
a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, as defined in
subdivision (c), (d), (e), or (g) of Section 1250, if the total
estimated construction cost is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)
or less per fiscal year. The fee for the annual permit shall be two
hundred fifty dollars ($250) and shall be in lieu of an application
filing fee. The annual permit shall cover all projects undertaken for
a particular skilled nursing or intermediate care facility up to a
total estimated construction cost of twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) during the state fiscal year in which the annual permit is
issued. If a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility chooses
not to apply for an annual permit to cover a project or projects
costing twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less in total, the
skilled nursing or intermediate care facility may instead submit the
project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in
this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined
under subdivision (a).
   (d)  If the actual construction cost exceeds the estimated
construction cost by more than 5 percent, a further fee shall be paid
to the office, based on the above schedule and computed on the
amount that the actual cost exceeds the amount of the estimated cost.
If the estimated construction cost exceeds the actual construction
cost by more than 5 percent, the office shall refund the excess
portion of any paid fees, based on the above schedule and computed on
the amount that the estimated cost exceeds the amount of the actual
cost. A refund is not required if the applicant did not complete
construction or alteration of 75 percent of the square footage
included in the project, as contained in the approved drawings and
specifications for the project. In addition, the office shall adopt
regulations specifying other circumstances when the office shall
refund to an applicant all or part of any paid fees for projects
submitted under this chapter. The regulations shall include, but not
be limited to, refunds of paid fees for a project that is determined
by the office to be exempt or otherwise not reviewable under this
chapter, and for a project that is withdrawn by the applicant prior
to the commencement of review by the office of the drawing and
specifications submitted for the project. All refunds pursuant to
this section shall be paid from the Hospital Building Account in the
Architecture Public Building Fund, as established pursuant to Section
129795.
  SEC. 3.  Section 129788 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   129788.  (a) For projects not qualifying for rapid review under
Section 129856, 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
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
set forth in this section.
   (c)  The   In order to ensure consistency of
application of California Building Code standards, the  office
shall designate  a  professional staff  member 
familiar with health facilities providing skilled nursing care to
 conduct a peer  review  of  projects relating to
skilled nursing facility construction or alteration pursuant to this
section.
   (d) The office shall charge a reasonable fee for the review and
approval of plans submitted pursuant to this section. This fee shall
be based on the estimated cost, including costs associated with the
designated  qualified  professional staff 
member  , but shall not exceed the reasonable cost of the entire
phased review and approval process for those plans. 
   (e) The project cost threshold under subdivision (a) of Section
129880, for the purposes of a skilled nursing facility only, 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.  
   (f) 
    (e)  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. 
   (g) 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.  
   (f) If resources are available, the office may publish standard
requirements, when feasible, for design concepts for use by
stakeholders when submitting plans for new construction, renovation,
or replacement.  
   (h) 
    (g)  Design concepts to be considered under subdivision
 (g)   (f)  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 kitchen  and laundry room
equipment. 
   (i) 
    (h)  The office shall work with stakeholders to 
establish   receive input for, or assistance with, the
establishment of  education and outreach programs directed at
reducing document submission error rates and turnaround times.
 The   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. 
   (i) Subdivisions (c) and (d) shall cease to be implemented, and
all related fees shall cease to be assessed, on January 1, 2019.