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

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

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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

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BILL NUMBER: AB 852	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to add and repeal Section 129788  ofthe 
 of 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  
Health  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   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 require
the office to designate a professional staff member to provide
consultation on the review of projects relating to skilled nursing
facility and intermediate care 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 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 
require   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. 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   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  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   facility 
construction activity will increase to unseen levels, creating
additional economic pressure on the skilled nursing, intermediate
care, and construction industries.
   (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 
 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 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 provide consultation on the review of projects
relating to skilled nursing facility and intermediate care facility
construction or alteration pursuant to this section. 

   (d) 
    (   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. 
   (e) 
    (   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. 
   (f) 
    (   e)  The office  shall 
 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.

   (g) 
    (   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. 
   (h) 
    (   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.