BILL NUMBER: AB 1773 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2008
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hayashi
JANUARY 14, 2008
An act to amend Section 114435 of, and to add Section 114436.5 to,
the Health and Safety Code, relating to retail food.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1773, as amended, Hayashi. Retail food: long-term health care
facilities.
Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, provides for the
regulation of health and sanitation standards for retail food
facilities, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health and
is primarily enforced by local health agencies. A violation of any
provision of the code is a misdemeanor.
This bill would require the director to review, and ,
by January 1, 2010, to make specified
determinations relating a specified determination as
to , certain the equivalency of certain
facility licensing surveys and regulatory requirements in ensuring
the adequacy of food safety and dietary services
provisions in the federal certification and state licensing survey
requirements for long-term health care facilities, as defined, and
those requirements in , consistent with the food-borne
illness prevention and public health intervention goals of the
California Retail Food Code that are used by local enforcement
agencies to survey retail food facilities , and the need for
developing specific recommendations regarding the best ways to ensure
the adequacy of food safety and dietary services in long-term health
care facilities , as provided.
Existing law prohibits a food facility from being open for
business without a valid permit, and requires that a permit be issued
by the enforcement agency, as defined, when the enforcement agency's
investigation determines, among other things, that the facility is
in compliance with the code. Existing law requires that the fee for a
permit be sufficient to cover the actual expenses of administering
and enforcing the code.
This bill would prohibit an enforcement agency from
permitting or inspecting, or charging a long-term health care
facility a fee for the permit until the director makes the
above-described determinations for the period from
January 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010. The bill would require the
director, by September 1, 2009, to provide the findings and
recommendations required to be developed pursuant to provisions of
the bill to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature .
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. Section 114435 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
114435. For purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Child day care facilities" shall have the same meaning as
defined in Section 1596.750.
(b) "Community care facilities" shall have the same meaning as
defined in Section 1502.
(c) "Long-term health care facilities" shall have the same meaning
as defined in Section 1418.
(d) "Residential care facilities for the elderly" shall have the
same meaning as defined in Section 1569.2.
(e) "Residential care facilities for the chronically ill" shall
have the same meaning as a "residential care facility" defined in
Section 1568.01.
SEC. 2. Section 114436.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
114436.5. (a) The director shall review the food safety and
dietary services provisions in the federal certification and state
licensing survey requirements for long-term health care facilities,
and compare the requirements to those in this part used by local
enforcement agencies to survey retail food facilities.
(b) No later than January 1, 2010, the director shall, based on
the review required pursuant to subdivision (a) and input provided
by interested parties, make a determination as to both of
the following:
(1) The adequacy of the food safety and dietary services standards
and enforcement included in the long-term health care survey
process.
(2) The need for long-term health care facilities to continue to
be subject to an independent survey of requirements pursuant to this
part by local enforcement agencies or whether the current survey
process for long-term health care needs to be augmented.
(c) Until the
director makes the determinations required by subdivision (b), no
long-term health care facility shall be charged a fee for a permit
issued pursuant to Section 114381. by interested
parties, including, at a minimum, representatives of long-term health
care facilities, local environmental health departments, and patient
advocacy groups, make a determination as to both of the following:
(1) The equivalency of facility licensing surveys and regulatory
requirements in ensuring the adequacy of food safety and dietary
services in long-term health care facilities, consistent with the
food-borne illness prevention and public health intervention goals of
the California Retail Food Code.
(2) The need for developing specific recommendations to the extent
necessary to ensure the adequacy of food safety and dietary services
in long-term health care facilities, as required under paragraph
(1), which may include, but not be limited to, a recommendation
requiring that facilities continue to be subject to an independent
survey pursuant to this part by local enforcement agencies or changes
or augmentations to the current requirements and survey process for
long-term health care facilities.
(c) No long-term health care facility shall be permitted or
inspected, or charged a fee for a permit issued pursuant to Section
114381 for the period from January 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010.
(d) No later than September 1, 2009, the director shall provide
the findings and recommendations developed pursuant to this section
to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature.