BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2555
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2555 (Feuer) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
Policy Committee: Aging &
LTCVote:4-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill appropriates $1.6 million from the State Health
Facilities Citation Penalties Account to support local long-term
care (LTC) ombudsman programs administered by the California
Department of Aging (CDA).
FISCAL EFFECT
A one-time $1.6 million special fund appropriation from the
State Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account to CDA to
support local ombudsman programs. This bill makes funds
available for expenditure through 2010-11. Any unspent funds at
the end of the 2010-11 revert to the original state account.
The citation account is funded by penalties paid by nursing
homes for infractions of state law. The state account is capped
at $10 million. There is another account supported by penalties
for infractions of federal law. These funds are required to be
used for the protection of health or property of residents of
long-term health care facilities
The author and nine other legislators requested an audit of the
California Department of Public Health (DPH) state and federal
citation special fund accounts due to concerns about
inconsistencies in accounting and a perceived lack of
enforcement with regard to collecting penalties. The Bureau of
State Audits has agreed to a review of the administration of
these accounts, but has not provided a date by which findings
will be released.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill is co-sponsored by the California
AB 2555
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Association for Nursing Home Reform and the Health Insurance
Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) of Northern
California. Several other stakeholder groups supporting aging
Californians also support the funding shift proposed in this
bill.
2)The LTC Ombudsman Program supports some of California's most
at-risk and vulnerable elderly who live in residential care
facilities and nursing homes. The local programs are supported
by a combination of volunteer and paid staff. The LTC
ombudsman programs investigate complaints made by and on
behalf of nursing home residents. Local program staff makes
unannounced visits to residential facilities to investigate
complaints.
3)Related Legislation . AB 392 (Feuer), Chapter 102, Statutes of
2009 transferred $1.6 million from the Federal Health
Facilities Citation Penalties Account to backfill for a prior
line-item veto of $3.8 million GF in 2008.
SB 1397 (Soto), Chapter 545, Statutes of 2007, requires DPH to
post data related to the federal citation account.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081