BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1436
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Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1436 (Waldron) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
post information on its website regarding Residential Care
Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE), including results of
licensing inspections reports, consultation reports, violations,
plans of correction, appeal requests, and the number, nature and
status of complaints filed against a facility.
FISCAL EFFECT
Ongoing costs to DSS of approximately $700,000 for two permanent
and one limited term positions for project development, testing
and maintenance and other related IT contract work.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author contends "California must keep up with
modern technology and require the State Department of Social
Services to post all inspection reports, consultation reports,
lists of deficiencies, appeals and plans for correction on the
department's website."
2)Background . RCFEs, commonly referred to as assisted living
facilities, are licensed retirement residential homes and
board and care homes that provide personal care and
supervision or health related services to persons who are 60
years of age and over, who voluntarily choose to reside in the
facility. RCFEs enable older persons to live independently in
a home-like environment rather than in nursing home or other
institutionalized facility. Services include personal care
and protective supervision, including incidental medical
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services, based upon the needs of the resident.
There are 7,589 licensed RCFEs in California with a capacity
to serve over 176,000 residents. Licensed by DSS' Community
Care Licensing Division (CCLD), RCFEs range in size from
residential homes with six or less beds to more formal
residential facilities with 100 beds or more. DSS is required
to conduct unannounced licensing inspections of the more than
75,000 licensed community care facilities, including RCFEs, at
least once every five years, more often in some circumstances.
3)DSS Website . DSS is required to operate an automated RCFE
license information system to provide information on licensees
and former licensees of licensed RCFEs. It currently has a
searchable database of RCFEs on its website, but information
is limited to the name, location, contact information, type of
facility and whether the facility's license is current or
pending. It does not provide information such as a facility's
licensing history, staff, or its complaints history. Under
current practice, when a licensee undergoes a licensing
inspection or is subject to a complaint investigation, the
information reported by CCLD is maintained in a paper-based
format. To acquire information on the quality of a facility,
a person must travel to one of DSS' eight regional licensing
offices and request the information in person.
In response to recent incidences in RCFEs, DSS is working to
provide more robust information of licensed RCFEs on its
website. DSS anticipates having an online searchable database
with up to five years of historical information on RCFEs,
including:
a) the name of the facility and its licensee's name and
contact information;
b) the number of substantiated, unsubstantiated, and
inconclusive complaints filed against the facility,
including complaint severity and whether a complaint
resulted in a citation;
c) the number of inspections, complaint investigations, and
general visits the facility has received.
A timeline for the availability of this searchable database
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has not been established.
1)Related Legislation . AB 2621 (Garcia, 2014) requires DSS to
post similar information on their website regarding child day
care facilities. This bill is with this committee.
2)RCFE Reform Package . In response to a number of highly
publicized events at facilities that have raised questions
about the adequacy of RCFEs and the state's ability to comply
with existing oversight and enforcement requirements, a number
of legislative measures are being pursued to strengthen,
address shortcomings, resolve legal liabilities and gaps in
the provision of services, and ultimately reform the RCFE
industry. This measure is part of those efforts.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081