BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2236
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Date of Hearing: May 21, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2236 (Maienschein) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill revises existing statute authorizing the Department of
Social Services (DSS) to levy fines against RCFEs for specified
violations of the law. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the Emergency Resident Relocation Fund in the
State Treasury, in which DSS is required to deposit 50% of
each penalty assessed upon a RCFE. May be appropriated to fund
the emergency relocation of residents and to provide for the
care of residents when a RCFE's license is revoked or
temporarily suspended.
2)Substantially increases both minimum and maximum civil
penalties that may be levied against a RCFE for all types of
violations.
3)Authorizes DSS to levy civil penalties resulting in death,
serious bodily injury or physical abuse of a resident.
Requires the DSS legal division to review and the DSS
Community Care Licensing Division Deputy Director to approve
issuance of a citation imposing a civil penalty.
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4)Establishes an appeals process including notice, opportunity
to participate in the appeal and an option for review by an
administrative judge.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)On-going significant costs to DSS, likely in the $200,000 to
$300,000 range (GF), for legal review and approval of
potential citations.
2)One-time minor costs to DSS, likely in the tens of thousands
(GF), for penalty system adjustments.
3)Unknown, but likely significant costs (GF) to DSS and the
courts for an expanded appeal and review process.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The current civil penalty structure was established
in 1985 with the passage of the California Residential Care
Facilities for the Elderly Act and has remained essentially
unchanged. Existing law authorizes DSS to impose various
civil penalties for licensing violations and sets the minimum
civil penalty at $25 and the maximum penalty at $150 per day
per violation. Additional civil penalties may be issued for
repeat violations within a 12-month period.
The author notes that over the last six months, a series of
incidents raised serious questions about the adequacy of the
oversight of the 7,500 RCFEs and their 170,000 residents
provided by the California Department of Social Services. In
many cases, those facilities that were identified as
endangering residents' health or safety had been issued
citations that were unresolved and fines that were unpaid.
This bill seeks to provide a meaningful fine structure for
violations at RCFEs.
This bill would increase civil penalties for RCFEs from the
current maximum of $150 per day to $1,000 per violation, per
day for specified serious incidents, up to $2,500 for an
incident of physical abuse without serious bodily injury, up
to $10,000 for a serious injury, and up to $15,000 for an
incident resulting in a clients' death.
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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
services, based upon the needs of the resident.
There are 7,589 licensed RCFEs in California with a capacity
to serve more than 176,000 residents. Licensed by DSS'
Community Care Licensing Division (CCL), 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)Governor's Budget Proposal . The Governor's proposal, while
still under discussion, revises civil penalty amounts that may
be assessed to all licensed facilities under CCL except foster
family homes. The proposal deletes the current civil penalty
structure and replaces it with one that ties fines to
licensing application fee amounts. In cases where a licensee
has multiple violations, the proposal would limit the civil
penalty to the highest rate. The proposal contains three
categories of violations and scales the penalties accordingly.
The first category would address "zero tolerance violations,"
and would attach a penalty equal to five times the licensee's
annual fee per day per violation until the deficiency is
corrected.
The second category addresses "repeat violations," which would
trigger an initial immediate civil penalty equal to three
times the licensee's annual fee and a subsequent assessment
equal to one and one half times the licensee's annual fee per
repeat violation for each day the violation goes uncorrected.
The third category would revise all other violations to be 25%
of the licensee's annual fee per day per violation.
AB 2236
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Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081