BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 563
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Date of Hearing: August 13, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Richard Pan, Chair
SB 563 (Galgiani) - Amended: August 5, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 34-0
SUBJECT : Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development:
construction of health facilities.
SUMMARY : Requires the person or entity requesting a copy of a
construction document maintained by OSHPD to bear the actual
cost of producing the copy of that document, including staff
time spent retrieving, inspecting, and handling the documents,
as well as copying and shipping costs. Requires OSHPD to
provide the requestor with an estimate of the cost prior to
making the copies.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983 (Seismic Safety Act), which requires OSHPD
to adopt regulations for building standards for earthquake
resistance and provide an independent review of the design and
construction of hospital buildings.
2)Requires OSHPD to observe the construction of, addition to, or
reconstruction or alteration of any hospital building as it
deems necessary for the protection of life and property.
3)Requires the governing authority of each hospital, before
adopting any plans for the hospital building, to submit the
plans to OSHPD for approval.
4)Requires OSHPD, to the extent possible, to use information
technology to facilitate the performance of its duties and
allows OSHPD to permit electronic submission and approval of
plans.
5)Establishes the California Public Records Act (PRA), which
requires each state or local agency to make public records
promptly available, at all times during office hours, to any
person, upon payment of fees covering direct costs of
duplication or a statutory fee if applicable.
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6)Defines "public records," for purposes of the PRA, to include
any writing containing information relating to the conduct of
the public's business prepared, owned, used, or retained by
any state or local agency regardless of physical form or
characteristics. Exempts certain types of records from
disclosure under the PRA.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, OSHPD's
Facilities Development Division (FDD) receives numerous
requests to have architectural plans in their office copied.
Plans can be thousands of pages and weigh hundreds of pounds.
To stay within its budget and to ensure FDD carries out its
primary mission, it is essential that costs are recovered for
the resources used. This includes, but is not limited to,
staff time, computer time and programming, copying, and
shipping and handling costs. Therefore, this bill allows
OSHPD to recover all its costs from such requests.
2)BACKGROUND . According to OSHPD, between 2008 and 2013,
requests to copy hospital design plans at OSHPD increased by
400%. OSHPD averages almost 170 hours and five full-time
equivalent staff per week to meet PRA requests to access
plans. As of late April 2013, OSHPD had already received over
130 PRA requests related to health facility construction
plans, as compared to a total of 110 during all of 2012.
According to OSHPD's guidelines for access to public records
under the PRA, in general, all public records are open to
inspection by any person on any state business day, unless the
records are exempt from disclosure pursuant to specific
provisions of law. If there is any question as to whether the
requested records are "public records," or whether the records
are otherwise exempt from disclosure, OSHPD's legal staff will
review the records and make a determination. With regard to
requests for copies of records, OSHPD will charge the
following duplicating costs:
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a) The fee for photocopying 8-1/2" x 11" or 8-1/2" x 14"
documents is $0.10 per page. The costs for copying
oversized or odd-sized documents will be determined on a
case by case basis, and will be based on the actual cost to
OSHPD. In some instances, OSHPD will require the requestor
to arrange and pay for a copy service to make copies at a
time mutually agreeable to OSHPD and the requestor;
b) The fee for computer data will be calculated on a case
by case basis. It will be based on staff and processing
time, as well as a per page charge for printouts;
c) Any applicable statutory fees will be assessed; and,
d) If the records are mailed to the requestor, the
requester must pay the cost of postage.
According to OSHPD, case law, North County Parents
Organization for Children with Special Needs v. Department of
Education , (1994) 23 Cal.App. 4th, 144, has limited direct
costs of duplication regarding staff time to only be the time
spent actively making the copies. Staff time spent locating,
reviewing, and providing access to the documents is not
considered to be a direct cost of duplication.
3)SUPPORT . The California Hospital Association is the sponsor
of this bill and writes in support that FDD is responsible for
reviewing and approving hospital plans in a timely fashion.
Duties and functions that take time and resources away from
these responsibilities will slow plan review and,
subsequently, construction. This bill will allow OSHPD to
charge the appropriate fee to replicate hospital plans as
requested. In addition, this bill will allow FDD to charge
the appropriate expense incurred, without needing to pass
these costs on to hospitals and health facilities.
The Association of California Healthcare Districts (ACHD) also
supports the bill stating, many District Hospitals are in the
midst of meeting the current Seismic Safety Act requirements.
ACHD believes this bill will protect construction plans of
hospitals when those plans are submitted to OSHPD.
4)RELATED LEGISLATION .
a) AB 1335 (Maienschein) is substantially similar to this
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bill and is pending in the Assembly Health Committee.
b) SCA 3 (Leno and Steinberg) places a measure on the
ballot to amend the California Constitution to require
local agencies to comply with the PRA and the Ralph M.
Brown Act, and any subsequent amendments that further the
constitutional provisions on public access to public agency
meetings and records. SCA 3 exempts compliance with PRA
and the Brown Act from state mandate claims. SCA 3 is
pending in the Assembly Local Government Committee.
5)PRIOR LEGISLATION . AB 1381 (Bagley), Chapter 1473, Statutes
of 1968, creates the PRA which establishes standards for
public agencies' open and public meetings and public access to
the agencies' records.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Hospital Association (sponsor)
Association of California Healthcare Districts
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097