BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 609| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 609 Author: Wolk (D) Amended: 8/7/13 Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/9/13 AYES: Yee, Berryhill, Emmerson, Evans, Liu, Wright SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/22/13 AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Hill SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 4/29/13 (Consent) AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 9/3/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill increases fines for willfully interfering with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program's lawful actions from a maximum of $1,000 to a maximum of $2,500, and makes other CONTINUED SB 609 Page 2 minor and technical changes. Assembly Amendments provide that funds in the Access to Facilities Account shall be available to the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman (Office) to fund the training costs, and to reimburse the travel expenses, of local ombudsman programs throughout the state, provide that each instance of willful interference may be reported to local law enforcement and the appropriate licensing agency as an act of isolation, and delete the provision requiring that no less than 75% of the penalties collected shall be dedicated to fund the direct travel costs associated with local Ombudsmen visits or training of local Ombudsmen throughout the state. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Establishes the Special Deposit Fund as a trust fund in the State Treasury to provide a depository for money received in trust for specific purposes by a department for which no other fund has been created to receive those funds. 2.Establishes the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (Program) within the CDA in order to encourage community contact and involvement with elderly patients or residents of long-term health care facilities or residential facilities. 3.Requires the Ombudsman to identify, investigate, and resolve complaints that may adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or rights of residents of long-term care facilities. 4.Requires that representatives of the Program shall have access to long-term care facilities and residents, appropriate access to review the medical and social records of a resident. 5.Prohibits willful interference with the functions of the Ombudsman representative and the Program. 6.Provides that representatives of the Ombudsman shall have the right to enter and move about long-term care facilities to identify, hear, investigate, resolve complaints observe and monitor conditions of facilities. CONTINUED SB 609 Page 3 7.Requires the Office to solicit and receive funds, gifts, and contributions and permits the office to form a foundation eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions for this purpose. This bill: 1.Increases the civil monetary penalty assessed by the Director of CDA against any person who willfully interferes with any lawful action of the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman from $1,000 to $2,500. 2.Establishes the "Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Improvement Act Account" within the state's Special Deposit Fund to receive funds, gifts, and contributions, of which the receipt or solicitation would not jeopardize the independence and objectivity of the Office, to support the operations of the Program. 3.Establishes the "Access to Facilities Account" within the state's Special Deposit Fund for the purposes of receiving civil monetary penalties collected as a result of enforcement of a statutory prohibition against willfully interfering with a Program representative's attempt to access a long-term care facility, or to meet confidentially with a resident of a long-term care facility. Background Office of the State Ombudsman . The state's Program is administered through the CDA and 35 local programs contracted through the network of local area agencies on aging. The program utilizes approximately 950 volunteers and 155 paid full-time and part-time staff to serve as resident/patient advocates of residents in over 9,000 long-term care facilities. Volunteers initially receive a minimum of 36 hours of training to carry-out their duties. According to the CDA Web site, the primary responsibility of the Program is to investigate and endeavor to resolve complaints made by, or on behalf of, individual residents in long-term care facilities. The goal of the program is to advocate for the rights of all residents of long-term care facilities. CONTINUED SB 609 Page 4 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Minor projected annual revenue increases, based on recent administrative penalties issues (General Fund). In 2012, the CDA issued two such civil penalties. Minor ongoing expenditures for state Long-Term Care Ombudsman activities and for local ombudsman activities (General Fund). SUPPORT : (Verified 4/23/13 - unable to reverify at time of writing) Alliance on Aging Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for Monterrey County California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform California Catholic Conference, Inc. California Commission on Aging California Long Term-Care Ombudsman Association California Senior Legislature Consumer Federation of California Council on Aging-Orange County Humboldt-Del Norte Long Term Care Ombudsman Program Long Term Care Services of Ventura County Older Women's League of California Ombudsman Services of Northern California-Shasta Region Ombudsman Services of San Mateo County, Inc. Ventura County Board of Supervisor ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman reports recent incidences where local offices have approached long term care facilities and were refused entry into the facility despite state law requiring facilities to grant unhindered access. In response, the Ombudsman requested the CDA to initiate actions against those facilities. One facility paid the penalty of $1,000 but another facility has ignored the fine forcing the Ombudsman to initiate a claim in small claims court. Because the Ombudsman did not have an account set up to receive the funds, nor authority to CONTINUED SB 609 Page 5 expend the funds, the fines reverted to the General Fund. The author's office further states that the current penalty of $1,000 has been in place for 30 years and is an insufficient deterrent against violations. By increasing the penalty to $2,500 and establishing it for each incident of willful interference, the Ombudsman will have a stronger tool to ensure local Ombudsmen legal access to residents and facilities. The author's office states that any penalties collected would fund more outreach to facilities by local Ombudsmen and training for volunteers to perform site visits. Several local ombudsman programs state that, for years, some facilities have refused to allow Ombudsman representatives to enter facilities without an escort, in violation of state and federal law. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 9/3/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Hall, Vacancy, Vacancy JL:RM:d:n 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED