BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 718 (Yee) - Hospitals: workplace violence prevention plan. Amended: April 4, 2013 Policy Vote: L&IR 3-1, Health 5-2 Urgency: No Mandate: Yes Hearing Date: May 6, 2013 Consultant: Brendan McCarthy This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 718 would require all hospitals to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan as part of the injury prevention program required of all employers in the state. Fiscal Impact: One-time costs of $85,000 over two years for the adoption of regulations by the Department of Industrial Relations (Occupational Safety and Health Fund). Ongoing costs of about $50,000 per year to provide required reports to the Legislature by the Department of Industrial Relations (Occupational Safety and Health Fund). Potential ongoing costs in the hundreds of thousands per year for training direct care staff in state hospitals (General Fund). See below. Unknown costs for training direct care staff in hospitals operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (General Fund). Background: Under the California Labor Code, employers are required to implement injury prevention plans, which address issues of worker safety in the workplace. Current law requires employers to report certain occupational injuries or illnesses to the Cal/OSHA division within the Department of Industrial Relations. Workplace safety laws and regulations are enforced by Cal/OSHA. Under the California Health and Safety Code, licensed hospitals are required to develop security plans to protect hospital staff, patients, and visitors from injury. Required safety plans SB 718 (Yee) Page 1 must address specified issues. All hospital employees regularly assigned to an emergency department are required to receive annual training on safety procedures. Certain violent acts against hospital personnel must be reported to local law enforcement. These requirements are enforced by the Department of Public Health. Proposed Law: SB 718 would require all hospitals to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan as part of the injury prevention program required of all employers in the state. A workplace violence prevention plan would have to address: Staffing issues relating to the prevention of violence; Facility security systems; Public access to facilities; The use of trained response teams; Training and education for employees; A system for responding to violence; A system for investigating violent incidents; A system for reporting violent incidents to Cal/OSHA. The bill would require all medical staff and health care workers who provide direct patient care to receive training at least annually. The bill would require hospitals to provide evaluation and treatment to employees who are the victims of violence, at the employee's direction. The bill would require a hospital to report to Cal/OSHA regarding violent incidents. The bill would require Cal/OSHA to adopt implementing regulations by January 1, 2015. The bill would also require Cal/OSHA to report annually to the Legislature from 2015 to 2019. Related Legislation: AB 30 (Hayashi, 2011) was similar to this bill. However, that bill would have placed similar requirements in the Health and Safety Code and would have placed additional requirements on correctional facilities. That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 718 (Yee) Page 2 AB 1083 (J. Perez, Statutes of 2009) requires annual safety assessments by hospitals. Staff Comments: Many of the requirements in this bill are similar to existing requirements in the Health and Safety Code, which hospitals are already required to comply with. However, this bill requires all medical staff and health care workers who provide direct patient care to receive training at least annually, whereas current law (in the Health and Safety Code) only requires annual training for emergency department staff. This expansion of training requirements is likely to have a significant impact on hospital training requirements. The Department of State Hospitals and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operate many licensed hospitals. Staff estimates that if the bill requires an additional hour of staff training for direct care staff, the Department of State Hospitals will likely incur additional training costs in the hundreds of thousands per year. The only costs that may be incurred by a local agency relate to crimes and infractions. Such costs are not reimbursable by the state under the California Constitution.