BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2512
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
William W. Monning, Chair
AB 2512 (Blumenfield) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
SUBJECT : Seismic safety: Office of Statewide Health Planning
and Development and health facilities.
SUMMARY : Provides for extensions to interim seismic safety
requirements for the Shriner's Children's Hospital in Los
Angeles (SCH-LA) to allow more time for SCH-LA to complete
negotiations with the County of Los Angeles for donated land to
build a new pediatric hospital that meets the state's seismic
safety requirements. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes that it is the intent of the Legislature to create
a mechanism that will allow a general acute care hospital to
meet seismic safety requirements in new facilities and provide
state agencies and the public with more timely and detailed
information about the progress the hospital is making toward
seismic safety compliance.
2)Permits Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development
(OSHPD) to approve an extension of the January 1, 2013
deadline for a hospital building that is classified as a
nonconforming Structural Performance Category-1 (SPC-1)
building and is owned or operated by a nonprofit organization
that exclusively provides pediatric care at no cost to the
patient and is located in a city with a population greater
than three million persons that has requested an extension of
this deadline by June 30, 2011, if the owner or operator files
a declaration with OSHPD stating that as of the date of the
filing, the owner lacks the ability to meet the requirements,
as specified, the owner or operator is negotiating an
agreement with a city or county to purchase or lease public
land that meets the requirements to relocate to a compliant
SPC-5 and Non-Structural Performance Category-4 (NPC-4) or
NPC-3 building that is constructed on or after January 1,
2011, and that the owner is committed to replacing that
building by January 1, 2020, with other buildings on the
public land that meet the requirements
3)Requires the approval of the extension to be subject to
compliance with all of the following conditions:
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a) The hospital owner submits by January 1, 2012, a
facility master plan for all buildings that have been
determined to be a potential risk of collapse or pose
significant loss of life during an earthquake, that the
hospital intends to replace by January 1, 2020. Requires
the facility master plan to identify at least all of the
following:
i) A description of each building that is determined
to be a potential risk of collapse or pose significant
loss of life during an earthquake;
ii) The plan to replace the building with one or more
buildings that comply with the January 1, 2030 seismic
requirement;
iii) The building to be removed from acute care service
and the projected date of that action;
iv) The location of any new building or buildings to
replace the building described in 3) a) iii) above;
v) A copy of the preliminary design for the new
building or buildings;
vi) The number of beds available for acute care use in
each new building;
vii) The timeline for completed plan submission;
viii) The proposed construction timeline;
ix) The proposed cost at the time of submission; and,
x) A copy of any record of the hospital governing
board's approval of the master plan.
b) By January 1, 2015, the hospital owner submits to OSHPD
a building plan that is deemed ready for review by OSHPD,
for each building or for review by a qualified inspector
retained by the applicant at its own cost;
c) By January 1, 2016, the hospital owner receives a
building permit to begin construction for each building
that the owner intends to replace pursuant to the master
plan;
d) Within six months of receipt of the building permit, the
hospital owner provides OSHPD with a construction timeline
that identifies at least all of the following:
i) A description of each building that is determined to
be a potential risk of collapse or pose significant loss
of life during an earthquake;
ii) The project number or numbers for replacement of
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each building;
iii) The projected construction start date or dates and
projected construction completion date or dates;
iv) The building or buildings to be removed from acute
care;
v) The estimated cost of construction; and,
vi) The name of the contractor.
e) By January 1, 2017, and every six months thereafter, the
hospital owner reports to OSHPD on the status of the
project, including any delays or circumstances that could
materially affect the estimated completion date; and,
f) The hospital owner pays to OSHPD an additional fee, to
be determined by OSHPD, sufficient to cover the additional
cost incurred by OSHPD for maintaining all reporting
requirements established under this bill, including, but
not limited to, the costs of reviewing and verifying the
financial information submitted. Prohibits this additional
fee from including any cost for review of the plans or
other duties related to receiving a building or occupancy
permit.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes and grants OSHPD authority and responsibility for
reviewing and approving all plans relating to construction,
additions to, reconstruction, or alteration of, health care
facilities, as defined. Before adopting any such plans,
requires hospitals to submit the plans to OSHPD for approval
and to pay an application filing fee, as determined by OSHPD,
based on the project's estimated construction cost.
2)Establishes the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983 (Alquist Act), and its amendments, with the
following deadlines for seismic safety compliance:
a) After January 1, 2008, requires any general acute care
hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk
for collapse or significant loss of life in a major
earthquake (i.e., designated as SPC-1) to be used only for
non-acute care purposes;
b) Authorizes OSHPD to extend the 2008 deadline by five
years, to January 1, 2013, if:
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i) The hospital demonstrates that compliance with the
2008 deadline will result in a loss of health care
capacity that may not be provided by other hospitals
within a reasonable proximity, and other conditions are
met;
ii) The hospital agrees that by January 1, 2013,
designated services will be provided by moving into an
existing conforming building, relocating to a newly-built
building, or continuing in the retrofitted building, as
specified; or,
iii) The building is either retrofitted to SPC-2 and
NPC-3 standards, or not used for hospital inpatient
services, by January 1, 2013.
c) Authorizes OSHPD to extend the 2013 deadline by up to
two additional years, up to January 1, 2015, if the
hospital meets specified interim deadlines and is making
reasonable progress toward meeting its timeline to retrofit
or replace an SPC-1 building but is delayed due to factors
beyond its control;
d) Permits a hospital owner, in lieu of retrofitting or
rebuilding SPC-1 buildings by 2013, to instead replace them
by January 1, 2020, if:
i) The hospital meets specified conditions, including
serving Medi-Cal or indigent patients and underserved
areas, and OSHPD certifies that the hospital owner lacks
the financial capacity to meet seismic standards, as
defined; or,
ii) The nonconforming building is owned or operated by a
county, city, or county and city that lacks the ability
to meet the 2013 deadline but commits to replace the
buildings by January 1, 2020.
e) Requires, by January 1, 2030, all hospital buildings to
be capable of remaining intact after an earthquake, and
capable of continued operation and provision of acute care
medical services (designated as SPC-5), and requires owners
of all acute care inpatient hospitals to demolish, replace,
or change to non-acute care all hospital buildings not in
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substantial compliance.
3)Requires an owner of a hospital building classified as SPC-1,
who has not requested an extension of the 2008 deadline, to
submit a report to OSHPD no later than April 15, 2007,
describing the status of each building in complying with the
deadline, and to identify the following:
a) Each building that is subject to the deadline;
b) The project number or numbers for retrofit or
replacement of each building;
c) The projected construction start date or dates and
projected construction completion date or dates; and,
d) The building or buildings to be removed from acute care
service and the projected date or dates of this action.
4)Requires owners of SPC-1 hospital buildings who have requested
an extension of the 2008 deadline to submit similar reports by
June 30, 2009, June 30, 2011 and November 1, 2010.
5)Requires OSHPD to make the information reported pursuant to 3)
and 4) above available on its Web site within 90 days of
receipt.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzes by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, this bill
would allow more time for SCH-LA to complete negotiations with
the County of Los Angeles for the donation of a parcel of land
as a potential cite for a new SCH-LA pediatric care hospital
that meets California seismic safety requirements. The author
maintains that completion of the complex land deal with the
County of Los Angeles would allow SCH-LA to build a new
pediatric care hospital in the Lincoln Heights area of the
city of Los Angeles adjacent to the newly built LA County +
University of Southern California (USC) Medical Complex.
According to the author, a portion of the SCH-LA's current
hospital does not meet seismic requirements. In order to
become seismically compliant, the author asserts that it would
be most cost-effective to build a replacement facility, as
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opposed to retrofitting. The author is requesting the seismic
safety deadline extensions in this bill to accomplish that
goal.
2)BACKGROUND . SCH-LA is a nonprofit corporation that provides
no-cost acute and ongoing care for approximately 6,000
children annually from birth to 18 years of age with
neuromuscular disorders, limb deficiencies, burn deformities,
or craniofacial disorders. At its current cite, SCH-LA has
six buildings. In a letter dated June 24, 2009 from OSHPD to
SCH-LA, five of the six buildings have been approved as either
SPC-3 or SPC-5 buildings, meaning these buildings are capable
of providing services to the public after a major earthquake.
The acute care uses for these five buildings are: in-patient
beds; outpatient beds; radiology; and, food service. In a
separate letter, OSHPD indicated to SCH-LA that one of its
buildings had been designated a SPC-1 as a result of the HAZUS
(Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard) analysis. This SPC-1 designation
means that the building is at a significant risk of collapse
in a major earthquake and must be removed from service by
2013. The building designated as SPC-1 houses: surgery rooms;
some food service; and, the main supply room. According to
SCH-LA they have determined that it would be more
cost-effective to build a replacement hospital rather than
retrofit the SPC-1 designated building. Currently, SCH-LA
maintains that the County of Los Angeles and SCH-LA are in
exclusive negotiations regarding a lease for new land on which
SCH-LA plans to build a 250,000 square foot, 60-bed acute care
replacement facility. SCH-LA further maintains that they
have, to-date, negotiated a term sheet and are awaiting a
decision from the County of Los Angeles on whether California
Environmental Quality Act compliance must occur prior to the
Los Angeles Board of Supervisors' approval of a Ground Lease
for the new land. According to SCH-LA, once the Ground Lease
is approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors,
SCH-LA can submit their entitlement application to the County
of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles City Planning Department.
SCH-LA anticipates the negotiations for the new land to be
completed by the end of 2010.
3)SEISMIC SAFETY REQUIREMENT OVERVIEW . In 2008, a
multidisciplinary working group of scientists and engineers
predicted that, within the next 30 years, California has more
than a 99% chance of having an earthquake equal to or greater
than the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake of 1994. The
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probability of a magnitude 6.7 or stronger earthquake striking
the Los Angeles area over the next 30 years is 67%, and 63%
for the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Northridge earthquake resulted in enactment later that year
of SB 1953 (Alquist), Chapter 740, Statutes of 1994. SB 1953
expands the 1983 Alquist Act by establishing seismic standards
for hospital buildings and requiring every hospital building
to comply with the standards and to meet specific deadlines.
By January 1, 2008 (or 2013/2015 if extensions have been
granted), every hospital building must meet specific
construction standards established to keep these structures
standing after a major earthquake or be removed from acute
care. By January 1, 2030, all hospital buildings must comply
with standards intended to keep these buildings standing and
operational following a severe earthquake.
SPC classifications, ranging from SPC-1 to SPC-5, are used to
indicate the structural seismic risk of a hospital building in
the event of a major earthquake. Due to major strides in
earthquake risk engineering that have occurred in the years
since SB 1953 passed, the California Building Standards
Commission in November 2007 approved the implementation of a
state-of-the-art risk assessment technology, HAZUS, to
reexamine the collapse risk of SPC-1 hospital buildings. This
reassessment allows OSHPD to move SPC-1 hospital buildings
that meet specified criteria to SPC-2 category. If
reclassified, these hospital buildings would move from a 2013
seismic deadline to a 2030 deadline.
In addition, SB 306 (Ducheny), Chapter 642, Statutes of 2008
permits a hospital owner to comply with seismic safety
deadlines and requirements in current law by replacing its
buildings subject to seismic retrofit by January 1, 2020,
rather than retrofitting by 2013, and then replacing them by
2030, if the hospital meets several conditions and OSHPD
certifies that the hospital owner lacks the financial capacity
to meet seismic standards, as defined. Among the conditions a
hospital must meet to be eligible for this extension are that
it maintains a contract to provide Medi-Cal services,
maintains a basic emergency room, and is either in an
underserved area, serves an underserved community, is an
essential provider of Medi-Cal services, or is a heavy
provider of services to Medi-Cal and indigent patients.
Twenty-seven hospitals have qualified for extensions to 2020
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under this authority.
4)OPPOSITION . According to the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), hospitals should be safe - for workers, for
patients, and for the community which relies on the hospital
to be there when a major disaster strikes. SEIU argues that
hospitals have been given numerous extensions to date and SEIU
is generally opposed to the notion that hospitals should be
excused from the seismic requirements. While SEIU maintains
that they recognize that capital costs are a major burden for
many hospitals, they argue that hospitals can face practical
barriers in completing construction in a timely manner.
5)PREVIOUS AND RELATED LEGISLATION .
a) SB 499 (Ducheny) Chapter 601, Statutes of 2009, revises
and extends, under specified conditions, hospital seismic
safety construction and reporting requirements.
b) AB 303 (Beall),Chapter 428, Statutes of 2009, allows
specified county and University of California
disproportionate share hospitals that serve Medi-Cal
patients to receive supplemental Medi-Cal reimbursement
from the Construction and Renovation Reimbursement Program
for debt service on new capital projects to meet seismic
safety deadlines if plans are submitted to the state after
January 1, 2007 and before December 31, 2011.
c) AB 523 (Huffman), Chapter 243, Statutes of 2009, allows
OSHPD to grant a two-year extension of the 2013 seismic
deadline for a hospital building that is owned by Marin
Healthcare District. Establishes interim deadlines and
requirements the hospital must meet in order to qualify for
the extension, as specified. Contains an urgency clause.
d) SB 289 (Ducheny), a two-year bill currently on the
Assembly floor, expands the reporting requirements for
SPC-1 buildings in a manner similar to this bill.
e) SB 306 (Ducheny) amends the Act to permit a hospital
that has received an extension of the 2008 seismic retrofit
deadline to January 1, 2013, to instead replace a SPC-1
building by January 1, 2020, if the hospital demonstrates
it lacks financial capacity to retrofit and meets other
specified conditions.
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f) SB 1661 (Cox), Chapter 693, Statutes of 2006, authorizes
up to two additional two years for hospitals that have
already received an extension to January 1, 2013 of the
2008 seismic safety compliance deadline if specified
criteria are met, and requires hospitals with SPC-1
buildings to submit reports with specified information, to
be posted on the Web site of OSHPD.
g) SB 167 (Speier), of 2005, would have permitted delays of
the 2008 seismic safety deadline for specified hospitals
that do not exceed maximum allowable seismic risk, as
determined by OSHPD, and expedited the final compliance
deadline to 2020 for hospitals granted the delay. SB 167
failed passage in the Assembly Health Committee.
h) AB 1978 (Walters), of 2005, would have extended, from
January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2015, the deadline for any
SPC-1 building to only be used for nonacute care purposes,
and permitted hospitals subject to the 2015 deadline to
request additional extensions to 2020, as specified. AB
1978 failed passage in the Assembly Health Committee.
i) AB 1673 (Nation and Richman), of 2005, would have
repealed provisions of the Alquist Act that require
specified hospitals to meet seismic retrofitting
requirements by 2008, revised the final 2030 deadline
requirement to 2020, and made the bill contingent upon the
enactment of AB 1672 (Nation) relating to electronic
medical recordkeeping. AB 1673 failed passage in the
Assembly Health Committee.
j) SB 1953 (Alquist) requires every hospital building to
comply with two deadlines. By January 1, 2008 (or no later
than January 1, 2013, if an extension has been granted),
every hospital building must meet specific construction
standards established to keep these structures standing
after a major earthquake. By January 1, 2030, the law
requires all buildings to comply with standards intended to
keep these buildings operational following a severe quake.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
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Support
None on file.
Opposition
Service Employees International Union
Analysis Prepared by : Tanya Robinson-Taylor / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097