BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2276
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2276 (Campos) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
Policy Committee: HealthVote:19-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill appropriates $1.6 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year,
and $1.6 million for the 2013-14 fiscal year, from the State
Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account to the California
Department of Aging to fund local ombudsman programs.
FISCAL EFFECT
A one-time $1.6 million special fund appropriation from the
State Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account (State
Penalties Account) to CDA in 2012-13 and 2013-14 to support
local ombudsman programs.
This funding would be in addition to the level of funding these
programs appropriated through the annual budget bill. Since the
annual budget bill is not yet drafted, it is unclear what level
of funding these programs would receive in total. It is also
unclear to what extent funds in the State Penalties Account
would be used to fund other activities in absence of this bill.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author indicates this bill protects vulnerable
nursing home residents and their families by restoring some of
the funding for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program that was
cut in recent years. The author asserts this bill is a
win-win solution for both the Legislature and LTC facilities
by providing support to the program without cost to the
General Fund (GF).
2)The LTC Ombudsman Program supports some of California's most
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at-risk and vulnerable elderly who live in residential care
facilities and nursing homes. The local programs are supported
by a combination of volunteer and paid staff. The LTC
ombudsman programs investigate complaints made by and on
behalf of nursing home residents, and make unannounced visits
to residential facilities to investigate complaints.
3)State and Federal Citation Penalty Accounts are funded by
penalties paid by nursing homes for infractions of state and
federal law, respectively. These funds are required to be used
for the protection of health or property of residents of
long-term health care facilities. There is a $10 million cap
on the allowable fund balance for the State Penalties Account.
The account currently has a sufficient balance to fund this
appropriation, but it is unknown whether that will still be
the case after the budget bill is drafted.
4)Funding Levels . The chart below shows historical and proposed
state funding for local ombudsman programs by fund source. In
addition, ombudsman programs also received approximately $3
million directly in federal funds each year of the time period
shown. The funding level proposed in the 2012-13 Governor's
Budget is the same as the level provided over the last three
years.
5)Related Legislation . AB 2555 (Feuer) of 2010 appropriated
$1.6 million from the State Penalties Account to fund local
ombudsman programs, and was held on the Suspense File in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 392 (Feuer), Chapter 102, Statutes of 2009 appropriated
$1.6 million from the Federal Penalties Account on an urgency
basis to partially backfill for a line-item veto of $3.8
million GF in the 2008-09 budget.
AB 935 (Feuer) of 2009 required at least 1/2 of the funds in
the State and Federal Health Facilities Citation Penalties
Accounts be used to fund local ombudsman programs, and was
held in this committee.
6)Concerns . This bill appropriates funding in a vacuum,
disconnected from relevant budget discussions. AB 392, the
first policy bill that appropriated funds from a penalty
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account to fund the ombudsman program, restored funding on an
urgency basis in response to a Governor's veto of GF for the
ombudsman program. Given the lack of urgency, is this
one-time appropriation of funding for an ongoing program more
appropriately considered in the annual budget process?
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081