California Assembly Bill AB852 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 852AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 1, 2013 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk FEBRUARY 21, 2013 An act to  amend Section 129785 of, and to  add Section 129788 to  ,  the Health and Safety Code, relating to health facilities  , and making an appropriation therefor  . LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 852, as amended, Quirk. Skilled nursing facility construction, alteration, or addition: review. Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, requires design and construction standards for hospital buildings that house patients who have less than the capacity of normally healthy persons to protect themselves. Existing law also requires that those standards specify that hospitals must be reasonably capable of providing services to the public after a disaster. Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to approve or reject all plans for the construction or alteration of a hospital building. Existing law specifically requires the office, contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to establish a program for training fire and life safety officers to facilitate the timely performance of the office's duties and responsibilities relating to the review of plans and specifications pertaining to the design and observation of construction of hospital buildings, as specified. Existing law authorizes the office to establish other training programs as necessary to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified persons are available to facilitate the timely performance of the office's duties and responsibilities, as specified.  Existing law authorized the office to determine and assess an application fee not to exceed 2% of the project's estimated construction costs for certain hospital facilities, and not to exceed 1.5% of the estimated construction costs for prescribed skilled nursing facilities or intermediate care facilities. Existing law establishes the Hospital Building Fund, requires deposit of these fees into the fund, and continously appropriates the moneys in the fund for the purposes of administration of these provisions.   This bill would increase the maximum fee assessed to those skilled nursing facilities or intermediate care facilities to 2% of the project's estimated construction costs. By increasing the amounts to be deposited into a continously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.  This bill would require OSHPD, except as prescribed, to develop, with stakeholders, reasonable timeframes for review and approval of skilled nursing facility construction, alteration, or addition projects and would authorize the office to assess a reasonable fee for this review, as specified.  The bill would require documents submitted for review to include the name and contact information of a project coordinator.   The bill would require the office to designate professional staff to review the projects and to complete the review within the timeframes.  The bill would authorize the office to seek outside assistance through contracts with qualified professional architectural or engineering firms to meet those review turnaround times  or coordinate with local building officials to delegate jurisdiction on specific types of projects  . The bill would require OSHPD to monitor document submissions related to new or comparable design concepts meeting approval requirements and, when feasible, publish standard requirements for use by stakeholders. The bill would require OSHPD to work with stakeholders to establish education and outreach programs directed at reducing document submission error rates and turnaround times.  The bill would require the office to publish the timeframes on its Internet Web site.  Vote: majority. Appropriation:  no   yes  . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) A variety of factors have contributed to making health care construction costs in California among the highest in the nation. The costs are driven by the escalating price of raw materials, high demand for skilled labor, and the complexity of design, plan review, and approval of skilled nursing facility construction. (b) Skilled nursing facilities are licensed health care facilities that care for the state's most fragile and vulnerable citizens. (c) The physical infrastructure and related systems of these licensed health facilities are governed by building and fire and life safety code requirements regulated by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the State Department of Public Health. (d) As the industry moves to update the aging health care infrastructure, incorporate advances in medical technology, implement a modern health care delivery system, and improve electronic medical records systems, health care construction activity will increase to unseen levels, creating additional economic pressure on the skilled nursing and construction industry. (e) Licensed health care facilities are required to go through a building application and plan check process under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. (f) This process is bureaucratically efficient, but is subject to inherent delays impacting timely approvals of projects. Although the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has developed internal policies that set timeframes for plan review and approval, these policies are targets rather than enforceable requirements. (g) Improving the efficiency of health care building plan review and construction efforts will not only reduce the time to design, review, and complete facility construction, but also lower the cost of the project and reduce overall cost pressures on the health care system, allowing more resources to be directed to direct patient services. (h) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to codify the timeframes and due dates for completion by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development of the review of facility construction documents and to require the office to notify applicants of the anticipated date the review will be completed and returned to them.  SEC.   2.   Section 129785 of the    Health and Safety Code   is amended to read:  129785. (a) (1) The office shall determine an application filing fee that will cover the costs of administering this chapter. For a hospital facility, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), or (f) of Section 1250,  and for a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, as defined in subdivision (c), (d), (e), or (g) of Section 1250,  the fee shall not exceed 2 percent of a project's estimated construction cost.  For a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, as defined in subdivision (c), (d), (e), or (g) of Section 1250, the fee shall not exceed 1.5 percent of a project's estimated construction cost.  Application filing fees shall be established in accordance with applicable procedures established in Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the minimum application filing fee in any case shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250). (b) The office shall issue an annual permit upon submission of an application, pursuant to Section 129765, for one or more projects of a hospital facility, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), or (f) of Section 1250, if the total estimated construction cost is fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or less per fiscal year. The fee for the annual permit shall be five hundred dollars ($500) and shall be in lieu of an application filing fee. The annual permit shall cover all projects undertaken for a particular hospital facility up to a total estimated construction cost of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) during the state fiscal year in which the annual permit is issued. If a hospital facility chooses not to apply for an annual permit to cover a project or projects costing fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or less in total, the hospital facility may instead submit the project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined under subdivision (a). (c) The office shall issue an annual permit upon submission of an application, pursuant to Section 129765, for one or more projects of a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, as defined in subdivision (c), (d), (e), or (g) of Section 1250, if the total estimated construction cost is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less per fiscal year. The fee for the annual permit shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250) and shall be in lieu of an application filing fee. The annual permit shall cover all projects undertaken for a particular skilled nursing or intermediate care facility up to a total estimated construction cost of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) during the state fiscal year in which the annual permit is issued. If a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility chooses not to apply for an annual permit to cover a project or projects costing twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less in total, the skilled nursing or intermediate care facility may instead submit the project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined under subdivision (a). (d) If the actual construction cost exceeds the estimated construction cost by more than 5 percent, a further fee shall be paid to the office, based on the above schedule and computed on the amount that the actual cost exceeds the amount of the estimated cost. If the estimated construction cost exceeds the actual construction cost by more than 5 percent, the office shall refund the excess portion of any paid fees, based on the above schedule and computed on the amount that the estimated cost exceeds the amount of the actual cost. A refund is not required if the applicant did not complete construction or alteration of 75 percent of the square footage included in the project, as contained in the approved drawings and specifications for the project. In addition, the office shall adopt regulations specifying other circumstances when the office shall refund to an applicant all or part of any paid fees for projects submitted under this chapter. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to, refunds of paid fees for a project that is determined by the office to be exempt or otherwise not reviewable under this chapter, and for a project that is withdrawn by the applicant prior to the commencement of review by the office of the drawing and specifications submitted for the project. All refunds pursuant to this section shall be paid from the Hospital Building Account in the Architecture Public Building Fund, as established pursuant to Section 129795.  SEC. 2.   SEC. 3.  Section 129788 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:  129788. (a) Documents submitted to the office for new construction of, alteration of, or additions to, health facilities licensed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1250, shall include the name and contact information for an individual designated to be the project coordinator, and shall be reviewed and approved within the timeframes established by this section. (b) (1) Upon receipt of the documents submitted pursuant to subdivision (a), each submittal shall be logged in by the office and given preliminary review within 48 hours by designated qualified professional staff of the office familiar with health facilities providing skilled nursing care to determine if the submittal is complete. (2) Within 48 hours, the office shall notify the project coordinator telephonically if the submittal is incomplete and of the specific documents that may be missing or require correction. (3) Upon notification, the project coordinator may request the submittal to be returned for correction and resubmission, or an appointment with the office to meet and deliver any missing documents or make corrections to the documents as necessary to meet the requirements of the office. (c)   129788.   (a)  For projects not qualifying for rapid review under Section 129856, the Facilities Development Division shall meet reasonable timeframes developed by the office, in conjunction with stakeholders, that include all of the following:  (1) Preliminary review of documents submitted to the office.   (1)   (2)  First review of new projects.  (2)   (3) Backchecks.  (3)   (4)  Amended construction documents.  (d) New projects that qualify for review by the Rapid Review Unit shall be completed within an average of 15 business days.   (b) Documents submitted to the office for new construction of, alteration of, or addition to, health facilities licensed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1250 shall include the name and contact information for an individual designated to be the project coordinator and shall be reviewed and approved within the timeframes set forth in this section.   (c) The office shall designate professional staff familiar with health facilities providing skilled nursing care to review projects relating to skilled nursing facility construction or alteration pursuant to this section.   (e)   (d)  The office shall charge a reasonable fee for the review and approval of plans submitted pursuant to this section. This fee shall be based on the estimated cost, including costs associated with the designated qualified professional staff, but shall not exceed the reasonable cost of the entire phased review and approval process for those plans.  (f)   (e)  The project cost threshold under subdivision (a) of Section 129880  , for the purposes of a skilled nursing facility only,  shall be increased to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) without regard to the cost of equipment or other items not related to the actual repair or construction costs.  (g)   (f)  In order to meet the review  turnaround times required by   timeframes developed pursuant to  this section, the office may seek outside assistance through contracts with qualified professional architectural or engineering  firms, or coordinate with local building officials to delegate jurisdiction on specific types of projects   firms  .  (h)   (g)  The office shall monitor document submissions related to new or comparable design concepts meeting approval requirements and, when feasible, publish standard requirements for use by stakeholders. Design concepts may include new construction, renovation, or replacement.  (i)   (h)  Design concepts to be considered under subdivision  (h)   (g)  may include, but are not limited to, reduction in beds; installation and use of new technology, such as electronic medical records; space conversion dedicated to changes in care delivery models; and common replacement of major infrastructure equipment, including roofing, HVAC, generators and emergency power systems, water heaters and boilers, kitchen, and laundry room equipment.  (j)   (i)  The office shall work with stakeholders to establish education and outreach programs directed at reducing document submission error rates and turnaround times.  The office shall publish on its Internet Web site these requirements, including, but not limited to, the timeframes developed pursuant to this section.