CA SB 1432

Title: Health facilities: seismic standards.
Author: Josh Newman

Summary
SB 1432, as amended, Caballero. Health facilities: seismic standards. (1) Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Health Care Access and Information, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973.Existing law requires that, by January 1, 2030, owners of these hospitals must either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings that are not in compliance with these standards or seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so they are in substantial compliance with these standards.This bill would revise the compliance deadline for these requirements from January 1, 2030, to January 1, 2038. The bill would also create an abeyance by which a rural hospital or critical access hospital, or both, will not be required to meet these requirements until adequate funding is made available to the hospital for purposes of attaining substantial compliance. The bill would impose specified requirements for a rural hospital or critical access hospital subject to an abeyance, including that a rural hospital or critical access hospital provide specified information to the State Department of Public Health no later than July 1, 2027, and would require the department to post and maintain on its internet website a list of rural hospitals and critical access hospitals that are subject to an abeyance. The bill would include definitions pertaining to these requirements.The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to adopt regulations and standards or revise regulations and standards, or both, to extend the deadlines for meeting the structural performance and nonstructural performance requirements. The bill would specify that regulatory submissions made by the department to the California Building Standards Commission are deemed to be emergency regulations.The bill would require an owner of an acute care inpatient hospital that does not substantially comply with the seismic safety regulations or standards to submit a seismic compliance master plan, as specified, to the department by no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would require, among other things, the owner to annually update the department with any changes or adjustments to its seismic compliance master plan, and the department to post each seismic compliance master plan submitted on its internet website within 90 calendar days of receipt.The bill would require an acute care inpatient hospital with one or more specified hospital buildings to submit a Patient Alternate Care Sites and Transfer Plan to the department, as specified, by no later than January 1, 2026, to address continued care for the hospital’s patients following a seismic event through alternate care sites on the hospital campus and other health care facilities. The bill would require the hospital to submit updates to the plan, if any, on an annual basis to the department, and would remove the requirement to submit annual updates as of the date the hospital no longer has one or more specified buildings.The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2028, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to submit to the director an analysis of each cost estimate submitted by an owner of specified hospital buildings. The bill would require the department to provide a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2029, with specified information.The bill would require the department, in consultation with the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, to submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2026, as specified.The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to convene a stakeholder workgroup on or before January 1, 2026, to facilitate input, as specified. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to provide

Status
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 24).

Bill Documents
CA SB 1432 - 04/18/24 - Amended Senate
04/18/24 - CA SB 1432 (04/18/24 - Amended Senate)