Legislation Summer 2017
Support
AB 275 (Wood): Strengthening Closure Protections for Nursing Home Residents
AB 275 would take modest steps to enhance protections for nursing home residents during a facility closure. The bill responds to a 2016 crisis in Eureka when Shlomo Rechnitz – who owns all five freestanding facilities in Eureka – threatened to close three of them in an effort to obtain higher Medi-Cal payments. Status: Hearing in Senate Health June 7.
AB 286 (Gipson): To Allow Medi-Cal Beneficiaries to Return Home
Under current law, Medi-Cal beneficiaries in nursing homes may retain a “home upkeep allowance” of $209 per month if a doctor certifies they are likely to return home within 6 months. The rest of their income is applied to Share of Cost, causing many to lose their housing and remain institutionalized at the expense of Medi-Cal. AB 286 would base the allowance on the actual cost of maintaining the home. Status: DEAD.
AB 550 (Reyes): Restoring Funding for Long Term Care Ombudsman Programs
In 2008, the 35 local Long Term Care Ombudsman programs had all state funding cut, leading to enormous reductions in staff and services for residents of long term care facilities. AB 550 partially remedies this problem, by boosting the base funding allocation and adding $2.25M in total funding. Status: DEAD.
AB 859 (Eggman): Protecting Seniors Abused by Nursing Homes
This bill will protect seniors and dependent adults abused in nursing homes and discourage facilities from intentionally destroying evidence in violation of the law. AB 859 provides that when a judge or arbitrator finds the nursing home has illegally destroyed evidence, the standard of proof is reduced from clear and convincing to preponderance of the evidence. Status: Passed Assembly; ordered to Senate.
AB 937 (Eggman): Requests regarding resuscitative measures
Since the adoption of the Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) law in 2008, third party “representatives” may override a patient’s prior expressions of treatment preferences by executing a POLST. AB 937 would re-establish patients’ control over their own health decisions by ensuring that in any conflict among instructions, the patient’s most recent expression is given primacy. Status: Senate Judiciary.
AB 940 (Weber): Transfer and Discharge Notices to Long Term Care Ombudsman
This bill codifies a federal regulation that requires nursing homes to send copies of resident transfer or discharge notices to the local long-term care Ombudsman. Status: Senate Judiciary.
SB 202 (Dodd): Medi-Cal Personal Needs Allowance
This bill would increase the personal needs allowance for residents of long term care facilities on Medi-Cal from $35 per month to $80 per month. Status: DEAD.
SB 218 (Dodd): The Qualified ABLE Program
This bill will prohibit the state from filing a claim against a beneficiary’s CalABLE account for recovery of medical assistance paid under Medi-Cal. Status: Passed Senate; ordered to Assembly.
SB 219 (Weiner): LGBT Senior Bill of Rights
SB 219 prohibits long term care facilities from taking discriminatory actions based on a resident’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status. Status: Passed Senate; Ordered to Assembly.
SB 416 (Anderson): Elder abuse: isolation
This bill would make it a crime for a caretaker of an elder or dependent adult to willfully isolate that adult. Status: DEAD.
Oppose
AB 150 (Mathis): Disabled Persons: rights: liability
This bill would prevent a person from filing a complaint under the Disabled Persons Act (DPA) against businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees, unless the person notifies the business and waits six months to see if the violations continue. If passed, AB 150 would create special barriers to enforcement of civil rights for residents living in non-ADA compliant facilities. Status: DEAD.
AB 1026 (Dababneh): Public Financing of For-Profit Nursing Homes Chains
This bill would make low-cost financing and loan guarantees available to for-profit nursing homes through the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund and the Health Facility Construction Loan Insurance Fund. These actions would betray the mission of these programs to help nonprofit and public health facilities reduce their cost of capital, and enable the expansion of for-profit nursing home chains that are providing poor care to their residents. Status: DEAD.
DHCS Trailer Bill Legislation: 610: Fifty Percent Rule and Personal Injury Lien Recovery
The Department of Health Care Services’ trailer bill proposal to eliminate the 50% recovery rule for personal injury liens should be rejected entirely. This proposal is inequitable to victims of abuse and neglect and will ensure that, rather than increase recoveries, few, if any, aged and disabled abuse victims will even want to pursue justice. Status: DEAD.
Federal Proposed Laws
H.R. 1215 – OPPOSE
Congress is considering a bill that will effectively end California’s 20-plus year civil protection system for victims of elder abuse or neglect perpetrated by health care providers. While California already has a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages – the centerpiece of H.R. 1215 - elder and dependent adult abuse cases are rightfully exempt. H.R. 1215 would end this critical exemption. H.R. 1215 inoculates an entire class of professionals and the health care industry from being held liable when their actions fall below, even far below, the acceptable standards or when they intentionally hurt a patient. Status: House floor.
