AB 3098: Residential care facilities for the elderly: emergency and disaster plans.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires a facility to have an emergency plan that includes specified provisions and is available, upon request, to residents onsite and available to local emergency responders. Existing law exempts a facility that has obtained a certificate of authority to offer continuing care contracts from this requirement. A violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor.

This bill would repeal the above-described provision exempting a facility that has obtained a certificate of authority to offer continuing care contracts from the requirement of having an emergency plan. The bill would require the emergency and disaster plan to include additional elements, including a contact information list and at least 2 shelter locations for housing residents during an evacuation. The bill would require a facility to provide training on the emergency and disaster plan to each staff member upon hire and annually thereafter. The bill would also require a facility to review and make updates to the emergency and disaster plan annually, as specified, and to conduct a drill for various emergency situations at least once quarterly for each shift. The bill would require the facility to make the emergency and disaster plan available, upon request, to any responsible party for a resident and the local long-term care ombudsman, and would require an applicant seeking a license for a new facility to submit the emergency and disaster plan with the initial license application. The bill would require the departments Community Care Licensing Division to confirm, during annual visits, that the emergency and disaster plan is on file at the facility and includes required content and would encourage the facility to have the plan reviewed by local emergency authorities. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.