Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development: plan review.

Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to oversee the construction of, or addition to, any hospital building or the reconstruction of, or the alteration of, any hospital building. The office is required to independently review and either approve or reject all plans. Existing law provides an exception from the plan review process for construction or alteration projects for specified hospital buildings with estimated construction costs of $50,000 or less where the plans have been stamped and signed by design professionals of record. This bill would allow the office to exempt from the plan review process nonstructural construction or alteration projects with estimated construction costs less than $500,000. The bill would also allow an exemption from the plan review process for construction or alteration projects for specified hospital buildings with construction costs of at least $500,000 but less than $1 million if the designs are independently peer reviewed by independent plan reviewers, as defined. This bill would require the office to establish criteria for qualification of independent plan reviewers and peer review standards. The bill would place the liability for all risks arising out of the election to forgo the plan review process on the hospital owner, governing board, or operator, design professionals, and independent plan reviewers. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 1, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 1, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. The bill would provide that it shall become operative only if Assembly Bill 2 of the 2009–10 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature is chaptered.