Nursing home administrators: fees and fines.

Existing law, the Nursing Home Administrators' Act, provides for the licensing of nursing home administrators by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law prescribes specified licensing fees, and requires that the fees be adjusted annually, as directed by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, by an amount not to exceed the California Consumer Price Index, as specified. Existing law provides for the issuance of citations and administrative fines for the violation of any state or federal statute or regulation governing licensed nursing home administrators. Existing law requires that these fees and associated fines be deposited in the Nursing Home Administrator's State License Examining Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would eliminate the Nursing Home Administrator's State License Examining Fund and instead require that these fees and fines be deposited into the State Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification Program Fund. This bill would authorize the department to adjust the fees, and would remove the adjustment limitation relating to the California Consumer Price Index. This bill would require the department, by February 1 of each year, to prepare a list of proposed fee adjustments and a specified report relating to nursing home administrator fees, fee adjustments, and nursing home administration generally. The bill would require the department to submit this list and report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature and to post this report on its Internet Web site.