Residential care facilities for the elderly: civil penalties.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the licensing and administration of residential care facilities for the elderly. Existing law authorizes the department to impose various civil penalties for licensing violations. Existing law sets the minimum civil penalty at $25 and the maximum penalty at $150 per day per violation, and permits additional civil penalties for repeat violations within a 12-month period. This bill would increase the civil penalties, including the penalties for repeat offenses, and would vary the minimum and maximum penalties depending upon the seriousness of the harm to the resident. This bill would, in the case of citations imposing civil penalties for violations that caused death or serious bodily injury to the resident, require that the decision to issue the citation be reviewed by the department's legal office and be approved by the deputy director prior to the issuance of the citation. This bill would require that the appeal procedure include notice to the complainant, affected residents, and, if possible, their legal representatives, the opportunity to participate in the appeal, and an option for review by an administrative law judge. This bill would, in cases involving death or serious bodily injury of a resident, require the department to prove that the violation was a direct proximate cause of the death or serious bodily injury, and that it resulted from an occurrence of a nature that the statute or regulation was designed to prevent. The bill would require dismissal of the citation if the licensee proves that the licensee did what might reasonably be expected of a residential care facility for the elderly licensee, acting under similar circumstances, to comply with the statute or regulation. The bill would specify that, in an enforcement action pursuant to these provisions, a licensee is liable for the acts and omissions of its officers and employees. Existing law authorizes the establishment of a fund and authorizes deposit of up to 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into this fund, to be utilized, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of relocation and care of residents when a facility's license is revoked or temporarily suspended. This bill would, instead, establish the Emergency Resident Relocation Fund and would require deposit of 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into the fund to be used for these purposes, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2016, to amend its regulations to accommodate changes in these provision made by this bill.