Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman.

Existing law, as part of the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, under the direction of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, in the California Department of Aging. Existing law provides for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program under which funds are allocated to local ombudsman programs to assist elderly persons in long-term health care facilities and residential care facilities by, among other things, investigating and seeking to resolve complaints against these facilities. Existing law requires the office to solicit and receive funds, gifts, and contributions to support the operations and programs of the office. This bill would create the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Improvement Act Account, and require the office to deposit those funds into the account. The bill would, upon appropriation, require those funds to be used for the purpose of supporting the operations and programs of the office. Under existing law, anyone who willfully interferes with a lawful action of the office is subject to a civil penalty of no more than $1,000, to be assessed by the Director of Aging, who is required to initiate the action, upon request of the office, to collect the penalties. This bill would increase the maximum civil penalty amount to $2,500 for each incident, and would instead require the director to initiate an action if the penalty is not paid within 30 days of the assessment. The bill would provide that each instance of willful interference may be reported to local law enforcement and the appropriate licensing agency as an act of isolation, as defined. This bill would create the Access to Facilities Account, and require those penalties to be deposited into the account to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be available to the office to fund the training costs, and to reimburse the travel expenses, of local ombudsman programs throughout the state.