Residential care facilities for the elderly: capacity.

The California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act (act) requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly and imposes criminal penalties on a person who violates the act or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act. Under existing law, whether or not unrelated persons are living together, a residential care facility for the elderly that serves 6 or fewer persons is considered a residential use of property for the purposes of the act. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, would make the provisions that are applicable to a residential care facility for the elderly serving 6 or fewer persons that are residential use of property status with respect to a residential care facility for the elderly that serves more than 6 persons and that is located in a residential zone, if the family dwelling, as specified, has sufficient square footage and a sufficient number of rooms to serve more than 6 persons, consistent with the standards established in a specified provision of the Uniform Housing Code of the International Conference of Building Officials, or other state-approved standards governing the allowable number of beds in a room used as a bedroom. By expanding the types of facilities subject to the act, the bill would expand the definition of a crime, thereby imposing 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.