Bill Text: CA AB2075 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Resident Access Protection Act.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2024-08-15 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2075 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB2075-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Resident Access Protection Act.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2024-08-15 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2075 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB2075-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2075
| Introduced by Assembly Member Alvarez |
February 05, 2024 |
An act to add Sections 1546.5 and 1569.3185 to, and to add Chapter 2.47 (commencing with Section 1439.70) to Division 2 of, the Health and Safety Code, relating to health and care facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2075, as introduced, Alvarez.
Resident-Designated Support Persons Act.
Existing law, including the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act and the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the licensure and regulation of certain residential health and care facilities and establishes specified rights for the residents of these licensees. Existing law makes a violation of certain of these provisions or a willful or repeated violation of any rule or regulation promulgated under these provisions a crime.
This bill would enact the Resident-Designated Support Persons Act. The act would provide a resident of a long-term care facility with the right to in-person, onsite access to a designated support person or a health care and social services provider during a public health emergency in which visitation rights of residents are curtailed by a state or local order, as specified. The act would
provide how a resident may leave their long-term care facility on outings during a public health emergency. The act would require a long-term care facility, among other things, to provide safety protocols required of care staff, designated support persons, and other visitors to the residents, resident representatives, and residents’ designated support persons orally and in writing. A violation of the act would be a crime and subject to civil penalties. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The act would authorize a state or local government order to supersede its provisions during a declared state of emergency, local emergency, health emergency, or local health emergency to limit the number of designated support persons or health care and social services providers who may simultaneously visit a resident, except as specified. The act would provide that its provisions may not otherwise be suspended, superseded, or
modified.
The bill would require certain facilities licensed pursuant to the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act and the California Community Care Facilities Act to comply with these requirements. By expanding the duties of these health care facilities, this bill would expand an existing 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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on residents of long-term care facilities. In addition to sickness and death due to COVID-19 infections, residents suffered incalculable loss due to prolonged, draconian visitation restrictions that separated residents from their families, friends, and essential support persons.
(b) Support persons with access to in-person contact provide, among other things, companionship, psychosocial support, cognitive stimulation, communication assistance, assistance with daily living tasks, such as eating, dressing, and hygiene support, meaningful connection, relational
continuity, decisionmaking assistance, transportation, and physical activities, and fulfill other personal needs for long-term care facility residents.
(c) It is imperative, at all times, for individuals residing in long-term care facilities to have access to family members, chosen family, and friends who provide critical support. The Legislature affirms that a resident having physical access to family members or friends who provide support is necessary to mitigating a decline in the resident’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Therefore, when a public health emergency precipitates government-ordered visitation restrictions, the Legislature deems it necessary to allow residents to have immediate and unscheduled physical access to designated support persons without restriction on time, frequency, physical contact, or proximity, with certain exceptions.
(d) While
designated support persons provide essential support to long-term care residents, their access should not be seen as a substitute for consistent, ongoing care from facility staff.
SEC. 2.
Chapter 2.47 (commencing with Section 1439.70) is added to Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:CHAPTER 2.47. Resident-Designated Support Persons Act
1439.70.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:(a) “Compassionate care visit” means an in-person, onsite social interaction for a resident whose health has sharply declined, is experiencing a significant change in condition, or is otherwise suffering. This includes, but is not limited to, end of life or hospice care, a cessation of eating or drinking or significant weight loss, transition to a new care setting, grief, an emergency as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1418.8, or a significant or rapid decline in mental or emotional health.
(b) “Designated support person” means an individual designated by a resident or resident representative to provide
in-person, onsite support for a resident.
(c) “Health care and social services provider” means an individual who is not a staff or designated support person but provides health care or social support to a resident. This includes, but is not limited to, a health care worker, hospice provider, paid caregiver, personal care assistant, care manager, dentist, social worker, case manager, financial planner, conservator, and spiritual care provider.
(d) “Long-term care facility” means any of the facilities listed in Sections 1418 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1502 of this code and subdivision (b) of Section 9701 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, unless excluded by any of those provisions.
(e) “Public health emergency” means a public health-related condition that results in the declaration of a state of
emergency or local emergency, as defined in Section 8558 of the Government Code, or the declaration of a health emergency or local health emergency, as described in Section 101080, and that triggers a state or local government order to restrict the visitation rights of residents in a long-term care facility. A public health-related condition may include, but is not limited to, a natural disaster, an outbreak of an infectious disease, or a bioterrorist attack, if within the scope of Section 101080 of this code or Section 8558 of the Government Code.
(f) “Resident” means a resident or patient of a long-term care facility.
(g) “Resident representative” means an individual who has authority to act on behalf of the resident, including, but not limited to, a conservator, guardian, person authorized as agent in the resident’s advance health care directive, the resident’s spouse,
registered domestic partner, or family member, a person designated by the resident to act as a representative, or other surrogate decisionmaker designated in accordance with statutory and case law.
(h) “Staff” means an individual employed by, or contracted directly with, the long-term care facility and who provides care to residents.
1439.71.
Subject to Section 1439.72, the following shall apply:(a) (1) Each resident of a long-term care facility shall have the right to in-person, onsite access to a designated support person and health care and social services provider during any public health emergency in which visitation rights of residents are curtailed by a state or local order.
(2) At the discretion of the resident or their representative, a designated support person and health care and social services provider shall have the right to enter the resident’s dwelling and provide private support or care. The long-term care facility may limit the access of a designated support person or health care and social services provider within the
long-term care facility to the resident and to the areas in which the resident resides or receives care, consistent with the state or local order.
(3) A long-term care facility shall allow a resident to have their designated support person and health care and social services provider be physically present, consistent with the same hours of visitation required when there is no public health emergency.
(b) A resident of a long-term care facility shall have the right to leave the long-term care facility on outings, so long as reasonable safety precautions are taken. A resident who exercises this right to outings shall not be subject to quarantine upon their return to the long-term care facility, unless they fail to follow the same safety protocols as staff or the resident has had a known exposure or has symptoms relative to the contagious disease related to the public health
emergency.
(c) A resident or their representative shall have the right to select one or more designated support persons immediately upon admission to a long-term care facility and anytime thereafter. A resident or their representative shall have the right to modify who is a designated support person at any time.
(d) Selecting or modifying designated support persons shall in no way limit a resident’s right to other types of visitation accommodations if available at the facility during a public health emergency. This may include, but is not limited to, distanced visits, virtual visits, or telephonic visits.
1439.72.
(a) A long-term care facility may require designated support persons and health care and social services providers to adhere to safety protocols not greater than required of facility staff during a public health emergency for the duration of their visit. The long-term care facility shall provide personal protective equipment and testing resources to each designated support person, to the extent that those resources have been made readily available to the long-term care facility by state or local entities for their use.(b) (1) A long-term care facility shall provide safety protocols required of care staff, designated support persons, and other visitors to the residents, resident representatives, and residents’ designated
support persons orally and in writing.
(2) (A) The facility shall provide the required safety protocols in the individual’s primary or preferred language, to the extent practicable.
(B) If the individual is hearing impaired or vision impaired, the long-term care facility shall provide the required protocols in an accessible format.
(c) Any changes in safety protocols shall be communicated, as soon as practically possible, to the residents, resident representatives, and residents’ designated support persons orally and in writing in the individual’s primary or preferred language, to the extent practicable.
(d) A long-term care facility shall not require designated support persons and health care and social services providers to
adhere to safety protocols that have not been communicated as set forth in subdivisions (b) and (c). This does not preclude a long-term care facility from informing a designated support person upon their arrival of updated protocols or recent changes in protocols that impact their role as a designated support person.
