Bill Text: CA SB135 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Hospice facilities.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2012-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 673, Statutes of 2012. [SB135 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB135-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SB 135	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hernandez
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez)

                        JANUARY 31, 2011

   An act relating to health facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 135, as introduced, Hernandez. Health facilities.
   Existing law provides for the licensure of health facilities by
the State Department of Public Health.
   This bill would make findings and declarations and declare the
intent of the Legislature to enact legislation regarding the
establishment of specialized hospice facilities.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Hospice is a special type of health care service designed to
provide palliative care to, and to alleviate the physical, emotional,
social, and spiritual discomforts of, an individual who is
experiencing the last phases of life due to terminal illness.
   (b) Hospice services provide supportive care to the primary
caregiver and family of the patient.
   (c) Hospice services are provided primarily in the home, but can
also be provided in residential care or in health facility inpatient
settings.
   (d) Persons who do not have family or caregivers who are able to
provide care in the home should be able to have care provided in a
homelike environment, rather than in an institutional setting, if
that is their preference.
   (e) Permitting the increased access to care in specialized hospice
facilities provides additional care and treatment options for
persons who are at the end of life.
   (f) The establishment of specialized hospice facilities is
permitted under federal law and by 35 other states.
   (g) Permitting the establishment of specialized licensed hospice
facilities is consistent with federal legal affirmations of each
person's preferences for end-of-life care.
   (h) Permitting the establishment of specialized hospice facilities
is consistent with the decision of the United States Supreme Court
in Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel. Zimring (1999) 527 U.S. 581, which held
that persons with disabilities have the right to live in the most
integrated setting possible with appropriate access to care and
choice of community-based services and placement options.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
that would authorize the establishment of specialized hospice
facilities to improve access to care, to provide an additional care
option, and to provide a home like environment within which to
provide care and treatment for persons who are experiencing the last
phases of life.