Hospitals: seismic safety.

Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. A violation of any provision of the act is a misdemeanor. Existing law provides that, after January 1, 2008, a general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or to pose significant loss of life in the event of seismic activity be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant 5-year and 2-year extensions under prescribed circumstances, except as specified. Existing law requires an owner of a general acute care hospital building that is classified as nonconforming to submit a report to the office no later than November 1, 2010, describing the status of each building in complying with the extension provisions, and to annually update the office with any changes or adjustments. Existing law authorizes certain hospital owners who do not have the financial capacity or other reasons to bring certain buildings into compliance by the January 1, 2013, deadline to instead replace those buildings or take other action by January 1, 2020, as specified. This bill would require all hospitals with buildings subject to the January 1, 2020, deadline described above and that are seeking an extension for their buildings to submit an application to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development by April 1, 2019, that specifies the seismic compliance method each building will use, as specified. The bill would require the office to grant an additional extension of time to an owner who is subject to the January 1, 2020, deadline if specified conditions are met. The bill would authorize the additional extension to be until July 1, 2022, if the compliance plan is based upon replacement or retrofit, as defined, or up to 5 years if the compliance plan is for a rebuild, as defined. The bill would require the office, before June 1, 2019, to provide the Legislature with a specified inventory of the hospital buildings. The bill would authorize the office to promulgate emergency regulations as necessary to implement these provisions. Existing law requires, no later than January 1, 2030, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use a hospital building that is not in substantial compliance with certain seismic safety regulations and standards developed by the office, or to seismically retrofit the building so that it is in substantial compliance. This bill would require, before January 1, 2020, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital whose building does not substantially comply with the above-described seismic safety regulations or standards to submit to the office an attestation that the board of directors of that hospital is aware that the hospital building is required to meet the January 1, 2030, deadline for substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. By imposing new requirements under the act for owners of hospitals with regard to extension applications and the above-described attestation, this bill would expand the scope 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.