CA SB 1432

Title: Health facilities: seismic standards.
Author: Josh Newman

Summary
SB 1432, as amended, Caballero. Health facilities: seismic standards. (1) Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Health Care Access and Information, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973.Existing law requires that, by January 1, 2030, owners of these hospitals must either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings that are not in compliance with these standards or seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so they are in substantial compliance with these standards, unless subject to an abeyance.This bill would additionally authorize additional extensions to the compliance deadline if specified requirements are met. The bill would also create an abeyance by which a rural hospital or critical access hospital, or both, will not be required to meet these requirements until adequate funding is made available to the hospital for purposes of attaining substantial compliance. The bill would impose specified requirements for a rural hospital or critical access hospital subject to an abeyance, including that a rural hospital or critical access hospital provide specified information to the State Department of Public Health no later than July 1, 2027, and would require the department to post and maintain on its internet website a list of rural hospitals and critical access hospitals that are subject to an abeyance. The bill would include definitions pertaining to these requirements. The bill would authorize the department to grant an extension of the deadline for substantial compliance with seismic safety regulations or standards to January 1, 2033, for any hospital building for which the hospital owner submits specified items to the department by specified dates. The bill would authorize a hospital to propose a final compliance date that extends up to five years beyond January 1, 2033, but no later than January 1, 2038. The bill would additionally authorize the department to grant a different extension to the deadline for substantial compliance with seismic safety regulations or standards for up to an additional five years if the owner has demonstrated one or more specified requirements to the department. The bill would require the department to take additional actions prior to granting an extension beyond January 1, 2033. The bill would require the department to determine, by no later than January 1, 2028, whether to grant an abeyance.The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to adopt regulations and standards or revise regulations and standards, or both, to extend the deadlines for meeting the structural performance and nonstructural performance requirements. The bill would specify that regulatory submissions made by the department to the California Building Standards Commission are deemed to be emergency regulations.The bill would require an owner of an acute care inpatient hospital that does not substantially comply with the seismic safety regulations or standards to submit a seismic compliance plan, as specified, to the department by no later than January 1, 2026. The bill would require, among other things, the owner to annually update the department with any changes or adjustments to its seismic compliance plan, and the department to post each seismic compliance plan submitted on its internet website within 90 calendar days of receipt.The bill would require an acute care inpatient hospital with one or more specified hospital buildings to submit a Patient Alternate Care Sites and Transfer Plan to the department, as specified, by no later than January 1, 2026, to address continued care for the hospital’s patients following a seismic event through alternate care sites on the hospital campus and other health care facilities. The bill would require the hospital to submit updates to the plan, if

Status
Set for hearing May 6.

Bill Documents
CA SB 1432 - 04/29/24 - Amended Senate
04/29/24 - CA SB 1432 (04/29/24 - Amended Senate)