Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 527 amends the Health and Safety Code to provide for the regulation of procedures for assessing and determining violations and penalties against assisted living facilities. The bill authorizes the Texas Department of Human Services to assess an administrative penalty against the applicant, license holder, or controlling personnel of the facility for certain violations, taking into account the seriousness of the violation, previous violations, and efforts to correct the violation. The bill prohibits the department from collecting an administrative penalty from an assisted living facility as long as no serious harm results, if the facility complies with provisions to correct the violations within 45 days and maintains the correction until at least the first anniversary of the date the correction was made.

            The bill requires the department to issue a preliminary report stating the facts on which the department bases the violation and certain related information. If a hearing is necessary, the administrative law judge will issue a written decision to the commissioner of health and human services and recommend any penalty necessary, and the commissioner will use the decision to issue a final written order and notice on the violation. If no violation occurred, any records reflecting the potential violations must be expunged; if a violation occurred, the commission must give written notice of certain information to the person charged, including the findings, the amount of the administrative penalty, and the rate of interest.

            The bill authorizes the commissioner, under certain circumstances, to allow amelioration of the violation in lieu of payment of an administrative penalty, provided the violation does not immediately jeopardize the health and safety of a resident and the plan meets certain requirements.

            The bill establishes an assisted living facility trust fund for the department to make expenditures without legislative appropriation for emergency assistance to an assisted living facility. The bill sets forth guidelines for the administration and uses of the fund. The department is required to adopt an annual fee, based on the number of beds in a facility, in an amount necessary to provide no more than $500,000 to the fund, and the bill authorizes the fee to be collected more than once a year under certain conditions.