SECTIONS 129048-129049 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 129048-129049

129048. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The State of California has a compelling interest in ensuring
that adequate health facilities that are able to withstand seismic
events are available to care for patients, especially in the event of
a disaster.
(b) Hospitals are required, under the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital
Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 (Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 129675) of Part 7), to improve, or remove from acute care
service, buildings that pose a significant safety risk of collapse
and danger to the public by January 1, 2008.
(c) Hospitals are also required by that act to repair, rebuild, or
remove from service, buildings that may not be repairable or
functional following strong ground motion, by January 1, 2030.
(d) California hospitals should be enabled to participate in
programs that provide financial assistance for hospital construction
and retrofitting.
(e) The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
operates a HUD 242 loan insurance program, through which hospitals
can access facility mortgage insurance and lower interest rates.
(f) As a condition for participating in the HUD 242 program, a
hospital must have a state-commissioned or conducted feasibility
study of a hospital construction project.

129049. (a) The office may, at the request of a hospital,
commission an independent study of market need and feasibility, as
required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development, as part of an application for mortgage insurance for
hospitals pursuant to Section 1715z-7 of Title 12 of the United
States Code, or any other federal mortgage insurance program for
health-related facilities.
(b) The cost of the feasibility study permitted pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall be paid for by the office from reimbursements
received from the applicant.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the office may
directly retain independent feasibility consultants and require a
deposit from the applicant for the entire cost of the services at the
time they are requested.
(d) The office shall charge applicants a fee for the reasonable
costs of administering this article.
(e) The program provided for in this article shall be administered
in conformance with the requirements of the United States Department
of Housing and Urban Development for feasibility studies authorized
by this section and the applicable requirements of state law
pertaining to contracts.