Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Department 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, by January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospitals, or demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with regulations and standards developed by the department in accordance with the act, as specified.

This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information an acute care hospital in a building with a specified rating to submit to the Department of Health Care Access and Information the estimated cost for the hospital to comply with the 2030 seismic requirements. The bill would require the department to provide the Legislature with a report containing specified information that would provide, among other things, the Legislature with an assessment of projected costs to retrofit each hospital building in order to meet the 2030 seismic requirements. The bill would authorize the department to rely on the cost estimates submitted by the hospitals, and if the department relies on the estimates, the bill would require the department to clearly state in the report that the information was provided by the hospital and not verified by the department.