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In January 2017, DRC released a report on oversight of California’s nursing homes and failures in the state licensing and enforcement process. There were several findings and recommendations in the report that include the lack of consistency in applying citation levels and inadequate penalties for facility violations. AB 1335 is a response to the report.

This bill conforms the causation definition used by the Department of Public Health (DPH) to determine Class AA violations (the highest citation level for a death within a facility resident due to facility negligence) to current negligence law applied by state courts. The bill requires that for repeated Class A violations (the citation level for facility conduct that poses an imminent danger, probability of death, or serious harm to residents) where a death occurs DPH must consider suspending or revoking the license for 12 months and for a third or subsequent violation begin proceedings to suspend or revoke the license.