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2018 SESSION

18104733D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 123
Offered January 10, 2018
Directing the Joint Commission on Health Care to study the feasibility of requiring an onsite temporary emergency electrical power source for licensed assisted living facilities. Report.
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Patron-- Hope
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, many individuals are served by assisted living facilities in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, assisted living communities provide personal and health care services, including protection, 24-hour supervision, and oversight of physical and mental well-being, in a primarily residential setting for many aged, infirm, or disabled adults in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the catastrophic storms and other emergencies that adversely affect assisted living facilities, including such facilities' access to electric power, cannot be avoided; and

WHEREAS, regulations of the Virginia Department of Social Services require assisted living facilities with six or more residents to be able to connect to a temporary emergency electrical power source for the provision of electricity during an interruption of the normal electric power supply; and

WHEREAS, the nature and continuance of services enabled by a temporary emergency electrical power source vary by generator capacity size and the physical structure of an assisted living facility; and

WHEREAS, the availability of vendors to provide temporary emergency electrical power sources during an emergency are not guaranteed due to unpredictable environmental conditions and varying supply and demand; and

WHEREAS, temporary emergency electrical power is not always affordable for assisted living facilities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Commission on Health Care be directed to study the feasibility of requiring an onsite temporary emergency electrical power source for licensed assisted living facilities. The Joint Commission on Health Care shall also study the services that assisted living facilities should be required to provide or continue to provide during an emergency, with consideration given to the costs that would be incurred for such services.

In conducting its study, the Joint Commission on Health Care shall determine (i) the minimum internal systems of operation that an assisted living community should provide or continue to provide during an emergency; (ii) the applicability of any requirement for an onsite temporary emergency electrical power source, potentially based on the capacity and size of an assisted living community; and (iii) the potential fiscal impact of any potential requirements on assisted living communities.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Commission on Health Care for this study, upon request.

The Joint Commission on Health Care shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2018, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall state whether the Joint Commission on Health Care intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.