On June 24, 2015, the Governor signed SB 75, a budget bill that includes new investigation timelines for nursing home complaint investigations. Section 9 of the bill amends Health and Safety Code §1420 to phase in complaint completion timelines beginning on July 1, 2016. When the phase-in period is complete on July 1, 2018, the Department of Public Health will be required to complete complaint investigations within 60 days of receipt, with the authority to extend investigations up to an additional 60 days for extenuating circumstances.

Unfortunately, the new investigation timelines only apply to complaints filed by the public, not to incidents of abuse and neglect self reported by nursing homes. AB 348 (Brown), a CANHR sponsored bill on complaint investigation deadlines, is being amended to set identical timelines for facility filed complaints as SB 75 establishes for public complaints. AB 348 will be heard by the Senate Health Committee on July 15.