- Jaspreet Johl
- (916) 335-8871
- Jaspreet.Johl@asm.ca.gov
(Sacramento, CA) – Assembly Member’s Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi’s (D-Torrance) AB 279 passed the Assembly Health Committee on an 11 to 2 vote yesterday. This bill will protect seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic by prohibiting licensed senior residential care facilities from terminating, transferring or significantly altering the conditions of residential care services during the State of Californian’s COVID-19 state of emergency period.
“It is absolutely unethical to force our senior residents out of a viable facility at the height of a global pandemic,” said Assembly Member Santiago. “Unfortunately, we are seeing this in my district in Boyle Heights where close to 70 senior residents – primarily Japanese Americans – will be displaced by Pacifica for no justifiable reason. This bill is intended to protect these vulnerable seniors and others facing similar threats throughout the state by prohibiting termination, relocation, or significant alteration of quality services during COVID-19.”
“Seniors in residential care facilities are among the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Assembly Member Muratsuchi. “We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to protect these seniors from eviction or transfer trauma. At the very least, we should allow these seniors and their loved ones the peace of mind knowing that their current homes will not be taken away from them during a pandemic.”
Recently, Pacifica Companies, owner of the Sakura Gardens Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) in Boyle Heights has applied to close the facility primarily serving the Japanese American community and transfer its current residents to other facilities. Pacifica has applied to the City of Los Angeles for approval of the conversion of the 90-bed ICF into apartments. The for-profit developer Pacifica purchased the ICF from the nonprofit Keiro under conditions of sale approved by the California Attorney General in 2016. Those conditions require ICF residential care services to use the Japanese language and cultural amenities for at least a five-year period. That period ended in February 2021.
AB 279 would prohibit a senior residential care facility from making significant changes to the delivery of residential care services during the COVID-19 state of emergency unless the owner of the facility declares bankruptcy. Significant changes would include the termination of services as well as the transfer of residents to other facilities unless the resident consents to the termination or transfer. The bill would also require all conditions of sale of assets from a not- for-profit entity to a for-profit entity approved by the California Attorney General to remain in effect at least during the duration of the state of emergency. Finally, the bill would also require the owner of the facility to give at least 6-months advance notice of any proposed termination of the licensed operation to every resident.
AB 279 will be heard next in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Assemblymember Miguel Santiago is the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Communications and Conveyance Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Los Angeles County Homelessness. He also sits on the Assembly Committee on Health, Public Safety, Higher Education and Utilities and Energy.
He represents the 53rd District composed of the cities of Los Angeles, Huntington Park, and Vernon.