Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act (act), requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly, as defined, and imposes criminal penalties on a person who violates the act or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act. Existing law authorizes the department to also to impose civil penalties for violations of the act. Existing law gives residents of those facilities specified rights, including, but not limited to, the right to be free from neglect, financial exploitation, involuntary seclusion, and verbal, mental, or physical abuse.

Existing law, the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, establishes various procedures for the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of elder and dependent adult abuse and defines various forms of abuse, such as abandonment, isolation, and financial abuse.

This bill would require the department, when it substantiates a violation of the act that constitutes abuse in violation of a resident’s rights, to categorize the type of abuse using the definitions from the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act. The bill would require that the category of abuse be listed on public-facing database maintained by the department.