(a) A residential care facility for the elderly, as defined in Section 1569.2, which fails to make reasonable efforts to safeguard resident property shall reimburse a resident for or replace stolen or lost resident property at its then current value. The facility shall be presumed to have made reasonable efforts to safeguard resident property if the facility has shown clear and convincing evidence of its efforts to meet each of the requirements specified in Section 1569.153. The presumption shall be a rebuttable presumption, and the resident or the resident’s representative may pursue this matter in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) A civil penalty shall be levied if the residential care facility for the elderly has no program in place or if the facility has not shown clear and convincing evidence of its efforts to meet all of the requirements set forth in Section 1569.153. The State Department of Social Services shall issue a deficiency in the event that the manner in which the policies have been implemented is inadequate or the individual facility situation warrants additional theft and loss protections.
(c) The department shall not determine that a facility’s program is inadequate based solely on the occasional occurrence of theft or loss in a facility.
(Added by Stats. 1988, Ch. 750, Sec. 2.)