(a) The Legislature hereby finds that having access to a health care employer-level inventory of personal protective equipment in the event of a pandemic or other health emergency is vital to the health and safety of its health care workforce, as well as the general population, who both rely on the state’s health care workforce for care and are susceptible to disease transmission should members of the health care workforce needlessly be infected with transmissible disease.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Department” means the Department of Industrial Relations.
(2) (A) “Health care employer” means a person or organization that employs workers in the public or private sector to provide direct patient care in a general acute care hospital setting as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, a health facility as defined in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, a medical practice that is operated or maintained as part of an integrated health system or health facility, or a dialysis clinic licensed in accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 1204 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) “Health care employer” does not include an independent medical practice that is owned and operated, or maintained as a clinic or office, by one or more licensed physicians and used as an office for the practice of their profession, within the scope of their license, regardless of the name used publicly to identify the place or establishment unless the medical practice is operated or maintained exclusively as part of an integrated health system or health facility or is an entity described in subdivision (l) of Section 1206 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3) “PPE” and “health care worker” have the same meanings as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 131021 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) Except as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (h), a health care employer shall maintain an inventory of unexpired PPE, as specified in this section, for use in the event of a state of emergency declaration by the Governor, or a local emergency for a pandemic or other health emergency. Personal protective equipment in the inventory shall be new and not previously worn or used. A health care employer who violates the requirement to maintain an inventory of unexpired personal protective equipment prescribed by this section shall be assessed a civil penalty of up to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation, as specified in Section 6428.
(d) (1) Commencing January 1, 2023, or 365 days after regulations are adopted pursuant to subdivision (h), whichever is later, health care employers shall have an inventory at least sufficient for 45 days of surge consumption, as determined by those regulations. The regulations shall not establish policies or standards that are less protective or prescriptive than any federal, state, or local law on PPE standards.
(2) A health care employer shall provide an inventory of its PPE to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health upon request. An employer who violates this requirement shall be assessed a civil penalty of up to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation. This subdivision does not apply to a health care employer that provides services in a facility or other setting controlled or owned by another health care employer that is obligated to maintain a PPE inventory and report that inventory pursuant to this subdivision for all its owned or controlled facilities and settings.
(e) (1) If a health care employer provides services in a facility or other setting controlled or owned by another health care employer who is obligated to maintain a PPE inventory, the health care employer who controls or owns the facility or other setting shall be required to maintain the required PPE for the health care employer providing services in that facility or setting.
(2) A health care employer may apply for a waiver of some or all of the PPE inventory requirements of subdivision (d) by writing to the department, which may approve the waiver if the facility has 25 or fewer employees and the employer agrees to close in-person operations during a public health emergency in which increased use of PPE is recommended by the public health officer until sufficient PPE becomes available to return to in-person operations. This provision does not apply to health facilities as described in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3) If a health care employer’s inventory of a type of PPE dips below the mandated level of supplies as a result of the health care employer’s distribution of that type of PPE to its health care workers or another health care employer’s workers during a state of emergency declared by the Governor or a declared local emergency for a pandemic or other health emergency, the health care employer shall not be subject to the civil penalty established by subdivision (c) for 30 days, provided the health care employer replenishes its inventory to the mandated level within 30 days if the department has determined there is not a supply limitation.
(f) The department may exempt a health care employer from a civil penalty prescribed by subdivision (c) if the department determines that supply chain limitations make meeting the mandated level of supplies infeasible and a health care employer has made a reasonable attempt, in the discretion of the department, to obtain PPE, or if the health care employer makes a showing that meeting the mandated level of supplies is not possible due to issues beyond their control, such as if the equipment was ordered from a manufacturer or distributor but the order was not fulfilled, or if the equipment was damaged or stolen.
(g) Consistent with existing law, a designated health care employer shall supply appropriate PPE to its health care workers, ensure that its health care workers use the PPE supplied to them, and provide appropriate PPE to its health care workers upon their request. This paragraph is declaratory of existing law.
(h) The department, by regulation and in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, shall set forth requirements for determining 45-day surge capacity levels for health care employer inventory as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (d), including, but not limited to, the types and amount of PPE to be maintained by the health care employer based on the type and size of each health care employer, as well as the composition of health care workers in its workforce. The regulations shall require each health care employer to maintain sufficient PPE for all health care workers. The regulations shall consider the recommendations of the Personal Protective Equipment Advisory Committee established pursuant to Section 6403.2.
(Added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 301, Sec. 2. (SB 275) Effective January 1, 2021.)