The department shall observe the construction of, or addition to, any hospital building or the reconstruction or alteration of any hospital building, as it deems necessary to comply with this chapter for the protection of life and property.

The governing board of each hospital or other hospital governing authority, before adopting any plans for the hospital building, shall submit the plans to the department for approval and shall pay the fees prescribed in this chapter.

The department shall use, to the extent possible, information technology to facilitate the timely performance of its duties and responsibilities under this chapter.

this subdivision. This fee shall be based on the estimated cost, but shall not exceed the actual cost, of the entire phased review and approval process for those plans. This fee shall be deducted from the application fee pursuant to Section 129785.

or authority in writing and shall include a proper reference to the regulation or statute being violated.

requirements of subdivision (a) may be waived by the

department when the department determines that these requirements for the proposed hospital project are unnecessary and would not be beneficial to the safety of the public. The department, after consultation with the Building Safety Board, shall adopt regulations defining the criteria upon which the determination of a waiver shall be made.

The engineering investigation shall be correlated with the geologic evaluation made pursuant to Section 129775.

Code.

issued. If a hospital facility chooses not to apply for an annual permit to cover a project or projects costing fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or less in total, the hospital facility may instead submit the project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined under subdivision (a).

fee. The annual permit shall cover all projects undertaken for a particular skilled nursing or intermediate care facility up to a total estimated construction cost of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) during the state fiscal year in which the annual permit is issued. If a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility chooses not to apply for an annual permit to cover a project or projects costing twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less in total, the skilled nursing or intermediate care facility may instead submit the project or projects for review and approval as otherwise specified in this chapter, including paying the application filing fee determined under subdivision (a).

above schedule and computed on the amount that the actual cost exceeds the amount of the estimated cost. If the estimated construction cost exceeds the actual construction cost by more than 5 percent, the department shall refund the excess portion of any paid fees, based on the above schedule and computed on the amount that the estimated cost exceeds the amount of the actual cost. A refund is not required if the applicant did not complete construction or alteration of 75 percent of the square footage included in the project, as contained in the approved drawings and specifications for the project. In addition, the department shall adopt regulations specifying other circumstances when the department shall refund to an applicant all or part of any paid fees for projects submitted under this chapter. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to, refunds of paid fees for a project that is

determined by the department to be exempt or otherwise not reviewable under this chapter, and for a project that is withdrawn by the applicant prior to the commencement of review by the department of the drawing and specifications submitted for the project. All refunds pursuant to this section shall be paid from the Hospital Building Account in the Architecture Public Building Fund, as established pursuant to Section 129795.

described in paragraph (1).

sentence.

The department shall propose specific space, architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical standards for correctional treatment centers in cooperation with the Board of Corrections, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of the Youth Authority.

All fees shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the Hospital Building Fund, that is hereby created and continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years for the use of the department, subject to approval of the Department of Finance, in carrying out this chapter. Adjustments in the amounts of the fees, as determined by the department and approved by the Department of Finance, shall be made within the limits set in Section 129785 in order to maintain a reasonable working balance in the account. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any moneys collected pursuant to this chapter contained in the hospital building fund established by the Department of Finance, that are in the fund on January 1,

1994, shall be available for expenditure in accordance with this section.

The director shall request the Department of Finance or the Auditor General to perform an audit of the uses of fees collected pursuant to Section 129785. This audit shall include, but not be limited to, an accounting of staff resources allocated to hospital plan reviews by the department and by the Office of the State Architect in the Department of General Services since these reviews are funded by fees collected pursuant to Section 129785. If the Department of Finance and the Auditor General indicate that other audit responsibilities will prohibit them from performing and completing the audit within six months of being initially requested to do so, then the department may contract with an independent organization to perform

the audit.

under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code for performance of services in that branch of engineering in which the plans, specifications, and estimates and work of construction are applicable.

(a).

Before commencing any construction or alteration of any hospital building, the written approval of the necessary plans as to safety of design and construction, by the department, shall be obtained.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may utilize an over-the-counter plan review process.

Any permit or authorization issued or provided pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15374) of Part 6.7 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

No contract for the construction or alteration of any hospital building, made or executed on or after January 1, 1983, by the governing board or authority of any hospital or other similar public board, body, or officer otherwise vested with authority to make or execute the contract, is valid, and no money shall be paid for any work done under the contract or for any labor or materials furnished in constructing or altering the hospital building, unless all of the following requirements are satisfied:

Whenever the department finds a violation of this chapter that requires correction, the citation of the violation shall be issued to the hospital governing board or authority in writing and shall include a

proper reference to the regulation or statute being violated.

its approval process, the department shall initially and periodically examine inspectors by giving either a written examination or a written and oral examination. The department may charge a fee for the examination process calculated to cover its costs. Inspectors who have not passed a written examination shall not be approved by the department until they have successfully passed the written examination. No employee of the department performing field inspections or supervising the field inspections shall be approved as an inspector on any construction project pursuant to this chapter for a period of one year after leaving employment of the department.

From time to time, as the work of construction or alteration progresses and whenever the department requires, the architect or structural engineer, or both, in charge of construction or registered engineer in charge of other work, the inspector on the work, and the contractor shall each make a report, duly verified by them, upon a form prescribed by the department showing, of their personal knowledge, that the work during the period covered by the report has been performed and materials used and installed are in accordance with the approved plans and specifications, setting forth detailed statements of fact as required by the department.

The term “personal knowledge,” as used in this

section and as applied to the architect or registered engineer, or both, means the personal knowledge that is obtained by periodic visits to the project site of reasonable frequency, for the purpose of general observation of the work, and that is also obtained from the reporting of others as to the progress of the work, testing of materials, and inspection and superintendence of the work that is performed between the periodic visits of the architect or the registered engineer. Reasonable diligence shall be exercised in obtaining the facts.

The term “personal knowledge,” as applied to the inspector, means the actual personal knowledge that is obtained from the inspector’s personal continuous inspection of the work of construction in all stages of its progress at the site where the inspector is responsible for inspection, and when work is carried out away

from the site, that personal knowledge that is obtained from the reporting of others on the testing or inspection of materials and workmanship, for compliance with plans, specifications, or applicable standards. Reasonable diligence shall be exercised in obtaining the facts.

The term “personal knowledge,” as applied to the contractor, means the personal knowledge that is obtained from the construction of the building. The exercise of reasonable diligence to obtain the facts is required.

Upon written request to the department by the governing board or authority of any hospital, the department shall make, or cause to be made, an examination and report on the condition of any hospital building subject to the payment by the governing board or authority of the actual expenses incurred by the department.

Subsequent to the occurrence of any earthquake, the department may make, or cause to be made, studies of health facilities within the area involved.

Except as provided in Sections 18929 and 18930, the department shall from time to time make any regulations that it deems necessary, proper, or suitable to effectually carry out this chapter. The department shall also propose and submit building standards to the California Building Standards Commission for adoption and approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13 relating to seismic safety for hospital buildings.

Written rules and regulations by the department to clarify the application of the California Building Standards Code pursuant to this chapter shall be made available to the public upon request.

The department may enter into any agreements and contracts with any qualified person, department, agency, corporation, or legal entity, as determined by the department, when necessary in order to facilitate the timely performance of the duties and responsibilities relating to the review and inspection of architectural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems of hospital buildings to be constructed or altered or buildings under construction or alteration.

If the department determines that the structural review of plans for a hospital building cannot be completed without undue delay, the department may enter into contractual agreements with private structural engineers or local

governments for the purpose of facilitating the timely performance of the duties and responsibilities relating to the review and inspection of plans and specifications of the structural systems of hospital construction projects.

The department, with the advice of the Building Safety Board, shall prepare regulations, containing qualification criteria, for implementing the contractual agreement provisions of this section.

shall prepare a comprehensive report on the training program setting forth its goals, objectives, and structure. The report shall include the number of fire and life safety officers to be trained annually, a timeline for training completion, a process for gathering information to evaluate the training programs efficiency that includes dropout and retention rates, and a mechanism to annually assess the need for the training program to continue. The report shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by April 1, 2007.

construction of hospital buildings and buildings described in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 129725, to ensure compliance with applicable safety codes and standards.

has been implemented.