What’s Happening with the New Regulation for Assisted Living Residences?
For the past two years, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has been completely redrafting Chapter 7 of 6 CCR 1011-1 pertaining to Assisted Living Centers. Many of you provided comments on this draft and attended the ALR Advisory Council and Town Hall meetings. The draft is about to be sent to the Board of Health.
There is still an opportunity to have your voice heard.
Here is what happens next and how you can participate:
- Watch for the revised draft: The draft regulation is currently with the Office of Policy Regulation and Development at CDPHE. They are not taking any additional comments at this point, but rather are making changes (or not) based on comments previously received. They expect to post the revised draft on February 8, 2018. You can find it here, probably labeled “Draft 2”.
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- CDPHE will present the draft to the Board of Health in its regular meeting on February 21, 2018 in a “request for rulemaking.”
- Please note that this is not the hearing on the draft regulation. Rather, it is just a formal process that is needed to proceed to a hearing later.
- No testimony will be taken at this meeting, but you can still attend the Board meeting.
- Request for Cost Benefit Analysis: The request for rulemaking must be submitted to the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). DORA then sends out a notice to everyone on its mailing list. Sign up here to be notified.
If you believe there will be a significant negative impact on small business, job creation or economic competitiveness, you may request that DORA require CDPHE to prepare a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rule.
The notice that DORA sends out will give the deadline for submitting the request for cost benefit analysis. To submit the request, you can click here and this will take you to the on-line form. (But don’t make this request until after DORA sends out the notice).
- Send Written Comments to the Board of Health: We don’t know for sure when the Board of Health will hold a hearing on this draft, but the target date is April 18, 2018. Assuming the public hearing is on April 18, 2018, comments can be sent directly to the Board of Health no later than April 11, 2018.
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- Comments are accepted by email or US mail:
Board of Health, A5 – 0100
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
Denver, CO 80246
- What should I say? When you provide written comments, try to be as specific as possible about your concern. State the section or paragraph number and describe why you think that draft language is not advisable, will cause a hardship for your business, isn’t implementable, etc. If you have a solution, include it (e.g. “I suggest that paragraph 6.2 be omitted in its entirety”).
- Attend the Board of Health Meeting on April 18th: You can attend the Board of Health meeting in person or listen via a conference call. Public comments are allowed at the meetings, but the time for comments may be limited to 2 – 5 minutes. Depending on the number of people that sign up, not everyone may be given an opportunity to speak. For this reason, the Board encourages everyone to submit comments in writing.
- To provide feedback at the meeting:
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- Sign up to speak upon arrival to the meeting using the sign-in sheets in the meeting room.
- If called to speak, take a seat at the witness table and adjust the microphone.
- State your name and who you represent and then provide your opinion.
- Additional Tips from the Board:
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- Please prepare. Do not read your remarks; use them as an outline.
- Groups are encouraged to use one spokesperson.
- Please do not repeat points made by previous speakers. Instead, indicate your agreement or disagreement with those points.
- The Board limits duplicative or repetitive testimony.
- Board members may ask questions to gather additional information or clarify your feedback.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Michelle A. Pinkowski, Esq.
Pinkowski Law & Policy Group, LLC
303-803-4309
Disclaimer: This blog is informational only and nothing in this blog should be considered legal advice. If you have a specific legal question about how the new regulation affects your business, please consult your attorney.
