A nursing home safety bill, authored by California Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, passed the Assembly Committee on Health with unanimous support recently. The legislation would establish timelines and procedures for completing an investigation into alleged abuse within a long-term care facility, according to an article on the Daily Democrat website.

The measure was written to address slow, cursory or incomplete investigations of suspected abuse.

Earlier this month, the California Legislature's Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved a request submitted by Yamada to audit the Department of Public Health's Licensing and Certification Division's regulation of long-term care facilities.

Yamada co-chaired a joint oversight hearing with the Assembly Committee on Health which revealed thousands of backlogged complaints that have languished for years with incomplete investigations, leaving unanswered questions about safety concerns in long-term care facilities, and the effectiveness of the state's safety enforcement apparatus, the article said.

Read the article.