A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require multiunit Assisted housing with services (MAHS) PRograms to register annually with the division of Health service regulation and to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to establish certain fees, as recommended by the study commission on aging.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 131D‑2(a)(7a) reads as rewritten:
"(7a)	Effective July 1, 1996, "multiunit assisted housing with services" means an assisted living residence in which hands‑on personal care services and nursing services which are arranged by housing management are provided by a licensed home care or hospice agency, through an individualized written care plan. The housing management has a financial interest or financial affiliation or formal written agreement which makes personal care services accessible and available through at least one licensed home care or hospice agency. The resident has a choice of any provider, and the housing management may not combine charges for housing and personal care services. All residents, or their compensatory agents, must be capable, through informed consent, of entering into a contract and must not be in need of 24‑hour supervision. Assistance with self‑administration of medications may be provided by appropriately trained staff when delegated by a licensed nurse according to the home care agency's established plan of care. Multiunit assisted housing with services programs are required to register annually with the Division of Health Service  Regulation. The Department shall charge each registered multiunit assisted housing with services program a nonrefundable annual registration fee of three hundred and fifty dollars ($350.00). Any individual or corporation that establishes, conducts, manages, or operates a multiunit housing with services program, subject to registration under this section, that fails to register is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punishable only by a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for the first offense and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each subsequent offense. Each day of a continuing violation after conviction shall be considered a separate offense. Multiunit assisted housing with services programs are required to provide a disclosure statement to the Division of Health Service Regulation. The disclosure statement is required to be a part of the annual rental contract that includes a description of the following requirements:
a.	Emergency response system;
b.	Charges for services offered;
c.	Limitations of tenancy;
d.	Limitations of services;
e.	Resident responsibilities;
f.	Financial/legal relationship between housing management and home care or hospice agencies;
g.	A listing of all home care or hospice agencies and other community services in the area;
h.	An appeals process; and
i.	Procedures for required initial and annual resident screening and referrals for services.
Continuing care retirement communities, subject to regulation by the Department of Insurance under Chapter 58 of the General Statutes, are exempt from the regulatory requirements for multiunit assisted housing with services programs."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective January 1, 2010.