Section 4648.12.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that under federal and state law, certain individuals and entities are ineligible to provide Medicaid services.

(b) An individual, partnership, group association, corporation, institution, or entity, and the officers, directors, owners, managing employees, or agents thereof, that has been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor involving fraud or abuse in any government program, or related to neglect or abuse of an elder or dependent adult or child, or in connection with the interference with, or obstruction of, any investigation into health care related fraud or abuse, or that has been found liable for fraud or abuse in any civil proceeding, or that has entered into a settlement in lieu of conviction for fraud or abuse in any government program, within the previous 10 years, shall be ineligible to be a regional center vendor. The regional center shall not deny vendorization to an otherwise qualified applicant whose felony or misdemeanor charges did not result in a conviction solely on the basis of the prior charges.

(c) In order to ensure compliance with federal disclosure requirements and to preserve federal funding of consumer services, the department shall do all of the following:

(1) (A) Adopt emergency regulations to amend provider and vendor eligibility and disclosure criteria to meet federal participation requirements. These emergency regulations shall address, at a minimum, disclosure requirements of current and prospective vendors, including information about entity ownership and control, contracting interests, and criminal convictions or civil proceedings involving fraud or abuse in any government program, or abuse or neglect of an elder, dependent adult, or child.

(B) Adopt emergency regulations to meet federal requirements applicable to vouchered services.

(C) The adoption, amendment, repeal, or readoption of a regulation authorized by this paragraph is deemed to be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare, for purposes of Sections 11346.1 and 11349.9 of the Government Code, and the department is hereby exempted from that requirement. For purposes of subdivision (e) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code, the 120-day period, as applicable to the effective period of an emergency regulatory action and submission of specified materials to the Office of Administrative Law, is hereby extended to 180 days.

(2) Adopt nonemergency regulations to implement the terms of paragraph (1) through the regular rulemaking process pursuant to Sections 11346 and 11349.1 of the Government Code within 18 months of the adoption of emergency regulations pursuant to paragraph (1).

(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 9, Sec. 11. Effective March 24, 2011.)