Section 4602. Continuing care retirement community council; powers and duties

1. The continuing care retirement community council  is  hereby
  established,  to  consist  of  the  following,  or  their designees: the
  attorney general; the commissioner; the superintendent of insurance; the
  director of the office for the aging; and eight public members appointed
  by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate.  Such  public
  members  shall  be representative of the public, and have a demonstrated
  expertise  or  interest  in  continuing  care  retirement   communities;
  provided  that  no  more than one such member shall be a sponsor, owner,
  operator, manager, member of a board of directors, or shareholder  of  a
  continuing  care retirement community. At least two public members shall
  be residents of a continuing care retirement community. At least one  of
  the  public  members  shall  be a representative of an organization with
  demonstrated  experience  in  representing  the  interests   of   senior
  citizens.  The  public  members of the council shall have fixed terms of
  four years. The council shall be chaired by the commissioner or  his  or
  her designee.
    Members  of  such  council  shall serve without compensation for their
  services as members of the council, except that  each  of  them  may  be
  allowed  the  necessary  and actual expenses which he shall incur in the
  performance of his duties under this article.
    2. The council shall meet as often  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  to
  fulfill  its  responsibilities, but in no event less than four times per
  year. The council shall have the following powers and duties:
    a. to approve or  reject  applications  to  obtain  a  certificate  of
  authority  for  the  establishment  and  operation  of a continuing care
  retirement community.  In  reviewing  applications,  the  council  shall
  consider   the   extent   to  which  the  applications  reflect  various
  sponsorships, organizational structures, geographic dispersion, and  the
  public  benefit.  In  determining  the  public  benefit  of  a community
  requiring construction of a total  nursing  facility  component  greater
  than  or equal to ninety beds, the council shall obtain and consider the
  recommendation of the state hospital review and  planning  council  with
  regard  to  the  effect  of  the construction of the community's nursing
  facility beds upon existing facilities in the same geographic area;
    b. to require the reporting of  such  facts  and  information  as  the
  council may deem necessary to enforce the provisions of this article;
    c.  to coordinate the oversight of operating communities and to assign
  review and regulatory responsibility  for  particular  aspects  of  such
  communities  to  the  appropriate  agencies, consistent with their legal
  authority, to assure consistent state supervision without duplication of
  inspection or regulatory review;
    d. to make such recommendations to the governor and the legislature as
  may be necessary to encourage or further  regulate  the  development  of
  continuing care retirement communities;
    e. to establish and charge equitable and reasonable annual charges for
  operators,  not  to  exceed  fifty  dollars per approved living unit, to
  subsidize, in part, expenditures incurred in reviewing applications  for
  certificates of authority and in inspecting, regulating, supervising and
  auditing continuing care retirement communities;
    f.  to  review  reports  from the participating agencies regarding the
  operations and financial management of approved  communities,  including
  any  reports regarding the financial condition of any community that may
  be in need of close supervision and any reports of deficiencies  in  the
  provision of health or social services to residents of any community;
    g. to adopt rules and regulations and amendments thereto to effectuate
  the provisions of this article;

    h.  to  revoke,  suspend,  limit,  or annul a certificate of authority
  under conditions set forth in section forty-six hundred fifteen of  this
  article,  including when such action is taken at the specific request of
  any participating council agency. When action  has  been  taken  by  the
  commissioner  pursuant to subdivision seven of section forty-six hundred
  three of this article, the council shall  meet  as  soon  as  reasonably
  possible  to  approve  or  disapprove the action of the commissioner and
  shall take such further action as may be appropriate;
    i.  to  develop  guidelines  for  applications  for  certificates   of
  authority;
    j.  to  make  a  final  determination  regarding  an  application  for
  authorization to enter into priority reservation  agreements  where  the
  commissioner has proposed to reject such application;
    k.  to  require  the  reporting  of  such facts and information as the
  council may deem  necessary  to  determine  whether  characteristics  of
  residential  health  care demonstration facilities such as comprehensive
  systems of residential and support  services  for  the  elderly  may  be
  successfully  incorporated  into  existing  or  approved continuing care
  retirement communities;
    l. to review and approve or reject  applications  by  continuing  care
  retirement  community  operators  to  use  entrance  fees  to assist the
  operator in  financing  the  construction  or  purchase  of  a  proposed
  continuing  care  retirement community in accordance with paragraph b of
  subdivision six of section forty-six hundred ten of this article; and
    m.  to  review  and  approve  or  reject  any  proposed  financing  by
  industrial   development   agencies   of   continuing   care  retirement
  communities pursuant to article eighteen-A of the general municipal  law
  as authorized by section forty-six hundred four-a of this article.
    3.   The   council   shall   establish   guidelines  under  which  the
  commissioner, with the advice  and  consent  of  the  superintendent  of
  insurance,  is authorized to approve or reject any proposed refinancing,
  if the council has already approved an application pursuant to paragraph
  a of subdivision two of this section.