1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to human services; providing an exemption to 
  1.3             the moratorium on nursing home construction; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 144A.071, 
  1.5             subdivision 4c. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  1.8   144A.071, subdivision 4c, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 4c.  [EXCEPTIONS FOR REPLACEMENT BEDS AFTER JUNE 30, 
  1.10  2003.] (a) The commissioner of health, in coordination with the 
  1.11  commissioner of human services, may approve the renovation, 
  1.12  replacement, upgrading, or relocation of a nursing home or 
  1.13  boarding care home, under the following conditions: 
  1.14     (1) to license and certify an 80-bed city-owned facility in 
  1.15  Nicollet County to be constructed on the site of a new 
  1.16  city-owned hospital to replace an existing 85-bed facility 
  1.17  attached to a hospital that is also being replaced.  The 
  1.18  threshold allowed for this project under section 144A.073 shall 
  1.19  be the maximum amount available to pay the additional medical 
  1.20  assistance costs of the new facility; and 
  1.21     (2) to license and certify 29 beds to be added to an 
  1.22  existing 69-bed facility in St. Louis County, provided that the 
  1.23  29 beds must be transferred from active or layaway status at an 
  1.24  existing facility in St. Louis County that had 235 beds on April 
  1.25  1, 2003. 
  2.1   The licensed capacity at the 235-bed facility must be reduced to 
  2.2   206 beds, but the payment rate at that facility shall not be 
  2.3   adjusted as a result of this transfer.  The operating payment 
  2.4   rate of the facility adding beds after completion of this 
  2.5   project shall be the same as it was on the day prior to the day 
  2.6   the beds are licensed and certified.  This project shall not 
  2.7   proceed unless it is approved and financed under the provisions 
  2.8   of section 144A.073; and 
  2.9      (3) to license and certify a new 60-bed facility in Austin, 
  2.10  provided that: 
  2.11     (i) 45 of the new beds are transferred from a 45-bed 
  2.12  facility in Austin under common ownership that is closed, and 15 
  2.13  of the new beds are transferred from a 182-bed facility in 
  2.14  Albert Lea under common ownership; 
  2.15     (ii) the commissioner of human services is authorized by 
  2.16  the 2004 legislature to negotiate budget-neutral planned nursing 
  2.17  facility closures; and 
  2.18     (iii) money is available from planned closures of 
  2.19  facilities under common ownership to make implementation of this 
  2.20  clause budget-neutral to the state.  
  2.21     The bed capacity of the Albert Lea facility shall be 
  2.22  reduced to 167 beds following the transfer.  Of the 60 beds at 
  2.23  the new facility, 20 beds shall be used for a special care unit 
  2.24  for persons with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. 
  2.25     (b) Projects approved under this subdivision shall be 
  2.26  treated in a manner equivalent to projects approved under 
  2.27  subdivision 4a.