1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health; modifying provisions of licensed 
  1.3             beds on layaway status; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.4             2000, section 144A.071, subdivision 4b. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 144A.071, 
  1.7   subdivision 4b, is amended to read: 
  1.8      Subd. 4b.  [LICENSED BEDS ON LAYAWAY STATUS.] A licensed 
  1.9   and certified nursing facility may lay away, upon prior written 
  1.10  notice to the commissioner of health, up to 50 percent of its 
  1.11  licensed and certified beds.  A nursing facility may not 
  1.12  discharge a resident in order to lay away a bed.  Notice to the 
  1.13  commissioner shall be given 60 days prior to the effective date 
  1.14  of the layaway.  Beds on layaway shall have the same status as 
  1.15  voluntarily delicensed and decertified beds and shall not be 
  1.16  subject to license fees and license surcharge fees.  In 
  1.17  addition, beds on layaway may be removed from layaway at any 
  1.18  time on or after one year after the effective date of layaway in 
  1.19  the facility of origin, with a 60-day notice to the 
  1.20  commissioner.  A nursing facility that removes beds from layaway 
  1.21  may not place beds on layaway status for one year after the 
  1.22  effective date of the removal from layaway.  The commissioner 
  1.23  may approve the immediate removal of beds from layaway if 
  1.24  necessary to provide access to those nursing home beds to 
  1.25  residents relocated from other nursing homes due to emergency 
  2.1   situations or closure.  In the event approval is granted, the 
  2.2   one-year restriction on placing beds on layaway after a removal 
  2.3   of beds from layaway shall not apply.  Beds may remain on 
  2.4   layaway for up to five years.  The commissioner may approve 
  2.5   placing and removing beds on layaway at any time during 
  2.6   renovation or construction related to a moratorium project 
  2.7   approved under this section or section 144A.073.