HF 811

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 03/23/2017 04:33pm

A bill for an act
relating to health; requiring licensure of certain facilities that perform abortions;
requiring a licensing fee; appropriating money; proposing coding for new law in
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 145.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

[145.417] LICENSURE OF CERTAIN FACILITIES THAT PERFORM
ABORTIONS.

Subdivision 1.

License required for facilities that perform ten or more abortions
per month.

(a) A clinic, health center, or other facility in which the pregnancies of ten or
more women known to be pregnant are willfully terminated or aborted each month shall be
licensed by the commissioner of health and, notwithstanding Minnesota Rules, part
4675.0100, subparts 8 and 9, subject to the licensure requirements provided in Minnesota
Rules, chapter 4675. The commissioner shall not require a facility licensed as a hospital or
as an outpatient surgical center, pursuant to sections 144.50 to 144.56, to obtain a separate
license under this section, but may subject these facilities to inspections and investigations
as permitted under subdivision 2.

(b) The commissioner of health, the attorney general, an appropriate county attorney,
or a woman upon whom an abortion has been performed or attempted to be performed at
an unlicensed facility may seek an injunction in district court against the continued operation
of the facility. Proceedings for securing an injunction may be brought by the attorney general
or by the appropriate county attorney.

(c) Sanctions provided in this subdivision do not restrict other available sanctions.

Subd. 2.

Inspections; no notice required.

No more than two times per year, the
commissioner of health shall perform routine and comprehensive inspections and
investigations of facilities described under subdivision 1. Every clinic, health center, or
other facility described under subdivision 1, and any other premise proposed to be conducted
as a facility by an applicant for a license, shall be open at all reasonable times to inspection
authorized in writing by the commissioner of health. No notice need be given to any person
prior to any inspection.

Subd. 3.

Licensure fee.

(a) The annual license fee for facilities required to be licensed
under this section is $3,712.

(b) Fees shall be collected and deposited according to section 144.122.

Subd. 4.

Suspension, revocation, and refusal to renew.

The commissioner of health
may refuse to grant or renew, or may suspend or revoke a license on any of the following
grounds:

(1) violation of any of the provisions of this section or Minnesota Rules, chapter 4675;

(2) permitting, aiding, or abetting the commission of any illegal act in the facility;

(3) conduct or practices detrimental to the welfare of the patient;

(4) obtaining or attempting to obtain a license by fraud or misrepresentation; or

(5) if there is a pattern of conduct that involves one or more physicians in the facility
who have a financial or economic interest in the facility, as defined in section 144.6521,
subdivision 3, and who have not provided notice and disclosure of the financial or economic
interest as required by section 144.6521.

Subd. 5.

Hearing.

Prior to any suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew a license, the
licensee shall be entitled to notice and a hearing as provided by sections 14.57 to 14.69. At
each hearing, the commissioner of health shall have the burden of establishing that a violation
described in subdivision 4 has occurred. If a license is revoked, suspended, or not renewed,
a new application for license may be considered by the commissioner if the conditions upon
which revocation, suspension, or refusal to renew was based have been corrected and
evidence of this fact has been satisfactorily furnished. A new license may be granted after
proper inspection has been made and all provisions of this section and Minnesota Rules,
chapter 4675, have been complied with and a recommendation for licensure has been made
by the commissioner or by an inspector as an agent of the commissioner.

Subd. 6.

Severability.

If any one or more provision, section, subdivision, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word of this section or the application of it to any person or circumstance
is found to be unconstitutional, it is declared to be severable and the balance of this section
shall remain effective notwithstanding such unconstitutionality. The legislature intends that
it would have passed this section, and each provision, section, subdivision, sentence, clause,
phrase, or word, regardless of the fact that any one provision, section, subdivision, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word is declared unconstitutional.

Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION.

$32,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 2018 from the state government special revenue
fund to the commissioner of health for licensing activities under Minnesota Statutes, section
145.417.