(a) (1) For the duties the department imposes on a group home administrator or short-term residential therapeutic program administrator in this chapter and in regulations adopted by the department, every group home and short-term residential therapeutic program shall state in its plan of operation, the number of hours per week that the administrator shall spend completing those duties and how the group home administrator or short-term residential therapeutic program administrator shall accomplish those duties, including use of support personnel.

(2) For initial applicants, the information in paragraph (1) shall be contained in the plan of operation submitted to the department in the application.

(3) For current licensees, the licensee shall submit an amended plan of operation that contains the information required by paragraph (1) within six months of the effective date of this section. For changes in the group home administrator duties imposed by the department in this chapter or in regulations, a current licensee shall have six months after the effective date of those duties to submit an amended plan of operation to reflect the new administrator duties.

(b) (1) The department may review a group home’s or short-term residential therapeutic program’s plan of operation to determine if the plan of operation is sufficient to ensure that the facility will operate in compliance with applicable licensing laws and regulations. As part of the review, the department may request that a peer review panel review the plan of operation for a group home as prescribed in paragraph (2), or for a short-term residential therapeutic program as prescribed in paragraph (3).

(2) The peer review panel shall consist of two representatives from the department, including one from the unit that governs programs and one from the unit that governs licensing, a qualified group home administrator, an experienced group home provider in good standing, and a member or members from the placement agency or agencies that place children in group homes, and may also include the local county behavioral health department, as appropriate.

(3) The peer review panel shall consist of two representatives from the department, including one from the unit that governs programs and one from the unit that governs licensing, a qualified short-term residential therapeutic program administrator, a short-term residential therapeutic program provider in good standing, and a member or members from the placement agency or agencies that place children in short-term residential therapeutic programs, and may also include the local county behavioral health department, as appropriate.

(c) A group home or short-term residential therapeutic program shall develop a daily schedule of activities for the children at the facility. The facility shall have this schedule available for inspection by the department. The activities in which the children are scheduled to participate shall be designed to meet the needs of the individual child, and shall be based on that child’s needs and services plan.

(d) The department shall establish a process, no later than January 1, 2017, for convening the peer review panel as set forth in subdivision (b) for review of the plans of operation for short-term residential therapeutic programs, and shall develop this process in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, Chief Probation Officers of California, County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, and stakeholders.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 612, Sec. 33. (AB 1997) Effective January 1, 2017.)