BILL NO. 65

(as introduced)

2nd Session, 61st General Assembly
Nova Scotia
59 Elizabeth II, 2010

Government Bill

Homes for Special Care Act
(amended)

The Honourable Denise Peterson-Rafuse
Minister of Community Services

First Reading: May 5, 2010

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading: May 6, 2010

Third Reading: May 10, 2010 (WITH COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS) (LINK TO BILL AS PASSED)

Clause 1 lowers the threshold in the definition of residential-care facility from four or more persons to three or more.

Clause 2 adds homes for the disabled and homes for the aged to the facilities requiring a licence to operate.

Clause 3 adds homes for the disabled and homes for the aged to the facilities the Minister may issue licences to.

Clause 4 adds to the list of circumstances that allow the Minister to suspend or cancel a licence.

Clause 5 allows the Minister to appoint a temporary manager or administrator where a licensee's licence has been suspended or cancelled or not re-issued and sets out his or her liability and employment status.

Clause 6 adds regulation-making powers required as a result of the above amendments.

Clause 7 deals with the coming into force of Section 1 of this Act.

1 Clause 2(1)(m) of Chapter 203 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Homes for Special Care Act, is amended by

(a) adding "required to be approved by the Minister" immediately after "place" the second time it appears in the second line; and

(b) striking out "four" in the fourth line and substituting "three".

2 Section 4 of Chapter 203 is amended by adding ", a home for the disabled, a home for the aged" immediately after "facility" in the second and in the third lines.

3 (1) Subsection 5(1) of Chapter 203 is amended by adding ", a home for the disabled, a home for the aged" immediately after "facility" in the second and third lines.

(2) Subsection 5(2) of Chapter 203 is amended by adding ", a home for the disabled, a home for the aged" immediately after "facility" in the third line.

4 Section 7 of Chapter 203 is amended by

(a) striking out "or" at the end of clause (e);

(b) striking out the period at the end of clause (f) and substituting a semicolon; and

(c) adding the following clauses:

(g) the licensee or employee of the licensee does not comply with enactments that apply to it;

(h) the licensee or its administrator has failed to demonstrate that its actions, either direct or indirect, are incidental to the attainment of the objects for which it was incorporated or are within the proper exercise of its powers or conform with its own governance requirements; or

(i) the licensee or its administrator is unable to demonstrate that it has or will exercise sufficient control, either directly or indirectly, over the operations of the licensee, including the care of its residents, its premises, its accommodation, its equipment and its facilities.

8A Sections 8B to 8D do not apply to a residential care facility licensed by the Minister of Health, a home for the aged or a nursing home.

8B The Minister may appoint such person or persons who shall have such powers and duties prescribed in the regulations to manage and administer or to assist to manage and administer, and generally oversee the operations of a licensee whose license has been suspended, cancelled or not re-issued, until the license is re-instated or re-issued, as the Minister considers necessary.

8C (1) No action or other proceeding for damages or otherwise shall be instituted against the Minister's appointee under Section 8B or any agent of the appointee, as a result of any act done in good faith in the performance or intended performance of any duty under this Act or in the exercise or intended exercise of any power and duty under this Act, or of any neglect or default in the performance or exercise in good faith of such power or duty.

(2) Subsection (1) does not relieve the Crown of any liability under the Proceedings Against the Crown Act.

(3) Neither the Crown nor the Minister's appointee shall be liable for any actions of a licensee taken during the period before the appointment under Section 8A or attributable to that period.

8D Neither the appointment by the Minister under Section 8B, the operation and management of the facility by the appointee nor the ceasing of that operation and management is a merger, amalgamation or transfer of jurisdiction for the purpose of Section 31 of the Trade Union Act.

(wa) respecting the powers and duties of a person appointed pursuant to Section 8B;

(wb) respecting matters that a person appointed pursuant to Section 8B must consider in exercising the person's powers and duties;

(wc) respecting the services and scope of the services to be provided by a person appointed pursuant to Section 8B and any conditions that apply to the exercise of the person's discretion in the scope of the services to be provided;