§ 4602. Continuing care retirement community council; powers and
duties. 1. The continuing care retirement community council is hereby
established, to consist of the following, or their designees: the
attorney general; the commissioner; the director of the office for the
aging; and eight public members appointed by the governor with the
advice and consent of the senate. Such public members shall be
representative of the public, and have a demonstrated expertise or
interest in continuing care retirement communities; provided that no
more than one such member shall be a sponsor, owner, operator, manager,
member of a board of directors, or shareholder of a continuing care
retirement community. At least two public members shall be residents of
a continuing care retirement community. At least one of the public
members shall be a representative of an organization with demonstrated
experience in representing the interests of senior citizens. The public
members of the council shall have fixed terms of four years. The council
shall be chaired by the commissioner or his or her designee.

Members of such council shall serve without compensation for their
services as members of the council, except that each of them may be
allowed the necessary and actual expenses which he shall incur in the
performance of his duties under this article.

2. The council shall meet as often as may be deemed necessary to
fulfill its responsibilities. The council shall have the following
powers and duties:

a. to approve or reject applications to obtain a certificate of
authority for the establishment and operation of a continuing care
retirement community. In reviewing applications, the council shall
consider the extent to which the applications reflect various
sponsorships, organizational structures, geographic dispersion, and the
public benefit. In determining the public benefit of a community
requiring construction of a total nursing facility component greater
than or equal to ninety beds, the council shall obtain and consider the
recommendation of the state hospital review and planning council with
regard to the effect of the construction of the community's nursing
facility beds upon existing facilities in the same geographic area;

b. to require the reporting of such facts and information as the
council may deem necessary to enforce the provisions of this article;

c. to coordinate the oversight of operating communities and to assign
review and regulatory responsibility for particular aspects of such
communities to the appropriate agencies, consistent with their legal
authority, to assure consistent state supervision without duplication of
inspection or regulatory review;

d. to make such recommendations to the governor and the legislature as
may be necessary to encourage or further regulate the development of
continuing care retirement communities;

e. to establish and charge equitable and reasonable annual charges for
operators, not to exceed fifty dollars per approved living unit, to
subsidize, in part, expenditures incurred in reviewing applications for
certificates of authority and in inspecting, regulating, supervising and
auditing continuing care retirement communities;

f. to review reports from the participating agencies regarding the
operations and financial management of approved communities, including
any reports regarding the financial condition of any community that may
be in need of close supervision and any reports of deficiencies in the
provision of health or social services to residents of any community;

g. to adopt rules and regulations and amendments thereto to effectuate
the provisions of this article;

h. to revoke, suspend, limit, or annul a certificate of authority
under conditions set forth in section forty-six hundred fifteen of this
article, including when such action is taken at the specific request of
any participating council agency. When action has been taken by the
commissioner pursuant to subdivision seven of section forty-six hundred
three of this article, the council shall meet as soon as reasonably
possible to approve or disapprove the action of the commissioner and
shall take such further action as may be appropriate;

i. to develop guidelines for applications for certificates of
authority;

j. to make a final determination regarding an application for
authorization to enter into priority reservation agreements where the
commissioner has proposed to reject such application;

k. to require the reporting of such facts and information as the
council may deem necessary to determine whether characteristics of
residential health care demonstration facilities such as comprehensive
systems of residential and support services for the elderly may be
successfully incorporated into existing or approved continuing care
retirement communities;

l. to review and approve or reject applications by continuing care
retirement community operators to use entrance fees to assist the
operator in financing the construction or purchase of a proposed
continuing care retirement community in accordance with paragraph b of
subdivision six of section forty-six hundred ten of this article; and

m. to review and approve or reject any proposed financing by
industrial development agencies of continuing care retirement
communities pursuant to article eighteen-A of the general municipal law
as authorized by section forty-six hundred four-a of this article.

3. The council shall establish guidelines under which the commissioner
is authorized to approve or reject any proposed refinancing, if the
council has already approved an application pursuant to paragraph a of
subdivision two of this section.