Ducey vetoes bill to maintain care home board, wants ADHS to take over

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wants to overhaul oversight of the state’s long-term care homes, vetoing a bill Monday that would have reauthorized a board that’s been regulating the facilities.

Ducey wants to dissolve the Board of Examiners of Nursing Care Institution Administrators and Assisted Living Facility Managers and move its authority to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The move comes on the heels of an Arizona Republic investigation into how the board functioned.

“The report detailed how the board provided a license to an individual convicted of a felony for fraud,” Ducey wrote in his veto letter of Senate Bill 1282, which would have kept the board in place through July 2029.

“Additionally, the board did not investigate and adjudicate complaints in a timely manner and failed to provide accurate information to the public. The board has also failed to ensure that all applicants meet background check criteria.”

The newspaper report was published online April 22, after the Arizona Senate passed the bill unanimously on Feb. 18 but before the House approved it with bipartisan support, 51-8, on April 26.

Ducey said in his letter that negotiations are underway on legislation to transfer oversight of nursing care institution administrators and assisted living facility managers to ADHS.

“It’s time for accountability and new leadership to supervise these facilities,” he wrote.

“Our seniors — these are our grandmothers and grandfathers — deserve nothing less.”

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