§ 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 18-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.