(a)  No owner, employee, agent, or consultant of a long-term health care facility, as defined in Section 1418, or member of his or her immediate family, or representative of a public agency or organization operating within the long-term health care facility with state, county, or city authority, or member of his or her immediate family, shall purchase or receive any item or property with a fair market value of more than one hundred dollars ($100) from a resident in the long-term health care facility, unless the purchase or receipt is made or conducted in the presence of a representative of the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 9701 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The role of the ombudsman is to witness the transaction and to question the resident and others as appropriate, about the transaction. The ombudsman may submit written comments pertaining to the transaction into the health records of the resident. The Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman shall establish guidelines concerning activities of ombudsmen pursuant to this section. Additionally, the transaction described in this subdivision shall be recorded by the facility in the health records of the resident. The record of the transaction shall include the name and address of the purchaser, date and location of the transaction, description of property sold, and purchase price. The instrument shall include signatures of the resident, the purchaser, and the witnessing ombudsman.

(b)  Any owner, employee, agent, or consultant of a long-term health care facility, or member of his or her immediate family, or representative of a public agency or organization operating within the long-term health care facility with state, county, or city authority, or member of his or her immediate family, who violates subdivision (a) shall be required to return the item or property he or she purchased to the person from whom it was purchased, if he or she still possesses it. If the employee no longer possesses the item or property, he or she shall pay the person who sold the item or property the fair market value at the time he or she would otherwise be required to return the property.

(c)  Craft items, which are those items made by residents of a long-term health care facility, are exempt from the provisions of this section.

(d)  Any violation of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) which shall be enforced by the Department of Aging. The Department of Aging may bring a cause of action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this subdivision.

(e)  Notwithstanding Section 1290, any person who violates this section is guilty of an infraction and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100).

(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1182, Sec. 1.)