BILL NUMBER: AJR 6 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 92
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 2009
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall
(Principal coauthor: Senator Liu)
FEBRUARY 18, 2009
Relative to elder citizens.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 6, Beall. Elder Economic Security Standard Index.
This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States to ensure economic security for all elders by
taking several actions, including ensuring that federal policies and
programs enable all elders and their families to meet their basic
needs and using the Elder Economic Security Standard Index to
modernize all federal poverty measures and guidelines, recalculate
the number and demographic profile of elders whose basic needs are
not being met, and evaluate the impact of public supports and any
current or new federal initiatives to help elders age in place.
WHEREAS, The United States Census Bureau projects that the
population of people 65 years of age and older is expected to more
than double from the year 2000 to the year 2030, both nationally and
in California. People 65 years of age and older comprised 10.6
percent of California's population in 2000 but will be 11.5 percent
of the state's population by 2010, and 17.8 percent in 2030; and
WHEREAS, There are 75 million baby boomers, 42 to 60 years of age,
inclusive, and the oldest members of this generation will reach 65
years of age in less than five years. According to the 2005
Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit
Research Institute, "By 2030, when all baby boomers have retired,
retirees will have at least $45 billion less in retirement income
than they need to cover basic living and health expenses." Coupled
with the current financial crisis that has erased tens of billions
more from their retirement accounts, it is, therefore, in the best
interest of the nation, the state, and our economy to ensure that
California's elders have enough income to meet their basic needs and
maintain their independence in the community; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Health and Human Services
uses the Federal Poverty Guidelines as a benchmark to determine
eligibility for public assistance programs, and the Federal Poverty
Guidelines are derived from the United States Census Bureau's Federal
Poverty Thresholds, which are used to determine poverty rates. In
2008, the Federal Poverty Guidelines were $10,400 for a one-person
household and $14,000 for a two-person household. In 2007, the
official poverty rate for the total population was 12.5 percent,
according to the most recent calculation by the United States Census
Bureau; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Poverty Guidelines are an inadequate and
antiquated measurement tool that uses a nearly 50-year-old
methodology. The method is based solely on one expense: food. It also
inaccurately assumes that households today still spend one-third of
their income on food when in fact the United States Department of
Agriculture states the number is actually one-tenth, or 10 percent.
Instead of food, households spend closer to one-third of their budget
on housing (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer
Expenditure Survey). The Federal Poverty Thresholds exclude the
actual costs of housing, health care, transportation, and other
essential services. Although updated annually using the Consumer
Price Index, the Federal Poverty Thresholds are calculated in the
exact same way today, in 2009, as they were in 1962. According to a
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, no other economic statistic
in use today relies on such antiquated methods. Moreover, this
"one-size-fits-all" measurement tool does not take into account
factors such as the significant variation in the cost of living
across the states, counties, and cities, or the ages of household
members; and
WHEREAS, Despite these significant shortcomings in the underlying
data and methodology, the Federal Poverty Guidelines continue to be
used to determine eligibility for 82 different state and federal
programs, and are used by state and federal policymakers as a
benchmark to determine funding allocations to local communities, and
to justify cuts to public benefits. Without a precise poverty
measurement tool, policy and fiscal decisions intended to tackle
poverty will continue to be imprecise; and
WHEREAS, Many of California's elders often do not receive any
public assistance because their incomes are just above the official
Federal Poverty Guidelines, and are therefore forced to make
untenable choices among basic needs, such as choices between eating
three meals a day, foregoing medications, or paying for shelter. Most
of these elders have worked hard all of their lives, yet still
struggle to pay their bills and live with dignity and economic
security in their later years. Although often described as "falling
through the cracks," this group is neither small nor marginal, as
that phrase suggests, but rather, it is a substantial proportion of
California's aging community; and
WHEREAS, Using the antiquated Federal Poverty Threshold, the
United States Census Bureau reports that, for 2006, only 7.9 percent
(295,000) of California's elders live below the official poverty
level. This is a significant underestimate of the numbers of
Californians 65 years of age and older who do not have enough to
adequately cover their most basic needs. A recent study conducted by
the University of California, Los Angeles, in collaboration with the
Insight Center for Community Economic Development, found that
approximately 47 percent (1.76 million) of California's elders 65
years of age and older do not have enough income to adequately cover
their most basic needs, including food, shelter, medicine, and
transportation, the study documents that approximately 40 percent
(1.46 million) of California's elders "fall through the cracks"
because they have incomes above the official Federal Poverty
Thresholds but below what they actually need to make ends meet in
today's economy; and
WHEREAS, A more sophisticated and updated 21st century calculation
of poverty would provide a more accurate picture of the true
economic needs of elders and their families; and
WHEREAS, The Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index)
provides such a measure. Calculated by the University of California,
Los Angeles, in partnership with the Insight Center for Community
Economic Development, Wider Opportunities for Women, and the
Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, the
new Elder Index quantifies the actual costs elders, 65 years of age
and older, face in meeting all of their basic needs including food,
shelter, health care, transportation, utilities, and essential
household items, in the private market; and
WHEREAS, The Elder Index is specific to the costs that elders
face. It factors in state and local differences in the cost of
living, as well as an elder's housing situation and health care
needs; and
WHEREAS, The Elder Index serves as the guiding tool for
broad-based planning, evaluation, research, advocacy, and outreach at
the national, state, and local levels. By 2012, each county in every
state across the nation will have a customized Elder Index. Among
the current five pilot states using the Elder Index, the State of
Massachusetts is already using it for planning, programming, and
increasing the asset limits for Medicaid home and community-based
services from $2,000 to $10,000. The Pennsylvania Department of
Aging, Illinois Congressional Representative Jan Schakowsky, and
former Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch have also
endorsed the Elder Index in their respective states; and
WHEREAS, A more accurate calculation of the poverty rate among
elders will result in a more targeted distribution of federal funding
to states to support elders, more effective programs, and strategic
planning; and
WHEREAS, An updated measure would greatly assist in California and
national efforts to promote economic security and eventually
eradicate poverty; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes
the President and the Congress of the United States to help ensure
economic security for all elders; and be it further
Resolved, That the President and the Congress of the United States
do all of the following:
(1) Ensure that federal policies and programs enable all elders
and their families to meet their basic needs.
(2) Use the nationally recognized Elder Economic Security Standard
Index to modernize all federal poverty measures and guidelines
impacting elders and, by doing so, develop a more accurate measure of
economic need among elders in the United States.
(3) Use the Elder Economic Security Standard Index to recalculate
the number and demographic profile of elders whose basic needs are
not being met.
(4) Use the Elder Economic Security Standard Index to evaluate the
impact of public supports and any current or new federal initiatives
to help elders age in place; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority
Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States.