BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: AB 138
A
AUTHOR: Beall
B
VERSION: June 15, 2011
HEARING DATE: June 28, 2011
1
FISCAL: Appropriations
3
8
CONSULTANT:
Hailey
SUBJECT
Elder Economic Planning Act of 2011
SUMMARY
Requires the California Department of Aging and Area
Agencies on Aging (AAAs) to utilize the Elder Economic
Security Standard Index in their service planning.
ABSTRACT
Existing federal law:
1.Establishes the federal Older Americans Act, which
provides a national network of state units on aging and
AAAs to deliver home and community-based programs for
older adults. Programs include nutrition,
transportation, information and assistance, elder abuse
prevention, and caregiver support.
2.Establishes, under the federal Older Americans Act, the
Senior Community Service Employment Program, to provide
low-income seniors with useful work experience at
community service agencies, and increase economic
self-sufficiency and placement into unsubsidized
employment.
Continued---
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3.Requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Services to update, at least annually, the poverty
guidelines, which shall be used as an eligibility
criterion for federal programs, as specified.
Existing state law:
1.Establishes the Older Californians Act, which provides
state-funded programs and services for older adults and
people with disabilities.
2.Establishes California Department of Aging as the state
unit on aging to administer a broad range of home and
community-based programs and provide leadership to the
AAAs in developing systems of home and community-based
services that maintain individuals in their own homes or
least restrictive homelike environments. Requires the
department to develop minimum standards for service
delivery to ensure that programs meet consumer needs,
operate in a cost-effective manner, and preserve the
independence and dignity of aging Californians.
3.Establishes the AAAs as the entities that provide for
and/or deliver services under the Older Americans Act,
the Older Californians Act, and other funding sources at
the local level. Requires each AAA to create a plan that
considers available data and population trends, assesses
the needs for services reflective of the community needs,
identifies sources of funding for those services, and
develops and implements a plan for the delivery of those
services based on the community's needs.
4.Requires AAAs, in fulfilling their mission, to build upon
the resources unique to each community and be guided by a
description of a community-based system that includes the
assurance that all services are readily accessible to all
older adults, involves a collaborative decision-making
process, and offers special help or targeted resources
for the most vulnerable older individuals, and those in
danger of losing their independence.
5.Requires the department to develop a state plan on aging
according to federal law, which requires a state plan to
be submitted to the federal Administration on Aging every
four years, based upon the local area plans.
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This bill:
1.Defines the Elder Economic Security Standard Index as an
index, available on the Internet, that quantifies the
costs for meeting the basic needs of elders, including,
food, shelter, health care, transportation, and
utilities, in the private market. Specifies that it is
updated by the University of California, Los Angeles
Center for Health Policy Research, using publicly
available data sources on the costs to live in each
county of the state.
2.Requires the department to report the elder index data
for each service area in its state plan, if the elder
index is updated and made available to the department.
3.Requires each area plan developed by an AAA to use the
elder index and specify the costs of meeting basic needs
for elders in each planning and service area and identify
which elders are living at or below the elder index, if
the elder index is updated and made available to the AAA.
4.Requires AAAs to use the elder index to track the
progress of participants in the state-administered Senior
Community Service Employment Program, if the elder index
is updated and made available to the AAA.
5.Establishes, through the provisions above, the Elder
Economic Planning Act of 2011, and specifies that nothing
in the act shall be construed to mandate changes in the
current funding allocations to AAAs or, based on the use of
the elder index, affect means-tested programs administered
through the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, no
direct fiscal impact to the California Department of Aging
to administer the elder index if the data and analysis is
provided by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
The analysis also notes unknown, likely minor
administrative savings to AAAs to the extent that use of
the elder index reduces duplicative planning efforts and
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increases the reliability of quantitative analyses of local
information.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis adds this
comment:
While this bill clearly states that nothing in the
bill shall be construed to mandate changes in means
tested programs or in the current funding
allocations, applying the Elder Index as a standard
measure for planning purposes would likely bring tens
of millions of dollars in cost pressure to bear on
these programs because under that measure
approximately one-half of the seniors in California
fall below the specified economic security threshold.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Author's statement
The author states that California's elder population is
poorly planned for largely because federal law requires the
state to measure senior economic health using the federal
poverty level. The author notes that the federal poverty
level is a 50-year-old measure based solely on the cost of
food, and does not account for California's wide range in
cost of living-from lower-cost Modoc County to higher-cost
Los Angeles. The author states that, as a result of using
the federal poverty level, agencies perform costly and
inefficient research to determine the true cost of living
in their geographic area, with no consistent standard
across the state.
The author asserts that the elder index reflects whether a
senior owns or rents his or her home and the cost of
transportation, health care, and out-of-pocket expenses.
Because it is calculated for each county in California, the
author believes the elder index presents a more accurate
picture of a California senior's basic needs, and "the
practical effect of using the index is that planners will
have a more accurate picture from which to base policy
decisions.
Federal poverty guidelines and the elder index
Policymakers typically measure poverty and determine benefits
eligibility by using the federal poverty guidelines, a 1963
measure based on the cost of an economy food diet. Although
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the guidelines (sometimes loosely referred to as the federal
poverty level) is updated annually using the consumer price
index, the current guideline uses the same dollar amount
($10,890 for an individual living alone) whether one lives in
a high-cost or a low-cost state or region.
The elder index is based on the cost in each county of the
basic expenses needed by older adults. Those with incomes
below the elder index are considered economically insecure.
The elder index methodology was developed by the Gerontology
Institute at UMass-Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women,
and refined and adapted to California by the UCLA Center for
Health Policy Research. It uses national and state data
sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to the elder index, in California, the federal
poverty guideline covers less than half of the basic costs
experienced by older adults. According to a brief
published by UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, in
collaboration with the Insight Center, 495,000 older
Californians living alone in 2007 could not make ends meet
- lacking sufficient income to pay for a minimum level of
housing, food, health care, transportation and other basic
expenses. The elder index and related research show that,
in addition to urban and coastal areas, older adults in
rural counties face significant economic challenges as
well. For example, Imperial County has the highest
percentage of single older adults with incomes below the
elder index benchmark (67.1 percent), while San Francisco
County has the next highest percentage, with 61.3 percent
of older adults living alone with incomes below the elder
index.
Local and state plans on aging
California has 33 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) that
provide a wide range of services designed to keep older
adults and adults with disabilities independent and living
in their own homes and communities. To ensure that
programs and services funded by the AAA adequately serve
the older adults within each community, AAAs are required
to conduct a needs assessment every four years to document
the service needs of community residents and any gaps in
the service network. The needs assessment process
typically includes a community-wide survey, community
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meetings, and information received from stakeholders and
key informants. California Code of Regulations (Title 22,
Division 1.8, Chapter 3, Article 3) requires that each
needs assessment include all of the following: the target
populations, the types of existing and potential needs of
older individuals in the community, the services or
resources that currently are available, as well as any
constraints (waiting lists, geographic limitations,
quality), an estimate of unmet needs or barriers to access,
demographic information, and data from other agencies. The
information received through the needs assessment process
guides the AAA in identifying the service priorities for
the area plan.
Every four years, federal law requires the California
Department of Aging to submit a state plan on aging to the
federal Administration on Aging. After the plan's
approval, the department receives federal funds to
administer the state plan. Beyond the minimum required
information, California's 2009-2013 state plan on aging
addresses key socio-demographic factors that will shape
funding needs and priorities, unmet needs and promising
practices identified by the department and the AAAs, and
the department's objectives in working with the AAAs to
provide cost-effective, high quality services to
California's older adults and their informal caregivers.
Programs and services administered by the department and
the AAAs do not require means-testing for eligibility;
however, the Older Americans Act requires preference to be
given to older adults with the greatest economic or social
needs, with particular attention given to low-income
minority individuals. To meet the federal requirements,
the department and AAAs track data, including poverty data,
on the number of older adults and people with disabilities
within a given planning and service area, but enrollment in
programs is not restricted to those who fall below a
certain threshold, with the exception of programs that use
Medi-Cal funds.
Senior Community Service Employment Program
According to the department's Web site, the Senior
Community Service Employment Program provides part-time
work-based training opportunities at local community
service agencies for older workers who have poor employment
prospects and assists with the transition of individuals to
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private or other employment opportunities in the community.
The program provides a variety of supportive services to
the individual such as personal and job-related counseling,
job training, and job referral. Individuals who
participate in the program must be residents of California,
be at least 55 years of age, and have an income that does
not exceed 125 percent of the federal poverty level ($1,135
per month/$13,610 annual). Some income sources may be
excluded, and other factors may affect an individual's
eligibility. The program is available through 17 of the 33
AAAs and eight national organizations.
Related/prior legislation
AB 2114 (Beall) of 2010 required the Department of Aging
and the AAA to use the elder index in their planning. Held
in the Senate Appropriations Committeee.
AB 324 (Beall) of 2009 was substantially similar to this
bill in requiring the Department of Aging and AAAs to
utilize the elder index in their service planning. Vetoed
by the governor.
The governor's veto message stated:
While I appreciate the author and sponsors' interest
in better refining their planning and service levels
for the seniors in their communities, this bill is
unnecessary. Local agencies can already use the
specific index defined by this bill in their planning
efforts. Furthermore, this bill would create General
Fund cost pressures at a time when there is no ability
to increase service levels.
Assembly votes
Floor: 51-27
Appropriations: 12-5
Aging and Long-Term Care: 4-2
COMMENTS
1.Senior Community Service Employment Program. While this
bill requires AAAs to use the elder index to track
participant progress and outcomes in the Senior Community
Service Employment Program, it does not require programs
operated by national organizations to do so.
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2.Use of the index is already voluntary. California's 33
AAAs can already use the index in planning. If they find
it useful, AAAs will use it. The committee may wish to
ask the author what is gained by requiring every AAA to
utilize the index.
POSITIONS
Support: AARP California (sponsor)
California Association of Area Agencies on Aging
(sponsor)
ElderHelp of San Diego (sponsor)
Insight Center for Community Economic Development
(sponsor)
Senior Community Centers (sponsor)
Advisory Council on Aging
Aging Services Collaborative of Santa Clara
County
Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Association of Public Authorities for
IHSS
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Commission on Aging
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Food Policy Advocates
California School Employees Association
California Senior Leaders Alliance
Catholic Charities of California United
City and County of San Francisco
City of Culver City
Community Living Campaign
Congress of California Seniors
Contra Costa County Advisory Council on Aging
County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
County Welfare Directors Association
Experience Corps Bay Area
Filipino American Service Group Inc.
George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers,
Inc.
Gray Panthers
Gray Panthers, Berkeley/East Bay
Greenlining Institute
Humboldt State University
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In-Home Supportive Services Consortium
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
Korean Health Education and Information Research
Center
National Association of Social Worker s-
California Chapter
National Gray Panthers
Older Women's League - California
Older Women's League - Sacramento Capitol Chapter
Professional Fiduciary Association of California
San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council Inc.
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Wider Opportunities for Women
Women's Foundation of CA
2 individuals
Oppose:None received
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