BILL NUMBER: SB 529	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Correa

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to add Section 9113.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to seniors.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 529, as introduced, Correa. Seniors: community-based services:
long-term care strategic plan.
   Under existing law, the California Department of Aging administers
various community-based programs for seniors, including adult day
health care programs, the Multipurpose Senior Services Program,
linkages, and home-delivered meals. Existing law identifies the
mission of the department to provide leadership to the area agencies
on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services
that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive
homelike environments.
   This bill would require the department, in consultation with the
California Commission on Aging, the area agencies on aging, and the
Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, to develop a long-term
care strategic plan, as specified, to provide guidance and temporary
funding for community-based programs that serve seniors. The bill
would require the department to submit the plan to the Legislature by
July 1, 2012.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 9113.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   9113.5.  (a) The department, in consultation with the California
Commission on Aging, the area agencies on aging, and the Office of
the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, shall develop a strategic plan to
provide guidance and temporary funding for community-based programs
that serve seniors, in accordance with this section. The department
shall submit the strategic plan to the Legislature by July 1, 2012.
   (b) The strategic plan shall address all of the following:
   (1) Goals for the state's long-term care system, and statutory and
program changes and actions that will be required to achieve those
goals, including, but not limited to, the establishment of one or
more community-based pilot projects.
   (2) Selection of an appropriate agency to manage the process of
guiding future decisions regarding long-term care, including
appropriate staffing requirements and timelines.
   (3) Services and supports that will make it possible for
individuals with advanced age or disabilities to remain in their
communities and avoid unnecessary institutionalization.
   (4) Short-term, medium-range, and long-term programs recommended
by in the November 2009 final report "Home and Community-Based
Long-Term Care: Recommendations to Improve Access for Californians,"
prepared for the California Health and Human Services Agency and
California Community Choices.
   (5) The feasibility of enacting a bond measure to provide the
cashflow necessary for a limited period to restore programs that have
been decimated by recent budget cuts, are a means to resolve
immediate funding problems, and facilitate establishment of a
foundation for future long-term care cost reductions.
   (c) (1) The requirement for submitting the strategic plan imposed
under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2016, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
   (2) The strategic plan required to be submitted pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of
the Government Code.