BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 38|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 38
Author: Brown (D), et al.
Amended: 9/1/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/9/15
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Read and adopted, 5/7/15
SUBJECT: California Task Force on Family Caregiving
SOURCE: AARP
Association of California Caregiver Resource Centers
DIGEST: This bill establishes a task force on family
caregiving with 12 members appointed by the Senate and Assembly.
The task force will be required to consider issues relating to
family caregivers and report to the Legislature on those issues.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Enacts, through federal law, the Older Americans Act of 1965,
administered at the state level by California Department of
Aging which contracts with a network of 33 Area Agencies on
Aging intended to coordinate and directly manage various state
and federal services for older Californians, including the
Family Caregiver Support Program, for family and other unpaid
caregivers supporting older individuals. (42 U.S. Code,
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Chapter 35)
2)Enacts the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act establishing
the California Department of Aging, appointing it with various
duties, including the development of the federally mandated
State Plan on Aging. (WIC 9000 et seq.)
3)Establishes the California Commission on Aging (CCoA)
consisting of 25 volunteer commissioners appointed to
three-year terms by the Governor (19 positions), the Speaker
of the Assembly (three positions), and the Senate Rules
Committee (three positions). Further establishes legislative
intent that the CCoA be the coordinating agency of all
programs for the aging in this state, except those programs
designated elsewhere by the Governor or Legislature. (WIC 9200
et seq.)
4)Establishes the Olmstead Advisory Committee in response to the
U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead v. L.C. decision. A
responsibility of the Committee is to develop a state Olmstead
Plan prescribing actions the state may take in order to comply
with the Olmstead decision. (WIC 14181 and Executive Order
S-18-04)
5)Requires the California Health and Human Services Agency
(CHHS) to prepare a Long Range Strategic Plan on Aging by July
of 2003, and consult or seek the advice of CCoA in the
development of this strategic plan. Existing statute provided
an appropriation to the University of California to undertake
a survey of existing resources and gaps in California's
long-term care system and to establish a longitudinal database
to inform the report. As mandated, CHHS prepared a 258-page
report in 2003 entitled "Strategic Plan for An Aging
California Population." (WIC 9101.5)
6)Establishes Caregiver Resource Centers (CRCs) for the purpose
of delivering services to and advocating for caregivers of
cognitively impaired adults, including providing specialized
information, family consultation and professional support,
respite care, short-term counseling, support groups, legal and
financial consultation, and education and training. (WIC
4364.5)
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This bill:
1)Makes numerous findings regarding the contributions and
significance of unpaid family caregivers, challenges faced by
those caregivers, and the importance of establishing tools and
supports to encourage and support family caregivers.
2)Resolves by the Assembly and Senate to establish the
California Task Force (Task Force) on Family Caregiving
consisting of 12 members, with the Speaker of the Assembly and
the Senate Committee on Rules each appointing six members.
3)Provides that members shall have demonstrated knowledge and
expertise in any of the following:
a) Family caregiving.
b) Geriatric research.
c) Alzheimer's disease research.
d) Senior advocacy.
4)Requires the Task Force to meet to examine issues relative
family caregivers, as specified, make policy recommendations
to the Legislature and consult, as necessary, with a broad
range of stakeholders, as specified.
5)Encourages the Task Force to partner, whenever possible, with
the California Commission on Aging in order to link the
efforts of the Legislature and the Administration.
6)Provides that the Task Force shall convene, once members have
been appointed, if a non-state organization agrees to provide
administrative support to the Task Force.
7)Provides that the Task Force shall be subject to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (GC 11120 et seq.)
8)Requires the Task Force to submit one or more reports to the
Legislature and to the Governor, including an interim report
no later than January 1, 2017 and a final report no later than
July 1, 2018.
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9)Provides that appointed members shall serve for the duration
of the Task Force.
Background
The author cites research from the American Association of
Retired Persons (AARP) showing that there are four million
family caregivers currently in California, with over 5.8 million
providing care at some point in time during the year. The author
also cites research finding that the role of the family
caregiver has expanded to include the performance of medical and
nursing tasks and that support for caregivers in the performance
of these tasks is lacking.
According to the author, by 2026, as baby boomers age into their
80's, the ratio of caregivers to those needing care is projected
to drop significantly. In 2010, the caregiver support ratio in
California was 7.7 potential caregivers for every person in the
high-risk years of 80-plus. By 2030, the ratio is projected to
decline sharply to 3.9 caregivers available to every one person
who requires assistance with daily activities and is expected to
decline to a ratio of 2.7 to 1 by 2050.
Aging population. Nationally, according to the U.S.
Administration on Aging (AoA), 40 million adults were aged 65 or
older in 2009, the latest year for which data is available, or
about one in every eight Americans. By 2030, the AoA calculated,
there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more than twice
their number in 2000. People aged 65 or older represented 12.4
percent of the population in the year 2000 but are expected to
grow to be 19% of the population by 2030.
According to data on the Department of Aging website,
California's aging population has one of the nation's fastest
growth rates among the elderly. In California, the elderly
population is expected to grow more than twice as fast as the
total population and this growth will vary by region.
Family caregivers. A 2011 report issued by the AARP Public
Policy Institute noted that about 42 million family caregivers
in the United States provided care to an adult with limitations
in daily activities in 2009, and nearly 62 million provided care
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at some point during the year. The estimated economic value of
their unpaid contributions was approximately $450 billion in
2009, according to the report, based on an average of 18.4 hours
of care per week at an average value of $11.16 per hour.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, unpaid
caregivers provided an estimated 90 percent of the long-term
care in 2008. The typical caregiver is a 46 year old woman with
some college experience who provides more than 20 hours of care
each week to her mother. Just over half of caregivers who said
their health had gotten worse due to caregiving also said the
decline in their health has affected their ability to provide
care.
Caregiver resource centers. Every year, California's nonprofit
Caregiver Resource Centers serve more than 14,000 families and
caregivers of adults affected by chronic and debilitating health
conditions including dementia, Alzheimer's disease,
cerebrovascular diseases (such as stroke or aneurysms),
degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and
multiple sclerosis, or traumatic brain injury among many others.
A 2012 report issued by the CCoA noted that the state faces
serious caregiver challenges in today's economic climate. As
budgets are cut at the state level, state policies are moving
rapidly toward providing more services to frail elders in the
home, according to the report, entitled "Celebrating Caregiving
in California." The CCoA cautioned that policymakers must weigh
the value of protecting the interest of family caregivers
against the cost of institutionalization. A recent report of the
Senate Select Committee on Aging and Long Term Care "A Shattered
System, Reforming Long Term Care in California," states that:
"Unpaid family caregivers are the forgotten workforce of the
LTC system. Nearly six million unpaid caregivers - typically
family and friends - provide LTC in California, valued at $47
billion annually. While a number of programs and policies
exist to support family caregivers, most family caregivers are
unaware of or unable to access these services. Many have had
to sacrifice their jobs and family income to provide care for
a loved one. The needs of the family caregivers must be
addressed in order to support the population's LTC workforce
needs; this is particularly true for women, as they
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disproportionately bear the burden of caregiving."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
According to a Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill will
incur no state costs. Amendments taken in the Committee require
a non-state organization to agree to provide administrative
support to the Task Force before it can convene.
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/31/15)
AARP (co-source)
Association of California Caregiver Resource Centers (co-source)
AFSCME
Alzheimer's Association
California Association for Adult Day Services
California Association of Area Agencies on Aging
California Commission on Aging
California Senior Legislature
Family Caregiver Alliance
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
On Lok Senior Health Services
SEIU California
United Domestic Workers of America
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/31/15)
None received
Prepared by:Sara Rogers / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524
9/1/15 21:22:57
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