BILL NUMBER: AB 2558 CHAPTERED 09/24/00 CHAPTER 597 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 24, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 28, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 26, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 30, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hertzberg (Coauthor: Assembly Member Shelley) FEBRUARY 24, 2000 An act to add and repeal Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 9520) of Division 8.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to aging, and making an appropriation therefor. (Approved by Governor September 22, 2000. Filed with Secretary of State September 24, 2000.) On this date I signed Assembly Bill 2558 with a reduction. AB 2558 would establish a 3-year neighborhood-based pilot program administered by the California Commission on Improving Life through Services (CILTS), to promote the involvement of senior volunteers in working with children and school staff. While I am supportive of incorporating senior volunteerism into state volunteer efforts coordinated by CILTS, the program outlined in this bill merits further study. Therefore, I am directing CILTS to (1) prepare a review of existing programs that engage seniors in service, (2) identify new and promising entrepreneurial strategies that take advantage of the unique characteristics of this new generation of seniors, (3) identify priorities which a senior volunteer force can best impact, and (4) propose a structure for investment of any future financial resources which maximizes public and private funding and social impact. I expect this study to be completed within six months. Therefore, I am reducing the appropriation contained in the bill by $900,000 to reflect the amount needed to conduct this review. The revised appropriation shall be $100,000. GRAY DAVIS, Governor LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2558, Hertzberg. Senior Volunteer Pilot Program. Existing law requires the California Department of Aging to administer a variety of senior programs, including those that promote the use of seniors as volunteers in the community. This bill would require the California Commission on Improving Life Through Service, in consultation with an advisory board consisting of representatives of the State Department of Education, the California Department of Aging, the Corporation for National Service, and other public and private entities to establish a 3-year intergenerational neighborhood-based pilot program consisting of a minimum of 7 programs throughout the state, to promote senior volunteers to work with children and school staff. This bill would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for the implementation of this bill. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California's senior citizens are the healthiest, most vigorous, and well-educated senior population in history and are a reservoir of experience, practical knowledge, and lasting values. (b) Americans aged 50 to 75 years ranked community service second in priority only to travel in a recent survey, titled "The New Face of Retirement," by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. (c) Continued involvement in productive activity and the presence of strong social networks are the two most important factors contributing to prolonged well-being later in life, according to a decade-long inquiry by the MacArthur Foundation into successful aging. (d) Retirement vastly increases free time. Upon retirement, men gain an added 25 hours per week of free time and women gain an added 18 hours per week of free time. (e) The aging of the "Baby Boomer" generation will lead to a tripling of the number of Californians over 65 years of age. This segment of the population is expected to increase from 3.1 million persons in 1990 to 10.1 million persons in 2030. (f) Although the Hart Survey found that 55 percent of older Americans want to volunteer more while only 4 percent want to volunteer less, volunteering currently falls off sharply after retirement. (g) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish an Experience Corps pilot program to engage the time, talents, and skills of California seniors. It is further the intent of the Legislature, that through the program, seniors will assist staff at schools by serving as tutors, mentors, and role models for school children in need. SEC. 2. Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 9520) is added to Division 8.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: CHAPTER 6.5. SENIOR VOLUNTEER PILOT PROGRAM 9520. The California Commission on Improving Life Through Service, in consultation with an advisory board consisting of representatives of the State Department of Education, the California Department of Aging, the Corporation for National Service, representatives of either the federal Retired Senior Volunteer Program or the federal Foster Grandparent Program, and representatives of Civic Ventures or one or more experts on Experience Corps programs, shall establish a three-year intergenerational neighborhood-based pilot program, consisting of a minimum of seven programs throughout the state, to promote the use of senior volunteers in working with children and school staff. Programs shall be designed and implemented by partnerships of organizations whose membership makes significant contributions and brings expertise in the areas of education, tutoring, and mentoring both in school and after-school venues and mobilizing and supporting senior volunteers. No less than 50 percent of local programs selected for funding shall be operated by partnerships that have existing National Senior Service Corps programs acting as the legal applicant. Local program selection criteria will include the strength and breadth of the partnership and its coordination with existing senior volunteer programs in those communities where they exist. The program shall commence operation in March 2001, and terminate in March 2004. 9521. The pilot program established pursuant to this chapter shall be based upon the best practices of existing Experience Corps programs such as the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center Experience Corps in San Francisco. 9522. The advisory board specified in Section 9520 shall adopt criteria to determine the effectiveness of the program required by this chapter. 9523. This chapter shall become inoperative on September 30, 2004, and, as of January 1, 2005, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2005, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed. SEC. 3. There is hereby appropriated the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) from the General Fund to the California Commission on Improving Life Through Service for the purpose of implementing the pilot program established pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 9520) of Division 8.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.