BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 138
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 29, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGING AND LONG-TERM CARE
Mariko Yamada, Chair
AB 138 (Beall) - As Introduced: January 13, 2011
SUBJECT : Elder Economic Planning Act of 2011.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Aging (CDA) and
Area Agencies on
Aging (AAA's) to utilize the Elder Economic Security Standard
Index (Elder Index) to specify
the costs in the private market of meeting the basic needs of
elders in each planning and service
area, and identify the number, or percentage, of elders who are
living at or below the Elder
Economic Security Standard Index. Specifically, this bill :
1) Defines the Elder Index as an index that quantifies the
costs that elders face in meeting their basic needs,
including, but not limited to, food, shelter, health care,
transportation, utilities, and essential household items, in
the private market.
2) Specifies that the Elder Index is updated biennially 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.
3) Requires CDA 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.
4) 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 AAA, and specify the number or percentage of
elders that are living at or below the Elder Index if the
Elder Index is updated and made available to the AAA.
5) Requires AAA's to use the Elder Index to track the
progress of participants in the state-administered Senior
and Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) if the
Elder Index is updated and made available to the AAA.
6) Specifies that nothing in this bill shall be construed to
mandate changes in the current funding allocations to AAA's
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or, based on the use of the Elder Index, affect means-tested
programs administered through the Mello-Granlund Older
Californians Act.
7) Makes various technical and grammatical changes.
EXISTING LAW
1) Establishes the federal Older Americans Act (OAA) which
provides a national network of state units on aging and
AAA's 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 the Older Californians Act which provides
state-funded programs and services for older adults and
people living with disabilities.
3) Establishes CDA as the state unit on aging to administer
a broad range of home and community-based programs. The CDA
mission is to provide leadership to the AAA's in developing
systems of home and community-based services that maintain
individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike
environments.
4) Requires CDA 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.
5) Establishes the AAA's as the entities that provide for
and/or deliver services under the OAA and other funding
sources at the local level.
6) Requires AAA's to conduct regular needs assessments in
their planning and service area to document the service
needs of older adults and adults with disabilities.
7) Requires each AAA to develop and submit to CDA an Area
Plan every four years. Each plan must include the available
data and population trends, assess the community's need for
services, identify sources of funding for those services,
and develop and implement a plan for the delivery of those
services based on the community's needs.
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8) Specifies that in fulfilling their mission, AAA's shall
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, those
in danger of losing their independence.
9) Requires CDA to develop a State Plan on Aging every four
years based upon the local area plans. The State Plan is
submitted to the Administration on Aging at the federal
level.
10) Establishes the Federal Poverty Guideline (FPG) issued
each year in the Federal Register by the Department of
Health and Human Services for use in determining financial
eligibility for certain federal programs.
11) Establishes the Senior Community Service Employment
Program which offers part-time work-based training
opportunities through some AAAs and at local community
service agencies for older workers (55+) who have poor
employment prospects and assists with the transition of
individuals to private or other employment opportunities in
the community.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : California has 33 AAA's that provide a wide range of
services designed to keep older adults and adults with
disabilities independent and in their own homes and communities
for as long as possible. AAA's serve as the focal point for
local aging issues and concerns. The services are funded through
the OAA, state funded programs, local government and other
entities and grants.
Planning for Aging Services--Local
To ensure that programs and services funded by the AAA adequately
serve the older adults within each community, AAA's 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, focusing on seniors in the "greatest social and economic
need". For purposes of OAA program planning, "Greatest Economic
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Need" typically refers to people with needs resulting from an
income level at or below the poverty line. "Greatest Social
Need" typically refers to needs caused by non-economic factors
which include: physical and mental disabilities; language
barriers; and cultural, social, or geographical isolation,
including isolation caused by racial or ethnic status, which
restricts the ability of an individual to perform normal daily
tasks; or threatens the capacity of the individual to live
independently. The needs assessment process typically includes a
community-wide survey, community 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 and 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.
Planning for Aging Services-State
Every four years, CDA is required by federal law to submit a
State Plan on Aging to the federal Administration on Aging. When
approved, CDA 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 CDA and the AAA's, and
CDA's objectives in working with the AAA's to provide
cost-effective, high quality services to California's Older
adults and their informal or familial caregivers.
The 2009-2013 State Plan on Aging states that the number of older
Californians at both ends of the income scale is growing,
creating two very different groups: persons with annual incomes
over $50,000 (45%) and persons with incomes below $15,000 (16%),
with a diverse middle class in between. The highest proportion of
older adults with income below 200 % of the FPG is in Imperial
County, followed by several counties in Northern California and
the Central Valley, where approximately 40 % of the older
population is in this income group. Eleven percent of the
population age 65 and over has income below the FPG, and another
21% has income between 100-199% of the FPG. Persons in this
latter group have income too high to make them eligible for many
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public assistance programs, yet often do not have resources
sufficient to meet their most basic needs.
Recent research from the University of California, Los Angeles
and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development has
shown that 495,000 older Californians living alone in 2007 could
not make ends meet - lacking sufficient income to pay for even a
minimum level of housing, food, health care, transportation and
other basic expenses.
Senior Community Service Employment Program
According to the Older Americans Act, the Senior Community
Service Employment Program(SCSEP) is designed to foster
individual economic self-sufficiency and promote useful
opportunities in community service activities for unemployed,
low-income persons who are age 55 or older, particularly persons
who have poor employment prospects, and to increase the number of
persons who may enjoy the benefits of unsubsidized employment in
both the public and private sectors. According to CDA, the SCSEP
in California 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 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.
The work-based training is an integral part of the program.
Individuals may receive job-related training prior to, and as
preparation for their community service assignment, and train for
an average 20 hours per week. After a prescribed period of
on-the-job training, individuals are either transitioned into
unsubsidized employment or rotated to other training positions in
the community to further upgrade their skills and assist in
finding unsubsidized employment.
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% of the federal poverty level. ($13,613
annually in 2011) Some income sources may be excludable, and
other factors may affect an individual's eligibility.
In FY 2006-07 (the most recent data available on the CDA
website), SCSEP served 5,436 individuals:
64% were women and 36% were men
34% were between the ages of 55 - 59
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47% were between the ages of 60 - 69
19% were 70 years of age and older
31% percent had a high school diploma or equivalent
24% did not possess a high school diploma or equivalent
24% completed one-to-three years of college
The SCSEP is available through 17 of the 33 AAA's and eight
national organizations. While this bill requires AAA's to use
the Elder Index to track participant progress and outcomes, it
does not change eligibility requirements for the SCSEP. In
addition, the requirement for using the Elder Index to track
progress only applies to the AAA-administered SCSEPs and not to
those programs operated by the national organizations.
Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) and the Elder Index
Since 1965, there have been two slightly different versions of
the federal poverty measure - the FPG and the federal poverty
thresholds. The poverty thresholds are the original version of
the federal poverty measure and are updated by the Census Bureau
each year. The thresholds are used primarily for statistical
purposes. The FPG is issued each year in the Federal Register
and are a simplification of the poverty thresholds. They are
used for administrative purposes, including determining financial
eligibility for certain federal programs. The FPG is sometimes
loosely referred to as the federal poverty level.
Proponents argue that policymakers struggle to create effective
policies to promote economic security and eradicate poverty
because they do not have an accurate picture of what it really
takes to make ends meet in today's economy. Policymakers
typically measure poverty and determine benefits eligibility by
using the FPG, a 1963 measure based solely on the cost of a
bare-bones food diet. Although the FPG is updated annually using
the Consumer Price Index, the current FPG is the same dollar
amount ($10,890 for an individual living alone) whether one lives
in a high cost market like urban Los Angeles, or a low cost
region like rural Arkansas.
In response to the shortcomings of the FPG, The Insight Center
for Community Economic Development led the effort to create the
California Elder Index which sets a new benchmark of income
adequacy for older adults. According to proponents, it provides
the true cost of meeting basic needs and maintaining independence
in the community. The Elder Index methodology uses national and
state data sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, and reveals that in
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California, the FPG covers less than half of the basic costs
experienced by older adults.
While California's most expensive counties to live in tend to be
urban and coastal, the Elder Index and related research show that
older adults in rural counties face significant challenges as
well. For example, Imperial County has the highest percentage of
single older adults with incomes below the Elder Index benchmark
(67.1%). San Francisco County has the next highest percentage
with 61.3 % of older adults living alone with incomes below the
Elder Index.
Impact of using the Elder Index on Program Eligibility and
Funding
Programs and services administered by CDA and the AAA's do not
require means-testing for eligibility, however, the OAA requires
that preference 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, CDA and AAA's track data, including poverty data,
on the number of older adults and people with disabilities within
a given public 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. This bill will
not change eligibility for any of the programs administered by
CDA or the AAA's.
Arguments in Support
The California Association of Area Agencies on Aging, AARP, Aging
Services of California, the Older Women's League of California,
and a host of other organizations, contend that the Elder Index
sets a new benchmark of income adequacy for older adults. It
provides the true cost of meeting basic needs and maintaining
independence in the community. By institutionalizing this tool,
AB 138 will empower policymakers to allocate limited resources
more effectively, and prepare for the needs of seniors and aging
baby boomers.
According to the author, the state is not well-prepared for the
senior demographic shift of baby boomers that are now retiring.
In fact, California is home to one of the highest number of
seniors in the nation at almost 6.5 million-that is almost 20 %
of the state's population. Planning better for our seniors is
one of the most significant and responsible improvements we can
make to ensure the dignity of our parents. Utilizing the Elder
Index in our planning documents will ensure that our measurement
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of their needs will be accurate and consistent across the state.
Related Legislation
AB 2114 (Beall) of 2010 would have required CDA and AAA's to
utilize the Elder Index in their service planning. AB 2114 was
held in Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 324 (Beall) of 2009 was substantially similar to this bill and
required CDA and AAA's to utilize the Elder Index in their
service planning. AB 324 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AARP - co-sponsor
Insight Center for Community Economic Development - co-sponsor
Senior Community Centers of San Diego - co-sponsor
California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA)
California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A)
California Association of Public Authorities (CAPA)
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Commission on Aging (CCoA)
California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA)
California School Employees Association
Community Living Campaign in San Francisco
Congress of California Seniors (CCS)
Experience Corps
Gray Panthers
IHSS Consortium of San Francisco
Jericho
Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles (JFS)
Korean Health Education Information & Research Center (KHEIR)
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
(NASW-CA)
Older Women's League - Sacramento Capitol Chapter (OWL)
Older Women's League of California (OWL-CA)
Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC)
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Senior Community Centers of San Diego
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Wider Opportunities for Women
Women's Foundation of California
1 Individual
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Robert MacLaughlin / AGING & L.T.C. /
(916) 319-3990