BILL NUMBER: AB 594 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Yamada
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to add Division 8.6 (commencing with Section 9780) to the
Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to aging and adult services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 594, as amended, Yamada. California Department of Aging and
Adult Services.
Existing law provides various services to persons with
disabilities and older adults, which are overseen by the State
Department of Social Services, including the In-Home Supportive
Services program, and the development of guidelines in the
implementation of local adult protective services programs, to assist
them in living in the community instead of being placed in a
facility. Existing law also vests in the Department of Rehabilitation
the responsibility and authority for various programs,
including the encouragement of the planning, development, and
funding of independent living centers. Under existing law, the State
Department of Mental Health is responsible for the administration of
programs that serve older adults and persons with disabilities,
including caregiver resource centers , the Traumatic Brain
Injury Program, and the Statewide Resources Consultant.
Existing law also establishes various programs under the jurisdiction
of the California Department of Aging.
This bill would enact the Community Care Modernization Act of
2011. The bill would establish the California Department of Adult and
Aging Services in the California Health and Human Services Agency,
for the purpose of maintaining individuals in their own homes, or the
least restrictive homelike environments for as long as possible, by
integrating services under a single agency, to establish stronger,
more focused leadership for home- and community-based services for
all older adults and persons with disabilities. The bill would
provide for the appointment of the director of the department by the
Governor, and would specify the director's duties. This bill would
require the department to convene a stakeholder committee to assist
the department in coordinating with other state agencies to transfer
programs to the department, as specified.
This bill would require the agency, in consultation with specified
state entities, to develop a plan to transition home- and
community-based programs for older adults and people with
disabilities to the department, and to submit the transition plan to
the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by
January 1, 2013. The bill would require the state level
administration of the program and program staff for each originating
department to be transferred to the California Department of Aging
and Adult Services by specified dates.
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. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Community Care Modernization Act of 2011.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) In June 1999, the United States Supreme Court, in Olmstead v.
L.C. ex rel. Zimring (1999) 527 U.S. 581, issued a landmark decision
in disabilities rights law that requires states to develop more
opportunities for individuals with disabilities to live in their
communities rather than in nursing homes.
(2) California has established a number of long-term care programs
that provide services and supports to individuals to enable them to
avoid institutionalization and live independently in their homes.
(3) The Legislative Analyst's Office, the Little Hoover
Commission, and others have substantiated that California's system of
service delivery is dysfunctional in a number of areas due to the
fragmentation of responsibility and funding for interrelated
services. Multiple funding streams and varied eligibility criteria
have created "silos" of services, making coordination unnecessarily
costly and difficult for consumers and their caregivers to navigate.
(4) Separate funding sources and uncoordinated services for older
adults and adults with disabilities have created barriers. For
example, independence-minded adults with disabilities often receive
long-term care services designed to support and protect the less
autonomous, institutionalized older population. Instead, services
need to be individualized to empower older adults and persons with
disabilities to live in the community.
(5) The delivery of long-term care needs to be improved to promote
efficiencies while supporting coordinated services that are
appropriate to each individual's functional needs and financial
situation.
(6) An integrated system of support would better utilize state
resources and provide a greater benefit to those receiving services
than the current fragmented set of programs.
(7) It is critical to actively involve persons with disabilities,
older adults, and the representatives they choose, in developing and
implementing a system of services designed to move people to, or
allow them to remain in, community-based settings.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act, that
all the following shall occur:
(1) Home- and community-based services for older adults with
disabilities, including all services and programs funded through the
federal Older Americans Act, the Older Californians Act, the
Multipurpose Senior Services Program, caregiver resource centers, the
In-Home Supportive Services program, the Adult Protective Services
Program, independent living centers, and adult day health care
services, shall be transferred to the California Department of Aging
and Adult Services, regardless of whether the program has been
formally created by statute.
(2) The facility licensing and oversight authority for long-term
care facilities, currently residing in the State Department of Public
Health and the Department of Social Services, shall be transferred
to the California Department of Aging and Adult Services.
(2)
(3) The Governor shall make a final decision regarding
the placement of a specific program or office that is not formally
created by statute, or named in this act, in a manner that is
consistent with the California Department of Aging and Adult
Services, and with the overall spirit of this act.
(3)
(4) The California Department of Aging and Adult
Services shall coordinate its programs and services with long-term
care and supportive services programs operated by other state
departments, including long-term care alternatives available through
the State Department of Health Care Services.
(4)
(5) By establishing the California Department of Aging
and Adult Services, it is the intent of the Legislature to capitalize
on efficiencies generated by integrating services under a single
agency, and to establish stronger, more focused leadership for home-
and community-based services for all older adults and persons with
disabilities.
SEC. 3. Division 8.6 (commencing with Section 9780) is added to
the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
DIVISION 8.6. AGING AND ADULT SERVICES
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 1. DEFINITIONS
9780. As used in this division, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
(a) "Agency" means the California Health and Human Services
Agency.
(b) "Department" means the California Department of Aging and
Adult Services.
(c) "Director" means the Director of Aging and Adult Services.
(d) "Home- and community-based services" means programs and
services designed to prevent and delay institutionalization and
enable clients with disabilities to remain as independent as
possible.
CHAPTER 2. GENERAL POWERS OF THE DEPARTMENT
9782. There is hereby established in the agency the California
Department of Aging and Adult Services.
(a) The mission of the department is to maintain individuals in
their own homes, or the least restrictive homelike environments for
as long as possible.
(b) In fulfilling its mission, the department shall have the
following goals for all older adults and persons with disabilities:
(1) To structure and support programs that allow persons to live
independently, with dignity and choice.
(2) To establish integrated services with the flexibility to
respond effectively and efficiently to the needs of individuals,
their families, and caregivers.
(3) To design service systems that are accessible to diverse
populations of varying incomes.
(4) To ensure that statewide aging and adult services policy
fosters local control and implementation.
(5) To include consumers in the development, monitoring, and
accountability of the systems that serve them.
9783. (a) The department shall consist of a director, and staff
as may be necessary for proper administration.
(b) The department shall maintain a central office in Sacramento.
(c) The Governor shall appoint the director, with the consent of
the Senate and the Assembly.
(d) The director shall have all the powers of the head of a
department pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11150) of,
and shall receive the salary provided for by Chapter 6 (commencing
with Section 11550) of, Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
(e) The director shall have the following duties:
(1) To be responsible for the management of the department and the
achievement of its statewide goals.
(2) To assist the California Department of Aging and Adult
Services stakeholder committee, the State Independent Living Council,
and the California Commission on Aging in carrying out their
mandated duties and responsibilities.
(f) The Secretary of California Health and Human Services shall
ensure effective coordination among the departments of the agency in
carrying out the requirements of this division. For this purpose, the
secretary shall convene regular meetings concerning services to
older adults and adults with disabilities that shall include, but not
be limited to, the State Department of Social Services, the State
Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Mental
Health, the State Department of Developmental Disabilities, the
Department of Rehabilitation, and the California Emergency Management
Agency.
CHAPTER 3. STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT
9786. (a) The department shall convene a stakeholder committee,
to serve for a period of time to be determined by the department, to
advise the department regarding the transfer of programs and services
to the department.
(b) The stakeholder committee shall include representatives from
all of the following:
(1) Independent living centers.
(2) Area agencies on aging.
(3) Adult day health care.
(4) Adult protective services.
(5) In-home supportive services.
(6) Caregiver resource centers.
(7) Consumers of home- and community-based services.
PART 2. TRANSITION AND IMPLEMENTATION
9787. (a) The agency, in consultation with the California
Department of Aging, the State Department of Social Services, the
State Department of Mental Health, and the Department of
Rehabilitation, shall develop a plan to transition home- and
community-based programs for older adults and people with
disabilities to the department. The agency shall submit the
transition plan to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of
the Legislature by January 1, 2013.
(b) All programs administered by the California Department of
Aging, including, but not limited to, those funded by the federal
Older Americans Act and the Older Californians Act, and all staff
associated with these programs, shall transition to the department by
July 1, 2013.
(c) The department shall coordinate with the State Department of
Social Services and the stakeholder committee convened pursuant to
Section 9786 to transfer the adult protective services program and
the In-Home Supportive Services program to the department.
(1) The state-level administration of the adult protective
services program and all associated staff shall transfer to the
department by July 1, 2014.
(2) The state-level administration of the In-Home Supportive
Services program and all associated staff shall transfer to the
department by January 1, 2015.
(d) The department shall coordinate with the Department of
Rehabilitation and the stakeholder committee to transfer the
administration of the independent living centers and the
Traumatic Brain Injury Program to the department. The
state-level administration of the independent living centers
these programs and all associated staff shall
transfer of a administration fo the independent living centers
to the department by January 1, 2015. The transfer shall be
contingent upon the ability of the Department of Rehabilitation to
transfer federal Rehabilitation Act funds for independent living
centers to the department.
(e) The department shall coordinate with the State Department of
Mental Health and the stakeholder committee to transfer the
administration of the caregiver resource centers, the
Traumatic Brain Injury Program, and the Statewide Resources
Consultant to the department. The state-level administration of
these programs and all associated staff shall transfer to the
department by January 1, 2016.
(f) The department, in consultation with the stakeholder
committee, shall develop and implement a plan to coordinate long-term
care alternatives available through the State Department of Health
Care Services, by ____.
(g) The requirement for the agency to submit a transition plan
imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2016.