BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1744
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1744 (Brown)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
AGING 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 14-3
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|Ayes:|Yamada, Wagner, Brown, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Daly, Gray, Grove, Levine | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes the California Caregiver Act of 2014.
Specifically, this bill :
1) Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding
demographics and experiences of family and "informal"
(unpaid) caregivers.
2)Directs the California Department of Aging (CDA), upon
securing $200,000 from private sources for the purpose of
implementing this activity, to convene a blue-ribbon panel on
family caregiving, chaired by the Director of CDA (or his or
her designee) made up of 13 individuals to:
a) Review current policies and practices of state, local
and community programs available to caregivers of adults
with chronic disabling conditions, and consider how the
needs of family caregivers should be assessed and addressed
so that they may avoid overburdening themselves, and remain
in their caregiving role.
b) Consider other state plans, including State Olmstead
Plan, the Long-Range Strategic Plan on Aging, the State
Plan for Alzheimer's disease, and the State Plan on Aging,
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and compile and inventory resources available to family
caregivers.
c) Determine gaps in services to family caregivers and
identify barriers to participation in current programs.
d) Consider cultural and linguistic factors that impact
caregivers and care recipients who are from diverse
backgrounds.
e) Consult with a broad range of stakeholders, including
but not limited to people diagnosed with Alzheimer's,
adults with disabling and chronic conditions, family
caregivers, community-based and institutional providers,
caregiving researchers and academicians, formal caregivers,
the caregiver resource centers, the California commission
on aging and other state entities.
f) Solicit testimony on the needs of family caregivers
including the designation of caregivers, training, respite
services, medical leave policies, delegation of tasks to
non-medical aides, and other policies.
g) Identify best practice in other states.
h) Explore expanding those best practices in caregiving
programs to populations that are not currently targeted.
i) Develop at least three legislative recommendations to
improve the provisions of services for unpaid and family
caregivers in California to address the following:
i) Community-based support for California's diverse
populations of caregivers for adults with chronic or
disabling conditions;
ii) Choices for care and residence for persons with
Alzheimer's disease and their families; and
iii) The family caregiving "competencies" of health care
professionals.
j) Prepare a report to the legislature on or before July
2016 in digital format.
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k) Provide ongoing advice and assistance to the department
and the legislature as to the needs of unpaid and relative
caregivers.
3)Members will serve without compensation but shall receive
reimbursement for travel and other expenses incurred in the
performance of their official duties, and meet publicly
every-other month.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Older Californians Act (OCA) and assures older
adults have equal access to programs and services provided
through the OCA regardless of physical or mental disabilities,
language barriers, cultural or social isolation, including
that caused by actual or perceived racial and ethnic status,
including, but not limited to, African American, Hispanic,
American Indian, and Asian American, ancestry, national
origin, religion, sex, gender identity, marital status,
familial status, sexual orientation, or by association with a
person or persons with one or more of these actual or
perceived characteristics, that restrict an individual's
ability to perform normal daily tasks or that threaten his or
her capacity to live independently.
2)Establishes CDA 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.
3)Establishes 33 area agencies on aging to receive federal,
state, and local funds to contract with local organizations
for service to seniors. There are 33 area agencies on aging
designated by the CDA as the local Planning Services Agencies.
4)Establishes the Title IIIE program, also known as the National
Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), established in 2000,
to coordinate local community-service systems for assisting
caregivers of seniors. Services are available to family and
other unpaid caregivers supporting older individuals, as well
as grandparents and older relatives caring for children. Each
Area Agency on Aging (AAA) is responsible for determining the
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array of services, including caregiver information, assistance
in gaining access to services, counseling and training
support, temporary respite, and limited supplemental services
to complement the care provided by caregivers. Services are
provided directly by AAA staff, or through partnerships with
other public or private agencies.
5)Establishes Caregiver Resource Centers to deliver services to
and advocate for caregivers of cognitively impaired adults, by
offering specialized information on chronic and disabling
conditions and diseases, aging, caregiving issues, community
resources and family consultation. Professional staff work
with families and caregivers to provide support, alleviate
stress, examine options, and enable them to make decisions
related to the care, respite, and counseling in legal and
financial aid.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time costs to CDA to support the study and report in the
low hundreds of thousands of dollars (private funding).
COMMENTS : Families are the major provider of long-term care,
but research has shown that caregiving exacts a heavy emotional,
physical and financial toll. Many caregivers who work and
provide care experience conflicts between their
responsibilities. Almost half of all caregivers are over age
50, making them more vulnerable to a decline in their own
health, and one-third describe their own health as fair to poor.
Women make up the majority of the unpaid caregiver workforce,
often interrupting work careers to take on the burden of caring
for a relative. Caregiving women face uncertain economic
futures due to breaks from employment and the corresponding
reductions to retirement plans and the social security system.
At a joint hearing of the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care and
the Human Services Committees in 2011, testimony about
caregiving in California revealed that while some people receive
care from paid caregivers, most rely on unpaid assistance from
families, friends and neighbors. The National Alliance on
Caregiving and AARP report entitled: "Caregiving in the United
States, 2009," estimates 31.2% of households in the United
States had at least one person who served as an unpaid family
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caregiver during the course of the year. The same report
estimates the number of caregivers in California at any given
time at 4.0 million, with an estimated 5.88 million people
serving as caregivers during the course of a year. The
estimated value of unpaid care in California is $47 billion,
accounting for over 3.8 billion hours of care at $12.17, the
average caregiver wage in 2009. On the personal side, long-term
caregiving has significant financial consequences for
caregivers, particularly for women. Informal caregivers
personally lose about $659,139 over a lifetime: $25,494 in
social security benefits; $67,202 in pension benefits; and
$566,443 in forgone wages. Caregivers face the loss of income
of the care recipient, loss of their own income if they reduce
their work hours or leave their jobs, loss of employer-based
medical benefits, shrinking of savings to pay caregiving costs,
and a threat to their retirement income due to fewer
contributions to pensions and other retirement vehicles.
Analysis Prepared by : Robert MacLaughlin / AGING & L.T.C. /
(916) 319-3990
FN: 0003622