Senior Citizens' Issues

Seniors' Legislation

Seniors' Legislation

SB 139* (Margett-R) Personal income taxes: long-term care

Allows a credit equal to 30 percent of the cost of long-term care or long-term care insurance for a taxpayer or the taxpayer's parent, and provides that the credit shall not exceed $300 for each taxpayer or $600 for taxpayers filing jointly, among other things.

(In Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee)

SB 141 (Soto-D) Residential care facilities: pre-admission fee refunds

Establishes a refund policy in state law for any pre-admission fees paid by a new resident of a facility licensed as a residential care facility for the elderly.

Chapter 250, Statutes of 2005

SB 192 (Scott-D) Annuities: seniors

Creates suitability standards for the sale of annuities, imposes new duties on insurers and agent-brokers relative to the sale of these products to seniors (65 years of age or older, unless otherwise indicated), and makes other related changes.

(In Assembly Insurance Committee)

SB 212 (Lowenthal-D) Lapses of consciousness: Department of Motor Vehicles

Requires a physician and surgeon to report specified information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, in writing, regarding patients that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia disorder, or with a disorder characterized by lapses of consciousness that might be recurrent, or with an impairment or disorder that compromises the patient's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, among other things.

(In Assembly Judiciary Committee)

SB 244 (Romero-D) Continuing care retirement communities

Establishes various rights for residents of continuing care retirement communities and creates a new process governing transfers between levels of care.

Chapter 454, Statutes of 2005

SB 308 (Simitian-D) Elder and dependent adult financial abuse prevention

Authorizes, upon adoption of a resolution, a county board of supervisors to impose a fee of up to $2 to be paid at the time of recording of real estate instruments, to be placed in the Elder and Dependent Adult Financial Abuse Prevention Trust Fund and expended to fund programs to deter, investigate, and civilly prosecute the financial abuse of elders and dependent adults in the context of real estate transactions.

(On Assembly Inactive File)

SB 374 (Alquist-D) Residential care facilities for the elderly: evaluations

Requires the Department of Social Services to make an unannounced evaluation visit to each residential care facility for the elderly at least once every two years.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 397 (Escutia-D) Elder death review teams

Requires skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities for the chronically ill, within a county that has an elder death review team (EDRT), to notify the chair or chair designee of the EDRT through fax or e-mail, when there is a death of an elderly resident of the facilities.

(Failed passage in Assembly Health Committee; reconsideration granted)

SB 415* (Alquist-D) Advance health care directive

Requires the Secretary of State to establish an Internet web site that allows an individual to register with the Advance Health Care Registry and specified entities to request information from the registry on a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week basis, and authorizes the Secretary of State to receive voluntary contributions to be deposited in the Advance Health Care Directive Registry Fund, created by the bill, to support the registry and its activities.

(In Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 516 (Ortiz-D) Fire protection: residential care facility for the elderly

Requires small residential care facilities for the elderly to install and maintain automatic fire sprinklers by January 1, 2013.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 527 (Alquist-D) Redevelopment: senior housing

Requires redevelopment agencies to expend low-and moderate-income housing funds on housing for seniors, according to the proportion which low-income seniors are represented in the overall low-income population.

Chapter 262, Statutes of 2005

SB 533 (Dunn-D) Long-term health care facilities: admission contracts

Requires a statement in an abbreviated contract of admission to a long-term health care facility informing the person being admitted whether or not the facility is covered by liability insurance.

(In Senate Health Committee)

SB 571 (Perata-D) Adult day health care services: certification

Requires applicants for adult day health care facility certification to attend an orientation provided by the California Department of Aging (CDA) and submit documentation of the need for the facility and other specified information to CDA. Allows CDA to conduct a face-to-face interview with the applicant, lists the items that must be examined to qualify for certification and authorizes CDA to give priority to certain applications.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 642* (Chesbro-D) Medi-Cal: adult day health care services

Makes various changes to the Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) Program and mainly requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to take all appropriate action to obtain approval for a state plan amendment that conforms the ADHC program to requirements of federal law, and provides that no single provision of the ADHC state plan amendment shall be implemented unless and until DHS has obtained full approval for that amendment from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the plan can be implemented by DHS.

(On Senate Inactive File)

SB 791 (Chesbro-D) Medi-Cal: continuous skilled nursing care benefit

Extends the repeal date from January 1, 2006, to January 1, 2008, for a current pilot project that provides continuous skilled nursing care as a benefit of the Medi-Cal program to individuals with developmental disabilities in the least restrictive health facility setting.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 839 (Poochigian-R) Identity theft

Creates various new crimes and penalties for conduct involving identity theft and the possession and transfer of personal identifying information with intent to defraud, including a one year prison enhancement in a case where the victim is a minor, elder, or dependent adult.

(Failed passage in Senate Public Safety Committee; reconsideration granted)

SB 1018 (Simitian-D) Elder and dependent adult abuse

Enacts the Financial Elder Abuse Reporting Act of 2005, and makes, from January 1, 2007, until January 1, 2013, all officers and employees of banks, federal and state credit unions and their affiliates who suspect financial elder or dependent adult abuse mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse of elders and dependent adults, and makes a failure by a mandated reporter to report suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult subject to civil penalties currently imposed on other mandated reporters of elder or dependent adult abuse, and makes such penalties payable by the employer financial institution.

Chapter 140, Statutes of 2005

AB 63 (Strickland-R) Elderly and Disabled Home Improvement Loan Program

Establishes, within the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Elderly and Disabled Persons' Revolving Home Improvement Loan Program, which provides grants to local public agencies or nonprofit corporations, or to provide no-interest home improvement loans to qualified low- and moderate-income elderly and disabled individuals to assist them with daily activities and prevent injury and to allow them to remain safely in their own homes.

(In Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee)

AB 179 (Bermudez-D) Residential care facilities for the elderly: elder abuse

Directs all residential care facilities for the elderly to include, in the statement of residents rights, information on reporting elder and dependent adult abuse.

Chapter 456, Statutes of 2005

AB 185* (Plescia-R) Homeowner's property tax exemption: senior citizens

Increases the homeowners' exemption for senior citizens.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 230 (Shirley Horton-R) Alzheimer's Day Care Resource Centers

Exempts certain Alzheimer's Day Care Resource Centers and the Linkages Program from the competitive bidding process administered by the California Department of Aging and the Area Agencies on Aging.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 300 (Walters-R) Residential care facilities for the elderly: licensing

Clarifies that the Department of Social Services is the sole agency for oversight of continuing education vendors who provide curricula for administrators of group homes, adult residential facilities, and residential care facilities for the elderly.

Chapter 423, Statutes of 2005

AB 360* (Frommer-D) Skilled nursing facilities

Exempts units that provide pediatric subacute services in skilled nursing facilities and institutions for mental disease from a skilled nursing facilities requirement to pay a quality assurance fee.

Chapter 508, Statutes of 2005

AB 429 (Chu-D) Temporary restraining orders and protective orders

Establishes procedures by which a law enforcement officer called to the scene of violence or credible threat of violence in the workplace to authorize the officer to verbally serve a protective order on the defendant who had not been served with the order previously, as specified.

Chapter 467, Statutes of 2005

AB 472 (Benoit-R) Elder and disabled abuse

Authorizes In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) non-profit consortia and public authorities to include criminal background checks, conducted by the Department of Justice, in processing potential IHSS caregivers.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 484 (Benoit-R) Elder and dependent adults: caretaker theft or embezzlement

Makes a second or subsequent violation of elder financial abuse, regardless of the dollar amount of the crime, an alternate misdemeanor which is punishable by imprisonment, a fine, or both.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 704 (Dymally-D) Geriatric health care assistants: licensing and regulation

Provides for the licensing and regulation of geriatric health care assistants by the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, and sets forth related provisions.

(In Assembly Business and Professions Committee)

AB 847 (Berg-D) Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly

Allows the Department of Health Services to negotiate and grant exemptions from existing regulations and licensing requirements to the California Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly programs.

Chapter 315, Statutes of 2005

AB 916 (Canciamilla-D) Elder abuse

Provides for enhanced prison sentences in felony cases of elder or dependent adult financial abuse.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 1188 (Wolk-D) Abuse: reporting

Increases the penalty, from an infraction to a misdemeanor, for a supervisor or administrator to impede or inhibit a mandated reporter from reporting an instance of known or reasonably suspected child abuse.

Chapter 163, Statutes of 2005

AB 1227 (Torrico-D) Housing: discrimination

Proposes to enact mandatory attorney's fees provisions in housing development law relating to continuing care retirement communities.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1258* (Daucher-R) Adult day health care

Makes various changes in the Adult Day Health Care Program.

(In Assembly Health Committee)

AB 1307 (Dymally-D) Child custody

Establishes equal joint custody as the presumed rule in all custody cases, except where a parent opposing such an order can establish by clear and convincing evidence that such shared parenting is not in the best interest of the child.

(Died in Assembly Judiciary Committee)

AB 1481 (Richman-R) Medi-Cal: managed care

Requires that any Medi-Cal beneficiary who is also eligible for Medicare be enrolled in Medi-Cal managed care if federal financial participation is available.

(In Assembly Health Committee)

AB 1579 (Aghazarian-R) Long-term health care facilities: funds

Requires that funds in the Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account (Account) be continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year or plan year, and requires the Department of Health Services to make available information about the expenditure of funds for the prior fiscal year from the Account by March 17 of each year to interested parties, upon request.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 1605 (Wolk-D) Elder and dependent adult abuse

Extends mandated reporting requirements for financial elder or dependent adult abuse to all officers and employees of certain financial institutions.

(On Assembly Inactive File)

ACR 8 (Dymally-D) Elder and dependent adult abuse

Proclaims the month of May 2005 and every year thereafter, as Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month.

Resolution Chapter 28, Statutes of 2005

Index (in Bill Order)