Senior Citizens' Issues

Seniors' Legislation

Seniors' Legislation

SB 14 (Peace-D) Budget Acts of 1999 and 2000: fiscal affairs

Appropriates $40 million for the 2000-2001 budget year for the Senior Citizens and Disabled Homeowner and Renter Tax Assistance Program for unfunded costs.

Chapter 2, Statutes of 2001

SB 70 (Escutia-D) In-home care workers for the elderly

Prohibits any person from providing services under the In-Home Supportive Services Program or personal care services under the Medi-Cal program unless he/she has submitted a request for a criminal history clearance and has had his/her fingerprints taken.

(In Senate Public Safety Committee)

SB 186 (Speier-D) Retired and Senior Volunteer Program

Appropriates $1.4 million from the General Fund to the State Department of Aging for allocation under the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Stipulates that each of the 42 existing RSVP projects would receive an equal share of these funds.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 218* (Dunn-D) Senior citizens' tax assistance

Makes permanent the increases in Senior Citizens and Disabled Homeowner and Renter Tax Assistance Program.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

SB 333 (Escutia-D) Elder death review teams

Authorizes counties to establish interagency elder death review teams to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious elder deaths and to foster communication between coroners, law enforcement and other agencies.

Chapter 301, Statutes of 2001

SB 337 (Ortiz-D) Multipurpose senior services program benefits

Provides an annual standardized rate adjustment for the Multipurpose Senior Service Program, commensurate to the Consumer Price Index.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 358 (Murray-D) The Rosa Parks Learning Center

Authorizes the California Science Center to establish the Rosa Parks Learning Center in Exposition Park in the City of Los Angeles. The learning center will include, among other things, a computer literacy program where preteenagers and teenagers furnish mentoring services to seniors and an afterschool program for the mentoring of youth.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 370 (Ortiz-D) Seniors: Wellness and injury prevention programs

Establishes, within the State Department of Aging, the Senior Wellness Program that includes the Stay Well Program and the Program for Injury Prevention in the Home Environment.

Chapter 689, Statutes of 2001

SB 382 (Haynes-R) Senior housing: discrimination

Requires state certifications and grants protections to developments and individuals who discriminate on the basis of age and familial status with respect to developments claiming to be Senior Citizen Housing Developments.

(In Assembly Judiciary Committee)

SB 427 (Perata-D) Adult day care funding

Provides statutory authority to the State Department of Aging to implement adult day care service program grants in underserved areas of the state.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 502 (Ortiz-D) Elder abuse

Establishes a uniform medical protocol for the examination of victims of domestic violence and elder abuse.

Chapter 579, Statutes of 2001

SB 533 (Margett-R) Programs for the elderly and disabled

Establishes the Elderly and Disabled Persons' Revolving Home Improvement Loan Program to provide grants to local public agencies and nonprofit corporations for the purpose of providing home improvement loans to specified elderly and disabled persons.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

SB 639 (Ortiz-D) Alzheimer's disease and related disorders

Requires the State Health and Human Services Agency to develop a strategic plan for improving access to mental health services by persons with Alzheimer's disease or related disorders. Appropriates $85,000 from the General Fund to the agency, without regard to fiscal year, for purposes of the bill.

Chapter 692, Statutes of 2001

SB 854* (Brulte-R) Franchise and income tax laws: seniors' tax assistance

Continues for 2001 and thereafter the 150% increase in property tax relief for senior and disabled homeowners and renters.

(In Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee)

SB 922 (Soto-D) Prescription drugs: manufacturer rebate

Requires the State Health and Human Services Agency to implement a prescription drug program providing specified prescription drug coverage for Medicare-eligible persons with chronic illnesses.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 936 (Margett-R) Mental health: adults and older adults

Requires the State Department of Mental Health to employ a full-time physician with geriatric experience to oversee, monitor, and provide advice to participating counties regarding services for older adults under the Adult and Older Adults Mental Health System of Care Act.

(In Senate Health and Human Services Committee)

SB 953 (Vasconcellos-D) Aging

Establishes the California Elder Corps to conduct an extensive study and design a master plan for involving California seniors in the corps to facilitate the contributions of older adults in California civic life, requires the State Health and Human Services Agency to contract for the development of a system of elder care navigators to provide information, advice, and basic planning to older adults on their care options, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop a model curriculum to provide education in financial preparations for lifelong healthy economics, requires the State Employment Development Department to publish a list of all private and public California companies that provide elder benefits to employees and their immediate families, and requires the Trustees of the California State University and the governing boards of community college districts to require the study of gerontology or geriatrics in programs in the helping professions.

(In Assembly Aging and Long Term Care Committee)

SB 1062 (Chesbro-D) Long-term care: dual diagnoses program

Establishes a long-term health care program for persons with a dual diagnoses of serious mental disorder and a cognitive disorder such as delirium, dementia, or amnestic disorder, and requires any nursing facility to receive a state supplement in addition to basic nursing home rates, if specified conditions are met.

(In Senate Health and Human Services Committee)

SB 1082 (Vasconcellos-D) Income taxes: designations: senior citizens

Replaces the requirement that the check-off for the California Fund for Senior Citizens must meet the $250,000 minimum contribution test beginning in 2001 with the requirement that it must meet the test beginning in 2003. Also contains intent language that the Legislature provide support to the California Senior Legislature through an appropriation and that this check-off will be removed from the tax form when that occurs.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 20 (Koretz-D) Senior centers

Requires the State Department of Aging to conduct a statewide survey and needs analysis to determine the geographic and structural needs for senior centers by December 31, 2002.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 64* (Alquist-D) Income taxes: deduction: long-term care insurance

In computing adjusted gross income under the Personal Income Tax Law, allows a deduction for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2002, in an amount equal to the applicable percentage of the amount paid or incurred for the cost of long-term care insurance for the taxpayer and his or her spouse and dependents.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 72 (Bates-R) Escheated funds: portable housing: elderly persons

Requires that all unclaimed moneys escheated to the state from the estates of deceased persons be used for an existing state program to construct or rehabilitate multifamily housing for senior citizens.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 114 (Washington-D) Senior housing rehabilitation

Requires the State Department of Housing and Community Development to make available, upon appropriation, $10 million to the housing and redevelopment agency of a city with a population of more than two million in order to provide grants that may not exceed $25,000 to eligible individuals for rehabilitating housing units in order to meet current city building standards.

(In Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee)

AB 191 (Bates-R) Elder and dependent abuse

Includes criminal prosecuting attorneys' offices within the list of agencies that may receive reports or disclosure of reports regarding actual or suspected abuse of an elder or dependent adult. Adds criminal prosecuting attorneys' offices to the list of agencies exempted from civil or criminal liability for any report, unless a false report was knowingly made and to the list of those entities exempted from liability for providing access to a victim of abuse, and also to the list of those entities that may present a claim to the State Board of Control.

(In Assembly Public Safety Committee)

AB 385 (Strickland-R) Seniors' tax assistance: full value

Increases the benefits available under the senior citizens and disabled property tax assistance program.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 426* (Cardoza-D) Taxation

A tax relief budget trailer bill which, among others, increases the benefits paid under the Senior Homeowners' and Renters Assistance Program by 45 percent on a permanent basis.

Chapter 156, Statutes of 2001

AB 440* (Cardoza-D) Budget augmentations

Augments Item 9100-101-0001 of the Budget Act by $75 million, including $13.5 million for the Senior Citizens' Property Tax Assistance Program and $61.5 million for the Senior Citizens' Renters' Tax Assistance Program.

Chapter 197, Statutes of 2001

AB 505 (Robert Pacheco-R) Long-term health care facilities: citations and penalties

Authorizes a licensee of a long-term care health facility, in lieu of seeking to adjudicate the validity of a class "AA" or "A" citation in the municipal or superior court, to elect to submit the matter to binding arbitration as provided under the bill.

(In Assembly Health Committee)

AB 513* (Strickland-R) Income taxes: credit: drugs

Authorizes a nonrefundable credit to senior citizens for their unreimbursed prescription drug costs.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 530 (Reyes-D) Crime prevention

Allows for subsequent arrest information for persons employed as in-home personal care to an aged or disabled adult and extends the sunset on the rural crime prevention act.

Chapter 845, Statutes of 2001

AB 590 (Vargas-D) Mental health: adults and older adults

Encourages the State Department of Mental Health to provide a mental health care provider with training in geriatrics to assist and monitor county mental health programs serving older adults.

Chapter 677, Statutes of 2001

AB 628 (Oropeza-D) Senior housing

Creates a pilot program to assist low-income seniors in locating safe affordable housing.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 828 (Cohn-D) Long-term care facilities

Requires the State Department of Health Services to establish a centralized consumer response unit to respond to consumer inquiries and complaints in long-term health care facilities, and to assist consumers in resolving concerns.

Chapter 680, Statutes of 2001

AB 829 (Cohn-D) Health care

Revises the standards for Adult Day Health Care centers providers and transfers certain responsibilities from the State Department of Aging to the State Department of Health Services.

Chapter 681, Statutes of 2001

AB 830 (Cohn-D) Senior legal services

Requires the State Department of Aging to establish a task force of specified numbers to study and make recommendations to the Legislature on issues relating to legal services for seniors.

Chapter 682, Statutes of 2001

AB 1036 (Pescetti-R) Seniors' tax assistance: mobilehomes

Allows owners of mobilehomes that are subject to property tax to file a homeowners and renters assistance claim as either a homeowner or a renter.

(In Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 1111 (Simitian-D) Adult abuse: financial abuse specialist teams

Establishes a grant program in the Office of Criminal Justice Planning that enables counties to more effectively address the financial abuse or exploitation of elders and dependent adults, as specified.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1166* (Bill Campbell-R) Income taxes: credit: drugs

Until January 1, 2008, allows a tax credit in an amount equal to 25 percent of the cost paid or incurred for prescription drugs by a senior citizen taxpayer whose income does not exceed certain limits.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 1178 (Calderon-D) Insurance

Imposes the requirements of the Senior Insurance Law on direct-marketed health insurance products, and also extends by 90 days the July 1, 2001 deadline for compliance with long-term care insurance law.

Chapter 51, Statutes of 2001

AB 1370* (Wiggins-D) Tax forms: taxpayers 65 or older: study

Requires the State Franchise Tax Board to conduct a study of senior tax filing forms.

Chapter 266, Statutes of 2001

AB 1451 (Liu-D) Long-term care insurance

Requires the Secretary of the State Health and Human Services Agency to establish and chair a Long-Term Care Financing Task Force and requires the task force to report to the Legislature alternative methods to finance long-term care.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1690 (Assembly Human Services Committee) Elder and dependent abuse reporting: training

Requires residential care facilities for the elderly to provide training in recognizing and reporting elder and dependent adult abuse.

Chapter 196, Statutes of 2001

ACR 70 (Zettel-R) Elder Abuse Prevention Month

Designates May 2001, as Elder Abuse Prevention Month.

Resolution Chapter 63, Statutes of 2001

ACR 77 (Cohn-D) Assisted living

Proclaims the week of September 9 through September 15, 2001, as Assisted Living Week in California and encourages all citizens to visit friends and loved ones who reside in residential care facilities for elderly and disabled individuals, and also to learn more about assisted living services and how vital these services are to residents.

Resolution Chapter 122, Statutes of 2001

Index (in Bill Order)