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Universal Health Care, elder abuse, support services among bills undertaken in the California Legislature

Of the ten California Senior Legislature (CSL) priority proposals, nine have been authored and introduced by state legislators and one was added from a previous CSL session.

Assembly Bill (AB) 257 (Vincent) Alzheimer's Disease Care Resource Centers is in the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee.

AB 447 (Washington) Elder Abuse Nursing Home Code Violation Revenues was in the Assembly Public Safety and Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee and scheduled for review April 13.

AB 629 (Vincent) Elder Abuse Prevention and Intervention. This bill was a part of a four-city closed circuit TV hearing by the Assembly Human Services Committee. The disabled community objected to parts of this bill concerning fingerprinting and the possible delay in hiring workers. This will be amended to require an 800 phone number to report abuse to Adult Protective Services

AB 868 (Cardoza) State Long-Term Ombudsman Appointment, was to be on the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee April 6.

AB 912 (Maldonado) In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) provides for workers finger printing, background checks, and fee waiver. Was to be heard by the Assembly Human Services Committee April 13.

AB 1160 (Shelley) Skilled Nursing Facilities, Staffing Ratios passed the Assembly Health Committee and Long-Term Care Committee in April and is expected to pass Appropriations with no problems.

From past CSL priorities, AB 445 (Ashburn) Free Fishing Licenses for Seniors failed to pass the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee in March. Author has requested reconsideration.

Senate Bill (SB) 476 (Chesbro) prohibits managers of mobile home parks from charging more than 110 percent of the price for liquid propane and butane sales.

SB 480 (Solis) Universal Health Care. This proposal seeks legislation to provide universal health coverage to every resident of California. This has been included in the top ten proposals since universal health care is an on-going top CSL priority. It is in the Assembly Rules Committee.

SB 657 (Ortiz) Area Agencies Funding During Budget Delay, in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Federal proposals

Federal proposals are being considered as resolutions in the assembly and senate, but it is not confirmed at this time who will send them to Congress.

AP 30 (Reyes) provides for Medicare coverage of prescription drugs.

AP 33 (Kelly) provides for the restoration of Social Security retirement ages 65 and 62.

SP 45 (Reyes) provides Medicare coverage of shared dental care costs.

Senate Joint Rule 10 (Dunn) provides for the Older Americans Act reauthorization.

Funding CSL and aging organizations

The Senate Budget Committee passed a General Fund Augmentation of $300,000 for the California Senior Legislature, Triple A Council of California and the California Commission on Aging, contingent on the May budget revisions.

Donations to CSL are up 15 percent from last year, and CSL is looking forward to line 49 donations to increase, according to budget officer Robert O'Brien.

The sunset clause takes effect January 1, 2000 if a minimum of $250,000 is not raised. The sunset clause permits removing line 49 from the state income tax form. Keep reminding long form tax filers to advise accountants to add $10 to $20 on line 49 check-off. In an effort to educate accountants and enrolled agents about line 49 information, 20 letters were sent to professional tax preparers in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

The CSL meets every October to determine the top ten priorities to senior citizens in California. Every year they consider hundreds of proposals to arrive at their chosen ten. They also choose four federal proposals every year. They then have to find a member of the regular California Legislature who will author their bills. The group has about a 60 percent success rate at having their top proposals becoming the law of California and the country.

One-time article Copyright 1999 by Humboldt Senior Resource Center.