2006 Session Proposals
Summary of Proposals of CSL 2006 Session
December 19, 2007
The purpose of the CSL is to develop proposals for legislation at both the state and federal levels. At its Annual Session the CSL holds hearings on the proposals that have been submitted by its members to determine which of those proposals should be carried forward. Finally, the proposals to be carried forward are prioritized to select the top ten state proposals and top four federal proposals.
The results for the 2006 session are provided here. Within group the proposals are listed in order of proposal number. The complete text of the proposal may be obtained by clicking on the title.
For proposals that have been authored by State legislators, the bill summary is provided. Additional information including the full text of such bills is available through the Bill Information page of the California Legislature information web site.
Summaries, without the authored bill information, are available in Acrobat® (pdf) format for convenience in printing: Top Ten Proposals or All Passed Proposals. A free copy of the Acrobat® Reader® may be downloaded directly from the Adobe web site by clicking here.
Summary of Urgency Proposal
AP – Senior Assembly Proposal SP – Senior Senate Proposal
AP-28 Senior Assembly Member Monck and Senior Senator Levy: Long Term Care Options.
This proposal would establish the right of any person in need of long-term care services that are available in an institutional setting to receive those services in the community and to make changes in programs and agencies to implement that right.
SB 633 (Alquist) Persons with disabilities: care in community settings and hospital discharge planning.
Existing law prohibits unjustified institutionalization of persons with disabilities and requires that services be provided in community settings when possible.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature regarding the state’s commitment to providing services for persons with disabilities in the most integrated setting.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including hospitals, as defined. Existing law requires each hospital to have a written discharge planning policy and process, as specified. Violation of the provisions relating to the licensure and regulation of health care facilities is a crime.
This bill would require a hospital to provide every patient anticipated to be in need of long-term care at the time of discharge with contact information for at least one public or nonprofit agency or organization dedicated to providing information or referral services relating to community-based long-term care options in the patient’s county of residence and appropriate to the needs and characteristics of the patient. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
10/11/07: Chapter 472, Statutes of 2007.
Summary of the Top Ten State Legislative Proposals
AP – Senior Assembly Proposal SP – Senior Senate Proposal
AB – California Assembly Bill SB – California Senate Bill
AP-9 Senior Assembly Members Glasmeier and Woods: Tribal Gaming Funding for Senior Centers.
This proposal sets aside 20% from tribal gaming payments to the State to fund senior citizen centers.
AP-14 Senior Assembly Member Lucero: Hearing Aid Availability and Cost.
This proposal requires that hearing aids be made available for over-the-counter sales and vendors be encouraged to submit a plan to the Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau.
AB 311 (Dymally) Hearing aids: over-the-counter sales.
Under existing law, the Hearing Aid Dispensers Licensing Law, the Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau licenses and regulates the practice of fitting and selling hearing aids. Under that law, a hearing aid is required to be dispensed by a licensed hearing aid dispenser.
Existing law, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, also regulates the labeling and conditions for sale of hearing aid devices, and preempts state laws that are different from or in addition to those requirements.
This bill would authorize the sale of over-the-counter hearing aid devices by an unlicensed person if such sales are authorized under federal law. The bill would make findings and declarations in that regard.
1/7/08: Amended to a new purpose.
AP-16 Senior Assembly Member Lucero: Pharmaceutical Expiration Dates.
This proposal requires the inclusion of an accurate “best before” date on pharmaceutical products.
AP-18 Senior Assembly Member Taylor: Senior Mobil home Rent Control.
This proposal imposes rent control on seniors-only mobile home parks that limits rent increases to the CPI.
AP-19 Senior Assembly Member Trotter: Senior Facility Infrastructure Upgrades.
This proposal establishes a study of the infrastructure needs being shaped by increases in the senior population and includes funding for upgrades and renovations.
SB 977 (Correa) California Commission on Aging: report: Infrastructure: seniors
Existing law establishes the California Commission on Aging in state government, and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the commission, relating to advocacy on behalf of older individuals.
This bill would require the commission to conduct a review of existing local, state, and national data, surveys, and reports related to senior center infrastructure needs, best practices, and emerging trends, including any recent studies conducted covering senior centers in California. The bill would require the commission to convene a meeting of stakeholders to consider the review for completeness and scope, and, by July 1, 2009, to prepare and submit a report to certain legislative committees, containing its findings and recommendations pertaining to the review.
The bill would provide that its provisions shall only be implemented to the extent that nonstate funds are available for this purpose.
9/30/08: Vetoed by the Governor.
SP-2 Senior Senator Fromm: IHSS Criminal Background Checks.
This proposal authorizes IHSS public authorities to obtain criminal background checks and subsequent arrest notification for non-IHSS providers.
AB 459 (Cook) In-home supportive services: criminal background checks.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Under existing law, the functions of a nonprofit consortium contracting with the county to operate the program, or a public authority established for this purpose, include investigating the qualifications and background of potential personnel.
This bill would authorize the investigation of certain potential personnel by a nonprofit consortium or public authority to include criminal background checks conducted by the Department of Justice or, in certain circumstances, by an investigative consumer reporting agency, upon the request of the nonprofit consortium or public authority, and upon written authorization by the potential personnel. The bill would authorize a nonprofit consortium or a public authority to charge a fee to a provider, potential personnel, or a recipient to cover any cost related to administering requirements with respect to an investigation, or the costs to certain entities for processing a criminal background check, under these provisions.
2/26/07: To Committee on Human Services. Hearing canceled at request of author.
SB 692 (Ashburn) In-home supportive services: criminal background checks.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Under existing law, the functions of a nonprofit consortium contracting with the county to operate the program, or a public authority established for this purpose, include investigating the qualifications and background of potential personnel.
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to secure any criminal record to determine whether a person has been convicted or incarcerated within the last 10 years for a sex offense against a minor or for a violation of other prescribed crimes, including any felony, and to provide a subsequent arrest notification, as provided, if an employer of the person requests the determination and submits fingerprints of the person to the department and the person is unlicensed and provides nonmedical domestic or personal care to an aged or disabled adult in the adult’s own home. Existing law defines “employer” for purposes of these provisions to include, but not be limited to, an IHSS recipient and any recipient of personal care services under the Medi-Cal program.
This bill would authorize a nonprofit consortium or public authority to assist an aged or disabled adult who is ineligible for IHSS program services in obtaining a criminal background check conducted by the Department of Justice on a provider, as described. The bill would also revise the definition of employer in the above-described provisions that require the Department of Justice to secure a criminal background check to include an aged or disabled adult, or that individual’s authorized representative, who is ineligible to receive IHSS benefits and who receives in-home nonmedical domestic or personal care from a provider, as defined.
The bill would authorize a nonprofit consortium or a public authority to recover costs related to administering these provisions.
3/14/08: Chapter 2, Statutes of 2008.
SP-3 Senior Senator Goldman: Senior Citizen ID Cards.
This proposal requires the DMV to notify seniors who choose not to renew driver’s licenses that a senior citizen ID card is available free of charge.
AB-966 (Krekorian) Driver’s license renewal: senior citizens
Existing law allows a person 62 years of age or older to be issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, free of a charge, an identification card bearing the notation “Senior Citizen.”
This bill would require the department to include with every notice of renewal of a driver’s license that is mailed to a licensed driver, a notice that a person who is 62 years of age or older may be issued, free of charge, an identification card bearing the notation “Senior Citizen.”
1/14/08: Reconsideration of governor’s veto denied.
SP-4 Senior Senator Griswold: Property Tax Exemptions.
This proposal increases the homeowner’s property tax exemption from $7,000 to $27,000 for seniors.
AB 351 (Smyth) Taxation: homeowners’ property tax exemption and qualified renter income tax credit: senior citizens
(1) Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to the authority of a specified provision of the California Constitution, for a homeowners’ exemption in the amount of $7,000 of the full value of a “dwelling,” as defined, and authorizes the Legislature to increase this exemption. Existing property tax law reduces the amount of this exemption to the lesser of $5,600 or 80% of the full value of the dwelling if a claimant for the exemption does not claim the exemption before a specified date.
This bill would, beginning with the lien date for the 2008-09 fiscal year, increase the homeowners’ exemption from $7,000 to $27,000 of the full value of a dwelling for assesses who are 62 years of age or older. This bill also would, beginning with the lien date for the 2008-09 fiscal year, for assesses 62 years of age or older who do not claim the exemption before a specified date, allow an exemption of the lesser of $21,600 or 80% of the full value of a dwelling.
(2) The California Constitution requires the Legislature, whenever it increases the homeowners’ property tax exemption, to provide a comparable increase in benefits to qualified renters. The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit for qualified renters in the amount of $120 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, and in the amount of $60 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation these adjusted gross income amounts.
This bill would, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2008, increase this credit for qualified renters who are 62 years of age or older. This bill would establish the credit amount as $151 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation, and a credit amount of $75 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation.
(3) By requiring county officials to implement a new amount for the property tax homeowners’ exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
(4) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
1/31/08: Died.
SP-17 Senior Senator Mack: Large Print Prescription Warnings.
This proposal requires pharmacists to include large print inserts with prescriptions warning of drug interactions.
SP-18 Senior Senator Wright: Oral Health in Nursing Homes.
This proposal requires that the DHS review the oral health component of nursing home treatment plans on a quarterly basis for proper completion and that appropriate referrals to dental professionals be made, with failures reported as abuse.
The following proposal from the 2004 CSL Session has been authored in the current session:
AP-4 Senior Assembly Member Gould: Purpose of Prescriptions.
This proposal requires that all prescriptions contain a notice of the intended purpose of the drug, unless the patient or the physician requests that this information be omitted.
AB 1276 (Karnette) Pharmacies: prescription containers: labels
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, makes the California State Board of Pharmacy responsible for the regulation of the practice of pharmacy. Existing law generally makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly violate the Pharmacy Law.
The Pharmacy Law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing a prescription except in a container that meets the requirements of state and federal law and is correctly labeled with, among other things, the condition for which the drug was prescribed if requested by the patient and if the condition is indicated on the prescription.
This bill would eliminate the labeling requirement pertaining to the condition for which the drug was prescribed, and would instead require the container to be labeled with the intended purpose, as defined, of the drug if indicated on the prescription. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2009, require a person who is authorized to write or issue a prescription, other than a veterinarian, to ask a patient or his or her authorized representative whether to indicate the intended purpose of the prescription on the prescription’s label, and would subject a person who violates this requirement for a 2nd or subsequent time to a citation and an administrative fine.
Because the bill would specify additional requirements under the Pharmacy Law, the violation of which would be a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
4/24/07: Failed to pass Business and Professions Committee.
Summary of the Top Four Federal Legislative Proposals
AFP – Senior Assembly Federal Proposal SFP – Senior Senate Federal Proposal
AFP-2 Senior Assembly Members Shontz and Gould: Parkinson’s Prescription Renewal.
This proposal changes the renewal period for Parkinson’s Medicare prescriptions from 30 to 180 days.
AFP-3 Senior Assembly Member Mitchell: Aircraft Portable Oxygen Devices.
This proposal requires aircraft operators to allow passengers on oxygen therapy to carry on and operate portable oxygen devices.
AFP-5 Senior Assembly Member Lucero: Sale of Personal Information.
This proposal requires business entities to obtain written permission from seniors prior to the sale of personal information.
SFP-11 Senior Senator Gehrig: Medicare Podiatric Preventive Care.
This proposal expands Medicare coverage to include a co-pay for one annual podiatric care visit.
Summary of the Other State Legislative Proposals
AP – Senior Assembly Proposals SP – Senior Senate Proposals
AP-1 Senior Assembly Members Friedman and Woods: Non-Smoking Sections in Multi-Unit Housing.
This proposal requires owners of multi-unit housing to provide non-smoking sections for seniors.
AP-3 Senior Assembly Member Bloch: Training Unlicensed Senior Housing Managers.
This proposal requires Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate a training program for unlicensed senior rental housing managers.
AP-5 Senior Assembly Member Dahlgren: Redevelopment Funding for Low-Income Housing.
This proposal amends the provisions of Community Redevelopment Law to provide 11% of the funds to assist low-income housing for seniors.
AP-6 Senior Assembly Member Duff: Funding for Shared Housing Programs.
This proposal provides a continuing funding source to `fund shared housing programs, authorizes local funding, and allows housing authorities and nonprofits to participate.
AP-7 Senior Assembly Member Glasmeier: Rate Increases for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly.
This proposal limits RCFE basic rate increases to one per year and prohibits increases for residents less than 12 months in the facility.
AP-8 Senior Assembly Member Glasmeier: Number of Disabled Parking Spaces.
This proposal increases the number of disabled parking spaces in parking lots and garages.
AP-10 Senior Assembly Member Krohn: Peace Officer Abuse Advanced Training.
This proposal enhances and improves training of peace officers in elder and dependent adult abuse.
AP-11 Senior Assembly Member Loh: Senior Special Residential Needs.
This proposal requires general plans to include seniors as a special population with definable needs and requires 5% of new residential dwellings to utilize universal design principles.
AP-12 Senior Assembly Member Loh: Elder Abuse Reporting.
This proposal requires elder abuse reports to be made to long-term care ombudsmen, law enforcement and Adult Protective Services. It authorizes long-term care ombudsmen to act as a victim’s legal representative.
AP-17 Senior Assembly Member Lucero: Food Safety Labels.
This proposal requires that packaged food sold in California include an obvious marking of the date after which the contents should not be consumed.
AP-20 Senior Assembly Member Tucker: Elder Abuse Fines.
This proposal increases fines for elder abuse by 10% and returns funds from this increase to local jurisdictions to combat elder abuse.
AP-21 Senior Assembly Member Tucker: Elder Abuse Reports.
This proposal requires mandated reporters to report elder abuse to both law enforcement and APS or long-term care ombudsman.
AP-22 Senior Assembly Member White: Property Tax Reassessment Exemption.
This proposal exempts properties needing renovation for reverse mortgages from reassessment of property taxes as long as it is occupied by the senior.
AP-23 Senior Assembly Member Wieck: Nursing Home Residential Voting.
This proposal adds voter registration requirements to nursing home admittance agreements.
AP-24 Senior Assembly Member L. Young: Legal Services Task Force.
This proposal establishes a full-time legal services developer and staff in the Department of Aging and appropriates sufficient funds for implementation of senior legal services.
AP-25 Senior Assembly Member L. Young: Nursing Home End-of-Life Privacy.
This proposal requires nursing homes to provide a private room for a resident who has been diagnosed as terminal.
AB 1142 (Salas) Hospice care.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health.
Existing law defines a “skilled nursing facility” as a health facility that provides skilled nursing care and supportive care to patients whose primary need is that of availability of care on an extended basis. Existing law imposes specified requirements upon skilled nursing facilities with regard to, among other things, its patients, staffing ratios, and the medical services provided by those facilities.
The bill would require the department, no later than January 1, 2009, to identify innovative end-of-life and palliative care models for residents of skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly, as prescribed, and to provide specified information about those care models to each licensed freestanding skilled nursing facility, residential care facility for the elderly, home health agency, and hospice in the state. The bill would also require the department to post related information on those resident care models on the department’s Web site.
The bill, in addition, would require the department to conduct a comprehensive review of the state’s licensing and reimbursement policies to determine how best to expand and facilitate the availability of quality options for hospice and palliative care services delivered to residents of skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly, to work with stakeholders to identify regulatory or statutory barriers inhibiting skilled nursing facilities from implementing model programs for resident hospice services, and to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2009, and make recommendations on the best ways to remove identified barriers.
1/14/08: Reconsideration of governor’s veto denied.
AP-26 Senior Assembly Member L. Young: In-Home Support Services Auto Insurance.
This proposal requires personal auto insurers to cover IHSS providers.
AP-27 Senior Assembly Member Gerbracht: Amtrak Feeder Bus Service.
This proposal authorizes DOT to provide funding for feeder bus service to or from a rail service.
SP-6 Senior Senator Jaffee: Paratransit Service Promotion.
This proposal encourages localities to promote collaboration of local transportation to provide paratransit for seniors.
SP-10 Senior Senator Kim-Selby: Senior Volunteer Month.
This proposal proclaims the month of May to be Senior Volunteer Month to honor volunteers.
SP-13 Senior Senator Murphy: Private Home Care Worker Training.
This proposal requires private-pay non-medical home care service providers to adopt specific training programs on how to recognize and respond to Alzheimer symptoms.
SP-15 Senior Senator Lundin: Disabled Parking Violation Funds.
This proposal requires each county to assess fines for vehicles illegally parked in disabled spaces for the purpose of funding community-based service programs for seniors.
SP-16 Senior Senator Lundin: Investment Financial Abuse.
This proposal strengthens the law to prevent anyone from targeting and abusing seniors by encouraging them to make bad investments.
SP-20 Senior Senator W. Young: IHSS Services in Social and Community Settings.
This proposal expands the scope of IHSS to include recipient activities in social and community settings.
SP-21 Senior Senator W. Young: Senior Citizen Auto Repair Fund.
This proposal expands the definition of elder abuse to include auto repair fraud committed against senior citizens.
SP-22 Senior Senator Murphy: Line 54 Contributions.
This proposal permits designations to be made to line 54 on amended tax returns.
SP-23 Senior Senator Mulholland: Publication of ADA Requirements and Availability.
This proposal requires transportation systems to publish internally ADA requirements for all employees to understand, and to inform insurance companies and the public regarding ADA availability.
Summary of the Other Federal Legislative Proposals
AFP – Senior Assembly Federal Proposal SFP – Senior Senate Federal Proposal
AFP-4 Senior Assembly Member Hartmann: Tire Safety Information.
This proposal requires tire manufacturers to place DOT information on both sides and retailers to include information on receipts.
AFP-6 Senior Assembly Member Lopes: Home Sale Gain Tax Exclusion.
This proposal authorizes certain surviving spouses to exclude $500,000 of home sale capital gain.
AFP-7 Senior Assembly Member Lopes: Medical Expense Tax Deduction.
This proposal allows persons 65 and older to fully deduct all medical expenses.
AFP-8 Senior Assembly Member Serrin: Senior Shared Housing Option.
This proposal requires that HUD Section 8 housing authorization be expanded to allow two bedroom shared rental options for seniors.
SFP-2 Senior Senator Winslow: US-Mexico Social Security.
This proposal requires that the Mexican Social Security Institute make payments to US citizens in accordance with the Social Security Act.
SFP-3 Senior Senator Winslow: United Nations Anti Female Discrimination.
This proposal requires the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
SFP-4 Senior Senator Winslow: Use of Automobile Headlights with Windshield Wipers.
This proposal requires automobile manufacturers to equip new vehicles with an automatic headlight device activated by the windshield wiper controls.
SFP-7 Senior Senator Lundin: Federal Annuitant Health Insurance Premiums.
This proposal permits federal annuitants to be eligible for “premium conversion” in order to pay their share of health insurance premiums with pretax dollars.
SFP-8 Senior Senator Pankhurst: Medicare Funding for Adult Day Health Care.
This proposal expands Medicare Services to include adult day health care funding.
SFP-9 Senior Senator Faustman: Prescription Drug Program.
This proposal replaces the Medicare prescription drug program with a single-payer prescription drug program.
SFP-10 Senior Senator Erman: Retiree Pension and Health Benefits.
This proposal requires limits corporate abandonment of retiree pensions and health benefits and provides funding for a continuum of benefits.
The following proposal from the 2004 CSL Session has been authored in the current session:
AFP-1 Senior Assembly Member Karr: Elder Abuse Prevention Postage.
This proposal establishes a special rate of postage and a special postage stamp regarding elder abuse prevention and awareness to help fund prevention programs.
SJR 12 (Simitian) Elder abuse awareness stamp.
This measure would request the President and the Congress of the United States to enact legislation that would authorize the United States Postmaster General to establish a special rate of postage for first-class mail, and to issue a special postage stamp, to provide funds for elder abuse prevention and awareness programs.
2/22/08: Resolution Chapter 5, Statutes of 2008.