2014 -- S 2215

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

____________

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - THE AGING IN COMMUNITY

OF 2014

     Introduced By: Senator Maryellen Goodwin

     Date Introduced: January 30, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 42 of the General Laws entitled "STATE AFFAIRS AND

GOVERNMENT" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 66.11

THE AGING IN COMMUNITY ACT OF 2014

     42-66.11-1. Short title. -- This chapter shall be known and may be cited as "The Aging

in Community Act of 2014."

     42-66.11-2. Legislative findings. -- The legislature finds and declares:

     (1) The number of Rhode Islanders sixty-five (65) years of age and older is projected by

the state planning office to grow from 152,000 in 2010 to 189,000 in 2020 and to 248,000 by the

year 2030.

     (2) The 2010 U.S. Census established that Rhode Island had the highest percentage of

persons age eighty-five (85) years and older, an age group that has the highest dependency needs

and an increased need for long-term care services and supports.

     (3) Surveys consistently show most older persons prefer to remain in their own homes

and community for as long as possible.

     (4) Community-based support services and programs such as meals on wheels, caregiver

support and respite services and senior centers, play important roles in helping older persons to

"Age in Community" thereby preventing or postponing institutionalization, reducing Medicaid

costs for long-term care facilities, and reducing caregiver burden.

     (5) Adequate funding for demonstrated cost-effective home and community support

services such as meals on wheels, caregiver support and respite programs is essential to reducing

the use of long-term care facilities by low care residents, to saving Medicaid costs for the state,

and to helping unpaid caregivers keep frail elders and adults with disabilities living at home.

     (6) State funds to support meals on wheels and respite services decreased by sixty-three

percent (63%) from fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2014 and there exists a waiting list for these

essential services.

     42-66.11-3. The aging in community fund - Purpose and establishment. -- There is

hereby created and established the "Aging in Community Fund" within the division of elderly

affairs in the department of human services. The purpose of the fund is to provide grants to meals

on wheels and caregiver support and respite programs that promote older persons' ability to

remain living in their own homes and communities. For fiscal year 2014-2015, the general

assembly hereby appropriates an additional five hundred seventy-five thousand dollars

($575,000) for aging in community grants to be allocated as follows: three hundred thousand

dollars ($300,000) in added funding for meals on wheels to reduce waiting lists and to provide for

emergency food distributions and two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000) in added

funds for caregiver support and respite services. The secretary of health and human services shall

report to the governor, the legislature and the long-term care coordinating council chair on the

status of any waiting lists for meals on wheels, caregiver support and respite services and state

funded home and community-based long-term care as part of the annual budget request.

     42-66.11-4. The aging in community plan. -- The chair of the state long-term care

coordinating council shall create an aging in community subcommittee whose purpose shall be to

develop a plan to provide the needed infrastructure and program improvements in support

services, housing and transportation that will enable the state's growing elder population to safely

remain living at home and in community settings. The aging in community plan shall include an

inventory of available services, identification of service and program gaps and resource needs. In

addition to members of the long-term care coordinating council, the subcommittee shall include

those members of the state's academic community with expertise in aging services and

community-based long-term supports and services as the council deems appropriate.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2014.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - THE AGING IN COMMUNITY

OF 2014

***

     This act would establish and create a fund within the department of elderly affairs to

assist the elderly population to remain living in their homes and communities. The initial

appropriation for the fund would be an additional five hundred seventy-five thousand dollars

($575,000) to be distributed in grants of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) in added

funding for the meals on wheels program and two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars

($275,000) in added funding for caregiver support and respite services.

     The act would also require that the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council create a

subcommittee to develop a plan to provide needed improvements in support services, housing and

transportation for the elderly and to inventory available services, identify service and program

gaps and resource needs.

     This act would take effect on July 1, 2014.

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