Newsletter

Legislative News … Daniel Nnorth and Claudia Schott

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At the State Capitol: Nursing Home Reform

All state nursing home reform bills in the PROTECT package have passed their house of origin, including AARP’s priority bill, SB 650, which requires nursing homes to be transparent regarding how they spend state funds intended to support patient care.  SB 650 and the rest of the bills in the PROTECT package now move on to the next chamber of the Legislature, where they will be heard in committee, and where AARP will continue to advocate for their passage.  By the time you read this, SB 650 will have been heard in the next chamber.

In Washington DC: The (Ambitious) American Jobs Plan

President Biden believes that we must invest in our country and in our people, creating good-paying union jobs, tackling the climate crisis, and growing the economy sustainably, and equitably for decades to come. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is a critical step in accomplishing these objectives.

Everything, from clean driving cars and buses to reduce emissions and clean drinking water by getting rid of lead pipes completely, to connecting everyone to reliable high-speed internet and upgrading our power infrastructure will create lots of good-paying union jobs and advance environmental justice. There’s more: Roads, bridges and public transportation, airports, ports and waterways — the list goes on.

So far, the Republicans and Democrats have agreed on a framework for this $973 billion infrastructure bill, and President Biden has given it his support. While the American Rescue Plan (all those stimulus payments) is changing the course of the pandemic and delivering relief for working families, President Biden believes this is no time to build back to the way things were. This is the moment to reimagine and rebuild a new economy. The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United States to out-compete China. Public domestic investment as a share of the economy has fallen by more than 40 percent since the 1960s. The American Jobs Plan will invest in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race.

The question is:  Who will pay for all this?  The rich?  The corporations?  The idea here is to equalize everything and everyone by reducing the IRS tax gap, redirecting unused unemployment insurance relief funds, repurposing unused relief funds from 2020 emergency relief legislation, allowing state and local investment in broadband infrastructure, and allowing states to sell or purchase unused toll credits for infrastructure.

Reinstating Superfund fees for chemicals and 5G spectrum auction proceeds as well as strategic petroleum reserve sales are slated to pay for this…  And don’t forget public-private partnerships, private activity bonds, direct pay bonds, and asset recycling for infrastructure investment.

President’s Message … Margaret Schieck

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Here we are six months into 2021 with maybe some light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.

It looks as though we will be meeting on ZOOM for at least another four to five months as the Campbell Community Center does not expect to open for large groups before October.

In the meantime, Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers and grandfathers and all who are fulfilling a “father figure” role.  This is your month.

For those of you who are uncomfortable using Social Media, the Office of Volunteer Engagement has affiliated with Senior Planet for free technology sessions called Older Adults Technology Services (OATS).  You are invited to join Facebook Fridays for training.  Tech Tuesdays are also available for novice users and for training on hosting meetings.  Have fun!  For more information, contact Sharon Stewart at  sbinns@aarp.org.

AARP June Meeting … Paul Levine

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For our June 15, 2021, Zoom meeting, the program will be a choral music concert consisting of songs performed by 7 local choirs:  Rainbow Women’s Chorus, Mission College Chorus, Orchard City Community Chorus (OCCC), Threshold Choir, Resounding Achord, Crystal Children’s Chorus, and Serendipity Choir. 

This concert was produced by Diane James (director of OCCC) as a benefit concert for Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence and was originally performed over Zoom on March 20, 2021.  Musical selections will include “We’ll Meet Again,” “Georgy Girl,” “Imagine,” “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” and “We Rise Again.”

In exchange for the concert video, our chapter will make a $100 contribution to Next Door Solutions.  If individual members want to contribute, their website is nextdoorsolutions.org/give/.

Legislative News … Daniel Nnorth and Claudia Schott

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State Budget

The State Budget must be approved by the legislature by June 15.  By June 10, we need to contact our legislators and ask them to vote for the following AARP budget concerns:

Master Plan for Aging
·  Establish the position of Senior Advisor on Aging, Disability, and Alzheimer’s to advance cross-Cabinet initiatives and partnerships.
·  Allocate $5 million for Master Plan for Aging implementation.

Long-Term Services and Supports
·  Allocate $12.5 million for both 21/22 and the first half of 2022/23 to expand Aging & Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs).
·  Allocate $250 million in one-time funds to purchase and rehabilitate Adult Residential Facilities and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly to increase housing options for older adults and persons with disabilities.
·  Allocate $26 million over three years to fund Caregiver Resource Centers (CRC).
·  Permanently reverse the 7% hours cut in In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).

Supporting Family Caregivers at Work and at Home
·  Enact an emergency-paid-sick-leave benefit for California workers for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Security
·  Allocate $15.6 from the general fund to finance the extension of Medi-Cal benefits, including audiology and speech therapy services, incontinence creams and washes, optician/optical lab services, and podiatric services.
·  Allocate $25 million from the general fund in the current year and $100 million per year on an ongoing basis for both long-term case management and lowering the age of adults served to 60, as well as expanding Home Safe and making it a permanent program.

Food Security for low-income older adults
·  Allocate $5.4 million to expand the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) and $5 million to launch new Farm Fresh to Seniors Program.
·  Fund a one-time, $1 million investment for California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to design and integrate a user-centered, simplified CalFresh application for older adults and people with disabilities, in order to increase CalFresh enrollment.

Housing Stability and Equity
·  Allocate $1 billion of this year’s $26 billion budget windfall to respond to the housing crisis, including one-time funds to purchase permanent housing for the growing number of unhoused Californians.

State Legislators

Nursing Homes – Prioritize, Responsible, Oversight, Treatment, Equity and Corporate Transparency (PROTECT) Plan – This is several bills that seek to protect our vulnerable seniors in nursing homes.

AARP is fighting to protect nursing home residents from sickness, isolation, and neglect.  When California nursing homes received over $657 million from the federal government to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; why did so many of these facilities have inadequate PPE, staffing, and controls to protect residents and staff?

That’s why AARP is urging our state lawmakers to pass reforms that will protect nursing home residents by holding staff accountable for providing safe environments and high-quality care.  State lawmakers must pass laws that will prioritize responsible oversight, treatment, equity and corporate transparency – to protect nursing home residents from isolation, neglect and sickness.

PROTECT Plan State Bills Include

·  SB 650 (STERN) – the majority of taxpayer funding must go to the care and protection of residents, not to fill the pockets of corporate nursing home management and ownership companies.

·  AB 323 (KALRA) – Nursing homes must face stiff penalties for not providing high-quality care to residents.

·  AB 1042 (JONES-SAWYER) – We need to close the loopholes that have allowed nursing homeowners to escape true accountability for poor care; this bill requires all related parties to be held accountable for substandard care.

·  AB 849 (REYES) – Increases penalties for violations that result in the death of a resident.

·  AB749 (NAZARIAN) – Requires medical directors of these facilities to be trained and certified for elderly care.

·  AB 279 (MURASUTCHI) – Prevents patient dumping, making it unlawful to evict a nursing home resident during a public health emergency.

Seniors Deserve Better:  we MUST increase accountability, transparency and quality of care in California’s 1,227 nursing homes.  Please call your legislator and ask him or her to vote AYE on these nursing home bills.

State Assembly

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) introduced her Assembly Bill 995 dealing with the accrual and use of paid sick days.  This bill would amend Section 246 of the Labor Code. Existing law provides three days of paid sick leave for employees who meet specified conditions.  Please urge your Assembly Member to support AB 995 (Gonzalez) which expands Paid Sick Leave from 3 to 5 days.

Membership … Shelly Schwartz

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I am trying to locate one of our members, Marian Freuderblum, as it seems that her phone has been disconnected.  If anyone has any information about Marian, please call or e-mail me.

Thank you for your help.

Corrections and Addendums

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The Department of Aging and Adult Services telephone number is (408) 755-7600.

The SourceWise phone number is: (408) 350-3200; their web address is:  mysourcewise.com

AARP’s National Fraud Watch Line: (877) 908-3360; their web address is:  www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/about-fraud-watch-network