SECTIONS 9000-9023 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 9000-9023

9000. This division shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, that reflects the policy
mandates and directives of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as
amended, and sets forth the state's commitment to its older
population and other populations served by the programs administered
by the California Department of Aging.

9001. The Legislature hereby finds and recognizes all of the
following:
(a) Older individuals constitute a fundamental resource of the
state that previously has been undervalued and poorly utilized, and
ways must be found to enable older individuals to apply their
competence, wisdom, and experience for the benefit of all
Californians.
(b) There is a continuing increase in the number of older
individuals in proportion to the total population.
(c) Today, 14 percent of California's population currently is 60
years of age and over.
(d) By the year 2010, the first influx of baby boomers will
constitute 29.2 percent of California's total population over 60
years of age. By the year 2020, baby boomers will constitute 70.2
percent of California's total population over 60 years of age.
(e) By the year 2020, older individuals will represent 21 percent
of California's total population.
(f) While the number of persons over 60 years of age is increasing
rapidly, the number of older women, minorities and persons over the
age of 75 are increasing at an even greater rate.
(g) Among persons over 75 years of age, there is a higher
incidence of functional disabilities.
(h) The social and health problems of the older individual are
further compounded by inaccessibility to existing services and by the
unavailability of a complete range of services.
(i) Services to older individuals are administered by many
different agencies and departments at both the state and local level.
(j) The planning and delivery of these services is not carried out
with any degree of coordination among those agencies.
(k) Enhanced coordination reduces duplication, eliminates
inefficiencies, and enhances service delivery for the consumer.
(l) The ability of the constantly increasing number of aged in the
state to maintain self-sufficiency and personal well-being with the
dignity to which their years of labor entitle them and to realize
their maximum potential as creative and productive individuals are
matters of profound importance and concern for all of the people of
this state.

9002. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Programs shall be initiated, promoted, and developed through
all of the following:
(1) Volunteers and volunteer groups.
(2) Partnership with local governmental agencies.
(3) Coordinated efforts of state agencies.
(4) Coordination and cooperation with federal programs.
(5) Partnership with private health and social service agencies.
(6) Participation by older individuals in the planning and
operation of all programs and services that may affect them.
(b) It shall be the policy of this state to give attention to the
unique concerns of our most frail and vulnerable older individuals.
(c) Recognizing the diversity in geography, economy, culture, and
lifestyles in California and the diversity of local senior citizen
networks, it shall be the policy of this state to encourage and
emphasize local control to achieve the most effective blend of state
and local authority.
(d) In recognition of the many governmental programs serving
seniors, and as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of
Section 9102, the California Department of Aging should coordinate,
as existing resources permit, with other state departments in doing
all of the following:
(1) Promote clear and simplified access to information assistance
and services arrangements.
(2) Ensure that older individuals retain the right of free choice
in planning and managing their lives.
(3) Ensure that health and social services are available that do
all of the following:
(A) Allow older individuals to live independently at home or with
others.
(B) Provide for advocacy for expansion of existing programs that
prevent or minimize illness or social isolation, and allow
individuals to maximize their dignity and choice of living.
(C) Provide for protection of older individuals from physical and
mental abuse, neglect, and fraudulent practices.
(4) Foster both preventive and primary health care, including
mental and physical health care, to keep older individuals active and
contributing members of society.
(5) Encourage public and private development of suitable housing.
(6) Develop and seek support for plans to ensure access to
information, counseling, and screening.
(7) Encourage public and private development of suitable housing
and recreational opportunities to meet the needs of older
individuals.
(8) Encourage development of efficient community services
including access to low-cost transportation services, that provide a
choice in supported living arrangements and social assistance in a
coordinated manner and that are readily available when needed.
(9) Encourage and develop meaningful employment opportunities for
older individuals.
(10) Encourage the development of barrier-free construction and
the removal of architectural barriers, so that more facilities are
accessible to older individuals.
(11) Promote development of programs to educate persons who work
with older individuals in gerontology and geriatrics.
(12) Encourage and support intergenerational programming and
participation by community organizations and institutions to promote
better understanding among the generations.
(e) The California Department of Aging shall ensure that, to the
extent possible, the services provided for in accordance with this
division shall be coordinated and integrated with services provided
to older individuals by other entities of the state. That integration
may include, but not be limited to, the reconfiguration of state
departments into a coordinated unit that can provide for multiple
services to the same consumers. Services provided under this division
shall be managed, directly or through contract, by local area
agencies on aging or other local systems.

9003. (a) If any section of this code relating to aging cannot be
given effect without causing this state's plan to be out of
conformity with federal requirements, the section shall become
inoperative to the extent that it is not in conformity with federal
requirements.
(b) The planning, development, and implementation of changes in
this division shall encourage and allow concurrent implementation and
operation of a long-term care integration pilot project consistent
with the intent of Article 4.05 (commencing with Section 14139.05) of
Chapter 7 of Part 3 of Division 9. In implementing changes to this
division, the department shall work with the State Department of
Health Services to ensure local determination and local designation
of the most appropriate long-term care services agency for each
Long-Term Care Integration Pilot Project site.

9004. Unless the context otherwise indicates, the definitions of
the terms set forth in this chapter apply for purposes of this
division.

9004.5. "Adult day health care" means an organized day program of
therapeutic, social, and health activities and services provided
pursuant to this division to elderly persons with functional
impairments, either physical or mental, for the purpose of restoring
or maintaining optimum capacity for self-care. When provided on a
short-term basis, adult day health care serves as a transition from a
health facility or home health program to personal independence.
When provided on a long-term basis, adult day health care services as
an option to institutionalization in long-term care facilities, when
24-hour skilled nursing care is not medically necessary or viewed as
desirable by the recipient or his or her family.

9005. "Advisory council" means a specific representative body of
laypersons and service providers that represent the interests of
older individuals within the boundaries of a planning and service
area and that is officially recognized by the area agency on aging,
the commission, and the department.

9006. "Area agency on aging" means a private nonprofit or public
agency designated by the department that works for the interests of
older Californians within a planning and service area, and engages in
community planning, coordination, and program development and,
through contractual arrangements, provides a broad array of social
and nutritional services.

9007. "Care or case management services" means:
(a) Client assessment, in conjunction with the development of a
service plan with the participant and appropriate others, to provide
for needs identified by the assessment.
(b) Authorization and arrangement for the purchase of services, or
referral, with follow-up, to volunteer, informal, or third-party
payer services.
(c) Service and participant monitoring to determine that services
obtained were appropriate to need, adequate to meet the need, of
acceptable quality, and provided in a timely manner.
(d) Followup with clients, including periodic contact and
initiation of an interim assessment, if deemed necessary prior to
scheduled reassessment.

9008. "Commission" means the California Commission on Aging.

9010. "Comprehensive and coordinated system" means a program of
interrelated social and nutrition services designed to meet the needs
of older individuals in a planning and service area.

9011. "Department" means the California Department of Aging.

9012. "Director" means the Director of the California Department of
Aging.

9013. "Frail elderly" means a person having those chronic physical
or mental limitations that restrict individual ability to carry out
normal activities of daily living and that threaten an individual's
capacity to live an independent life.

9014. "Greatest economic need" means the need resulting from an
income level at or below the poverty threshold established by the
Bureau of the Census.

9015. "Greatest social need" means the need caused by noneconomic
factors, that include physical and mental disabilities, language
barriers, cultural or social isolation, including that caused by
racial and ethnic status (for example, Black, Hispanic, American
Indian, and Asian American), that restrict an individual's ability to
perform normal daily tasks or that threaten his or her capacity to
live independently.

9016. "Long-term care" means a coordinated continuum of preventive,
diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, supportive, and maintenance
services that address the health, social, and personal needs of
individuals who have restricted self-care capabilities. Services
shall be designed to recognize the positive capabilities of the
individual and maximize the potential for the optimum level of
physical, social, and mental well-being in the least restrictive
environment. Emphasis shall be placed on seeking services
alternatives to institutionalization. Services may be provided by
formal or informal support systems, and may be continuous or
intermittent. "Long-term care" may include licensed nursing facility,
adult residential care, residential facility for the elderly,
private duty nursing, or home- and community-based services.

9017. "Older Americans Act" means Chapter 35 (commencing with
Section 3001) of Title 42 of the United States Code.

9018. "Older individual" or "elderly" means a person 60 years of
age or older, except where this provision is inconsistent with
federal requirements.

9019. "Personal and community support networks" means families,
friends, neighbors, church groups and community organizations to
which the elderly turn naturally to for assistance.

9020. "Planning and service area" means an area specified by the
department as directed by the Older Americans Act of 1965, as
amended.

9021. "Preventive services" means services that avoid dependency
and assist older persons in maintaining their good health,
well-being, and growth.

9022. "Supportive services" means services that maintain
individuals in home environments and avoid institutional care.

9023. "Systems of home and community based services" means an
integrated continuum of service options available locally to older
individuals and functionally impaired adults, through programs
administered by the department who seek to maximize self-care and
independent living in the home or homelike environment.