Report Title:

Caregiver Grant Program; Established

Description:

Establishes a caregiver grant program within the executive office on aging. Establishes criteria for grant qualifications. Appropriates funds for the grant program. Authorizes the hiring of additional personnel to service the grant program.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2107

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to a Hawaii caregiver grant program.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that family caregivers are quickly becoming the new advocates for the aged, a major focus of public policy in recent years. Family caregivers are those who provide care without payment or formal training to their family, friends, neighbors, or even strangers. It is estimated that, nationally, family caregivers provide over $200,000,000,000 of care annually. The legislature also finds that, nationally, formal home care services are estimated to cost about $32,000,000,000 annually and nursing home services cost about $83,000,000,000. In Hawaii, it is estimated that family caregivers provide about $875,000,000 in care on an annual basis.

The legislature further finds that family caregivers are a vital component of the long-term care system and that government needs to support caregivers in this often difficult and costly role. Most people who need long-term care prefer to receive assistance and services at home and to stay in their communities, near family and friends, for as long as possible. Family caregivers provide over eighty per cent of home care services and over ninety per cent of all long-term care services. At least seventy-five per cent of all family care is provided by women. About two-thirds of older people living in the community rely solely on informal help, mainly from wives and adult daughters. Caregiving itself has become harder for all family caregivers partly because those who need long-term care are living longer with chronic illness and disabilities.

As long-term care costs continue to rise, it is in the interest of the State to devise mechanisms to assist family caregivers who care for the elderly and those who require at-home long-term care by keeping them off medicaid and out of costly nursing homes. Families can be an important part of the solution to serious long-term care system problems such as budget and workforce shortages. Family caregivers can relieve state spending on nursing home care. During times of fiscal discipline, family caregiving can be a way to reduce costs without hurting the people the State is trying to serve.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a Hawaii caregiver grant program to assist family caregivers in offsetting the costs of caring for a mentally or physically impaired relative.

SECTION 2. Chapter 349, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by designating sections 349-1 through 349-14 as part I, entitling part I as "Administration", and by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Part . HAWAII CAREGIVER GRANT PROGRAM

§349-A Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Activities of daily living" means bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, bowel control, bladder control, and eating or feeding.

"Assistance" means aid that is required to be provided by another person in order to safely complete the activity.

"Care for a mentally or physically impaired relative" means assistance with the activities of daily living provided to such relative when the relative has been screened and has been found to be eligible, in accordance with relevant state standards, for placement and medicaid reimbursement for services in an assisted-living facility or a nursing home or for receiving community-based long-term care services.

"Caregiver" means an adult with a Hawaii adjusted gross family income of not more than $50,000, is a relative of a mentally or physically impaired person, and who provides care for a mentally or physically impaired relative within the State.

"Fund" means the Hawaii caregiver grant program special fund established under section 349-C.

"Mentally or physically impaired relative" means a relative who is a resident of Hawaii that requires assistance with two or more activities of daily living during a period of more than six months.

"Relative" means a spouse, child, father, mother, sibling, or other person who is related by blood, marriage, or adoption, a legal guardian, or a reciprocal beneficiary as that term is defined in section 572C-3.

§349-B Hawaii caregiver grant program; established. (a) There is established a Hawaii caregiver grant program under which any caregiver who provides care for a mentally or physically impaired relative shall be eligible to receive an annual caregiver grant in the amount of not more than $500. The grants under this part shall be paid, from the fund established under section 349-C, to the caregiver during the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the care for a mentally or physically impaired relative was provided. The total amount of grants to be paid under this part for any year shall not exceed the amount appropriated by the legislature to the fund for payment to caregivers for that year.

(b) Only one grant shall be allowed annually for each mentally or physically impaired relative receiving care under this section. Multiple caregivers providing care to the same mentally or physically impaired relative shall be eligible to share the $500 grant, as mutually agreed upon by the caregivers; provided that only one caregiver may submit a grant application for the mentally or physically impaired relative. A caregiver providing care to more than one eligible mentally or physically impaired relative shall submit a separate grant application for each mentally or physically impaired relative receiving care. Priority for grants available under the grant program shall be given to caregivers that care for persons having the greatest social and economic need, particularly low-income individuals, and persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

(c) The mentally or physically impaired relative receiving care may live in the caregiver's home or in the mentally or physically impaired person's own home, but shall not be receiving medicaid-reimbursed community long-term care services, other than on a temporary or periodic basis, or living in a nursing home or other assisted living facility where assistance with activities of daily living is already provided and the cost of such assistance is included in the monthly bill or rental fee.

(d) The executive office on aging may hire one full-time professional staff person and one full-time clerical staff person to administer the grant program.

§349-C Hawaii caregiver grant program special fund; established. (a) There is established in the state treasury a Hawaii caregiver grant program special fund, which shall be administered by the executive office on aging.

(b) The fund shall include moneys as may be appropriated by the legislature from time to time and designated for the fund. The fund shall be used solely for the payment of grants to caregivers pursuant to this part; provided that not more than five per cent of the balance of the fund may be expended for administering the fund, including but not limited to the salary and benefits of one full-time professional staff person and one full-time clerical staff person employed to administer the grant program established under this part.

(c) At the end of each fiscal year, unexpended moneys in the fund shall remain part of the fund and shall be available for grant allocations under this part in ensuing fiscal years.

§349-D Grant application process; administration. (a) Grant applications shall be submitted by caregivers to the executive office on aging between February 1 and May 1 of the year following the calendar year in which the care for a mentally or physically impaired relative was provided. Failure to meet the application deadline shall render the caregiver ineligible to receive a grant for care provided during the previous calendar year.

(b) Applications for grants shall include:

(1) Proof of the caregiver's income;

(2) Certification by the private physician who has screened the mentally or physically impaired relative and found the person to be eligible, in accordance with relevant state regulations, for placement in an assisted-living facility or a nursing home or for receiving community long-term care services;

(3) The mentally or physically impaired relative's place of residence; and

(4) Such other relevant information as the executive office on aging may reasonably require.

Any caregiver applying for a grant pursuant to this part shall affirm, by signing and submitting the caregiver's application for a grant, that the mentally or physically impaired relative for whom the caregiver provided care and the care provided meet the criteria set forth in this part.

As a condition of receipt of a grant, a caregiver shall agree to make available to the executive office on aging for inspection, upon request, all relevant and applicable documents to determine whether the caregiver meets the requirements for the receipt of grants as set forth in this part, and to consent to the use by the executive office on aging of all relevant information relating to eligibility for the requested grant.

(c) The executive office on aging shall review applications for grants and determine eligibility and the amount of the grant to be allocated to each eligible caregiver. If the moneys in the fund are less than the amount of grants to which applicants are eligible for caregiver services provided in the preceding calendar year, the moneys in the fund shall be apportioned among eligible applicants pro rata, based upon the amount of the grant for which an applicant is eligible and the amount of money in the fund.

(d) The executive office on aging shall certify to the comptroller the amount of grant to be allocated to eligible caregiver applicants. Payments shall be made by check issued by the comptroller. The comptroller shall not issue checks under the grant program if the balance contained in the fund is insufficient to cover the costs of the grant program.

(e) The executive office on aging shall establish rules and procedures pursuant to chapter 91 to effectuate the caregiver grant program. Actions of the executive office on aging relating to the review, allocation, and awarding of grants shall be exempt from chapter 91. Decisions of the executive office on aging regarding the approval or denial of grant applications under the grant program shall be final and not subject to review or appeal.

§349-E Confidentiality of information. Except in accordance with a valid judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, any employee or former employee of the executive office on aging shall not divulge any information acquired by the employee or former employee in the performance of the employee's or former employee's duties with respect to the income or grant eligibility of any caregiver submitted pursuant to this part. This section shall not apply to:

(1) Acts performed or information published in the course of duty under law;

(2) Inquiries and investigations to obtain information as to the implementation of this part by a duly constituted committee of the legislature, or when such an inquiry or investigation is relevant to its study; provided that the information shall be confidential; or

(3) The publication of statistics in a manner so as to prevent the identification of particular caregivers."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for deposit into the caregiver special fund established under section 2 of this Act.

SECTION 4. In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2011.

INTRODUCED BY:

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