Seniors and People with Disabilities

Assembly Member Cheryl Brown has been a caregiver most of her life and understands the significance of this enormous responsibility. She currently is a caregiver for her husband who has ALS. She has seen firsthand the issues that need to be addressed concerning our seniors and their care.

As Chairwoman of the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, she wrote new laws that invest in California’s most vulnerable citizens, making sure they are not relegated to a life of poverty. Among her greatest victories on behalf of seniors and those with disabilities have been: 

  • -Securing $4.9 million in General Fund dollars for Caregiver Resource Centers through the budget process.
  • -Fighting for an additional 7% increase in funding (a $226-million-dollar increase), for Long-Term Care and In-Home Support Services care givers, that will allow seniors to age in their homes and ultimately save the state billions of dollars in future medical costs (2015).
  • -Introduced legislation that protects seniors by allowing the State to revoke the residential care facility license, and permanently ban from operating a residential care facility and elderly residents in the future. (AB 1899 - 2014)
  • -Authored legislation that will reinstate the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (SSP) recipients. The bill successively increases SSP grants for specific recipients by $21 on January 1, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.  (AB 1584)
  • -Fought to start the California Task Force on Family Caregiving which is required to report to the Legislature their findings on challenges faced by family caregivers, opportunities to improve caregiver support, and to review the current network and the services and supports available to caregivers. (ACR 38 - 2015)
  • -Authored a resolution which memorialized to the Congress and president of the United States to restore federal funding cuts made to senior nutrition programs (AJR 29 - 2014)
  • -Was able to secure $2.4 million to better monitor unannounced facility monitoring visits and complaint investigations and increase the recruitment, supervision, and training of paid and volunteer Ombudsman representatives (2015).

 

Assembly Member Brown’s legislative victories on behalf of seniors has not gone unnoticed as she has been recognized by AARP, which represents over 3 million senior members.

But her list of work and accomplishments do not end there. She has worked with her colleagues in Sacramento to ensure that resources are invested into programs already available to aging and disabled Californians.

  • -Cheryl Brown voted for restoring $1.9 million in funding to the Meals on Wheels program (SB 101 – 2015).
  • -Cheryl Brown supported funding the San Bernardino County program for Disabled Seniors who are dual eligible for Medi-Cal and Medicaid programs – Coordinated Care Initiative (SB 94 -2013-14).
  • -Cheryl Brown supported funding Denti-Cal and restoring dental benefits to seniors and low income families (DENTURES!). (SB 89 – 2013-14).
  • -Cheryl Brown voted for AB 1565 – 2013-14 which authorizes the California Department of Aging to provide grants for nonprofit organizations to provide training, outreach, and education to agencies, individuals, and other appropriate entities that provide services to veterans who are elder and lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
  • -Increased Medi-Cal rates for Programs of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) from 90% to 95% (SB 870 – 2013-14).
  • -Cheryl Brown supported SB 1276 – 2013-14 which expands eligibility for the hospital charity care and discounted payment programs to patients with insurance, when the out-of-pocket expenses exceed 10 percent of the patient's income and defines a "reasonable payment plan" as monthly payments that do not exceed 10 percent of a patient's income after deducting essential living expenses.
  • -Cheryl Brown supported SB 205 – 2013-14 which requires certain information on prescription drug labels to be printed in at least 12-point font beginning on January 1, 2016.
  • -Cheryl Brown voted for establishing hard deadlines to investigate nursing home complaints (SB 75 – 2015).
  • -Required annual, unannounced State inspections of residential care facilities (SB 855 – 2013-14).
  • -Permits DSS to appoint a temporary manager of a residential care facility for 60 days when immediate relocation of the residents is not feasible (SB 855 – 2013-14).

 

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