Bill Text: CA SB431 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Grandparents: caregivers support.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB431 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB431-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 21, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 431
| Introduced by Senator Nguyen (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chen, Dixon, Lackey, and Quirk-Silva) |
February 13, 2023 |
An act to add and repeal Section 9101.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to aging.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 431, as amended, Nguyen.
Grandparents: caregivers support.
Existing law establishes the California Department of Aging within the California Health and Human Services Agency to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike environments. Existing law requires the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Director of the California Department of Aging, to lead the development and implementation of the Master Plan for Aging established pursuant to Executive Order N-14-19.
Existing law also establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of the dependent child’s parent or guardian and establishes procedures to determine the placement of a dependent child. Existing law requires foster care placement, if
possible, to be made in the home of a relative unless the placement would not be in the best interest of the child. Existing law establishes the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program (Kin-GAP), which provides aid on behalf of eligible children who are placed in the home of a relative guardian, and the Kinship Support Services Program to provide community-based support services to relative caregivers and children placed in their homes.
This bill would require the California Department of Aging, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the State Department of Social Services, to conduct a study to examine the issues faced by grandparents who are 60 years of age or older and are primary caregivers for their grandchildren, and requires the California Department of Aging to report the findings of the study to the Legislature.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) There are no current studies of the number of grandparents 60 years of age or older who are raising their grandchildren. However, there is significant anecdotal evidence that in California as many as 20 percent of schoolage children have a grandparent as their primary caregiver.
(b) Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 8800) of Part 2 of Division 13 of the Family Code is critical and protects minors, but adults 60 years of age or older require assistance, including, but not limited to, help interpreting those statutes because
the statutory language can be a maze.
(c) The process and cost for adults 60 years of age or older who provide care to their grandchildren is problematic. This issue is becoming more prominent by the day.
(d) Grandparents who are 60 years of age or older are normally on fixed incomes with nominal increases. Their alternative to address the costs arising from having custody of and supporting a grandchild is to have the State Department of Social Services involved, providing child support at a very high cost to the state.
(e) There is a need to review the public and private sector processes and procedures to determine effective ways to deal with this issue.
(f) While California’s Master Plan for Aging covers a comprehensive set of aging issues, it does not cover a grandparent who is the primary caregiver for a grandchild.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that the agencies who are involved with the issue conduct a comprehensive review of this issue, placing emphasis on impacts to the individuals who are 60 years of age or older and who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren.
SEC. 2.
Section 9101.2 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:9101.2.
(a) The department, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the State Department of Social Services, shall conduct a study to determine all of the following:(1) The financial, emotional, and legal support needed, as well as the resources required, for the individuals who are 60 years of age or older and who have taken responsibility for their grandchildren.
(2) The inequities that may exist in support and offerings for guardianship and adoptions relating to grandparents 60 years of age or older who are raising their grandchildren.
(3) What else can be done to expedite the process of placing grandchildren with their grandparents and to assist with the related expenses.
(4) Whether this problem should be included in California’s Master Plan for Aging.
(b) (1) The department shall report the findings of the study to the Legislature.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2028.
