SECTIONS 9000-9023

9000.  This division shall be known, and may be cited, as theMello-Granlund Older Californians Act, that reflects the policymandates and directives of the Older Americans Act of 1965, asamended, and sets forth the state's commitment to its olderpopulation and other populations served by the programs administeredby the California Department of Aging.9001.  The Legislature hereby finds and recognizes all of thefollowing: (a) Older individuals constitute a fundamental resource of thestate that previously has been undervalued and poorly utilized, andways must be found to enable older individuals to apply theircompetence, wisdom, and experience for the benefit of allCalifornians. (b) There is a continuing increase in the number of olderindividuals in proportion to the total population. (c) Today, 14 percent of California's population currently is 60years of age and over. (d) By the year 2010, the first influx of baby boomers willconstitute 29.2 percent of California's total population over 60years of age. By the year 2020, baby boomers will constitute 70.2percent of California's total population over 60 years of age. (e) By the year 2020, older individuals will represent 21 percentof California's total population. (f) While the number of persons over 60 years of age is increasingrapidly, the number of older women, minorities and persons over theage of 75 are increasing at an even greater rate. (g) Among persons over 75 years of age, there is a higherincidence of functional disabilities. (h) The social and health problems of the older individual arefurther compounded by inaccessibility to existing services and by theunavailability of a complete range of services. (i) Services to older individuals are administered by manydifferent agencies and departments at both the state and local level. (j) The planning and delivery of these services is not carried outwith any degree of coordination among those agencies. (k) Enhanced coordination reduces duplication, eliminatesinefficiencies, and enhances service delivery for the consumer. (l) The ability of the constantly increasing number of aged in thestate to maintain self-sufficiency and personal well-being with thedignity to which their years of labor entitle them and to realizetheir maximum potential as creative and productive individuals arematters of profound importance and concern for all of the people ofthis state.9002.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Programs shall be initiated, promoted, and developed throughall 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 andoperation of all programs and services that may affect them. (b) It shall be the policy of this state to give attention to theunique concerns of our most frail and vulnerable older individuals. (c) Recognizing the diversity in geography, economy, culture, andlifestyles in California and the diversity of local senior citizennetworks, it shall be the policy of this state to encourage andemphasize local control to achieve the most effective blend of stateand local authority. (d) In recognition of the many governmental programs servingseniors, and as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) ofSection 9102, the California Department of Aging should coordinate,as existing resources permit, with other state departments in doingall of the following: (1) Promote clear and simplified access to information assistanceand services arrangements. (2) Ensure that older individuals retain the right of free choicein planning and managing their lives. (3) Ensure that health and social services are available that doall of the following: (A) Allow older individuals to live independently at home or withothers. (B) Provide for advocacy for expansion of existing programs thatprevent or minimize illness or social isolation, and allowindividuals to maximize their dignity and choice of living. (C) Provide for protection of older individuals from physical andmental abuse, neglect, and fraudulent practices. (4) Foster both preventive and primary health care, includingmental and physical health care, to keep older individuals active andcontributing members of society. (5) Encourage public and private development of suitable housing. (6) Develop and seek support for plans to ensure access toinformation, counseling, and screening. (7) Encourage public and private development of suitable housingand recreational opportunities to meet the needs of olderindividuals. (8) Encourage development of efficient community servicesincluding access to low-cost transportation services, that provide achoice in supported living arrangements and social assistance in acoordinated manner and that are readily available when needed. (9) Encourage and develop meaningful employment opportunities forolder individuals. (10) Encourage the development of barrier-free construction andthe removal of architectural barriers, so that more facilities areaccessible to older individuals. (11) Promote development of programs to educate persons who workwith older individuals in gerontology and geriatrics. (12) Encourage and support intergenerational programming andparticipation by community organizations and institutions to promotebetter understanding among the generations. (e) The California Department of Aging shall ensure that, to theextent possible, the services provided for in accordance with thisdivision shall be coordinated and integrated with services providedto older individuals by other entities of the state. That integrationmay include, but not be limited to, the reconfiguration of statedepartments into a coordinated unit that can provide for multipleservices to the same consumers. Services provided under this divisionshall be managed, directly or through contract, by local areaagencies on aging or other local systems.9003.  (a) If any section of this code relating to aging cannot begiven effect without causing this state's plan to be out ofconformity with federal requirements, the section shall becomeinoperative to the extent that it is not in conformity with federalrequirements. (b) The planning, development, and implementation of changes inthis division shall encourage and allow concurrent implementation andoperation of a long-term care integration pilot project consistentwith the intent of Article 4.05 (commencing with Section 14139.05) ofChapter 7 of Part 3 of Division 9. In implementing changes to thisdivision, the department shall work with the State Department ofHealth Services to ensure local determination and local designationof the most appropriate long-term care services agency for eachLong-Term Care Integration Pilot Project site.9004.  Unless the context otherwise indicates, the definitions ofthe terms set forth in this chapter apply for purposes of thisdivision.9004.5.  "Adult day health care" means an organized day program oftherapeutic, social, and health activities and services providedpursuant to this division to elderly persons with functionalimpairments, either physical or mental, for the purpose of restoringor maintaining optimum capacity for self-care. When provided on ashort-term basis, adult day health care serves as a transition from ahealth facility or home health program to personal independence.When provided on a long-term basis, adult day health care services asan option to institutionalization in long-term care facilities, when24-hour skilled nursing care is not medically necessary or viewed asdesirable by the recipient or his or her family.9005.  "Advisory council" means a specific representative body oflaypersons and service providers that represent the interests ofolder individuals within the boundaries of a planning and servicearea 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 publicagency designated by the department that works for the interests ofolder Californians within a planning and service area, and engages incommunity planning, coordination, and program development and,through contractual arrangements, provides a broad array of socialand nutritional services.9007.  "Care or case management services" means: (a) Client assessment, in conjunction with the development of aservice plan with the participant and appropriate others, to providefor needs identified by the assessment. (b) Authorization and arrangement for the purchase of services, orreferral, with follow-up, to volunteer, informal, or third-partypayer services. (c) Service and participant monitoring to determine that servicesobtained were appropriate to need, adequate to meet the need, ofacceptable quality, and provided in a timely manner. (d) Followup with clients, including periodic contact andinitiation of an interim assessment, if deemed necessary prior toscheduled reassessment.9008.  "Commission" means the California Commission on Aging.9010.  "Comprehensive and coordinated system" means a program ofinterrelated social and nutrition services designed to meet the needsof 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 ofAging.9013.  "Frail elderly" means a person having those chronic physicalor mental limitations that restrict individual ability to carry outnormal activities of daily living and that threaten an individual'scapacity to live an independent life.9014.  "Greatest economic need" means the need resulting from anincome level at or below the poverty threshold established by theBureau of the Census.9015.  "Greatest social need" means the need caused by noneconomicfactors, that include physical and mental disabilities, languagebarriers, cultural or social isolation, including that caused byracial and ethnic status (for example, Black, Hispanic, AmericanIndian, and Asian American), that restrict an individual's ability toperform normal daily tasks or that threaten his or her capacity tolive independently.9016.  "Long-term care" means a coordinated continuum of preventive,diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, supportive, and maintenanceservices that address the health, social, and personal needs ofindividuals who have restricted self-care capabilities. Servicesshall be designed to recognize the positive capabilities of theindividual and maximize the potential for the optimum level ofphysical, social, and mental well-being in the least restrictiveenvironment. Emphasis shall be placed on seeking servicesalternatives to institutionalization. Services may be provided byformal or informal support systems, and may be continuous orintermittent. "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 withSection 3001) of Title 42 of the United States Code.9018.  "Older individual" or "elderly" means a person 60 years ofage or older, except where this provision is inconsistent withfederal requirements.9019.  "Personal and community support networks" means families,friends, neighbors, church groups and community organizations towhich the elderly turn naturally to for assistance.9020.  "Planning and service area" means an area specified by thedepartment as directed by the Older Americans Act of 1965, asamended.9021.  "Preventive services" means services that avoid dependencyand assist older persons in maintaining their good health,well-being, and growth.9022.  "Supportive services" means services that maintainindividuals in home environments and avoid institutional care.9023.  "Systems of home and community based services" means anintegrated continuum of service options available locally to olderindividuals and functionally impaired adults, through programsadministered by the department who seek to maximize self-care andindependent living in the home or homelike environment.