Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to make it the duty of the Assistant Secretary of Aging, acting through the designee responsible for elder abuse prevention and services, to: (1) establish best practices for state-based enforcement of a Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights through a Plan for Enforcement, (2) assist states with the development of such Bills of Rights and Plans for Enforcement to support the shift from institutional care to home and community-based long-term care (LTC) services, and (3) develop and use a process for review and approval of state Home Care Consumer Bills of Rights and Plans for Enforcement.
Establishes additional state plan requirements, including that a state have a Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights and a Plan for Enforcement.
Requires the Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights to address a home care consumer's right to: (1) basic safety; (2) information access; (3) choice, participation, and self-determination; (4) care and services provided in a way that promotes each consumer's dignity and individuality; and (5) redress of grievances. Requires the Bill of Rights also to address the role and responsibilities that fiduciaries may have in securing these rights of home care consumers.
Requires that any allotment for vulnerable elder rights protection activities be used to develop a State Home Care Consumer Bill of Rights and Plan for Enforcement.
Directs the Assistant Secretary to establish a National Adult Protective Services Resources Center to: (1) improve the capacity of state and local adult protective services programs, and (2) coordinate with the Home Care Ombudsman Program and Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program to protect home care consumers and residents of LTC facilities most effectively.
Authorizes appropriations for State Home Care Ombudsman Programs. Directs the Assistant Secretary of Aging to award competitive grants to states for such Programs.
Requires the Assistant Secretary of Aging, in implementing Aging and Disability Resource Centers in all states, to: (1) provide quality assurance information about home and community-based LTC programs, service providers, and resources when referring consumers to them; and (2) identify quality assurance standards for such programs, providers, and resources.
The summary continues for 1 more paragraph. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on October 20, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 20, 2011: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Al Franken (D-MN) introduced it on October 20, 2011, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on October 20, 2011, 5439 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5439 days ago, on October 20, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers