Strengthening Services for America's Seniors Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S7189-7191)
Strengthening Services for America's Seniors Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Assistant Secretary for Aging in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to states to establish a program to assess the needs of family caregivers for targeted support services.
Allows Aging and Disability Resource Centers to carry out an assessment program with respect to informal caregivers and care recipients.
Establishes an Advisory Committee to Assess, Coordinate, and Improve Legal Assistance Activities for older Americans.
Makes it a duty of the Administration on Aging to reserve and provide specified amounts for FY2012 and subsequent fiscal years for the funding of the National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC).
Authorizes the use of such amounts to enable NORC to: (1) collaborate and participate with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in providing training for state survey agencies with an agreement in effect under the Medicare program; or (2) work with the CMS Administrator, in the case of states without such an agency, to improve the investigative processes used by the center to address complaints by residents of long-term care facilities.
Requires the state to ensure that representatives of the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman shall have access to review all records concerning a resident.
Declares a State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and any representative of the Office, a "health oversight agency," so that release of residents' individually identified health information to the Ombudsman or a representative is not precluded (by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 [HIPAA]) in certain cases.
Imposes confidentiality requirements upon the Ombudsman and each representative of the Office with respect to communications with individuals seeking assistance under this Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on November 8, 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 November 8, 2011: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7189-7191)
- 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?
HERBERT KOHL (D-WI) introduced it on November 8, 2011, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
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 November 8, 2011, 5420 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5420 days ago, on November 8, 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
- SenateIntroduced, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers