Bill Text: PA HR107 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study and issue a report to the General Assembly on the impact of expanding the powers and duties of the Department of Aging to include administration of certain programs currently administered by the Department of Public Welfare.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 28-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-03-03 - Referred to AGING AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES [HR107 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HR107-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 740
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 107 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY HENNESSEY, BAKER, ADOLPH, BEYER, BOYD, CAUSER, CLYMER, DiGIROLAMO, EVERETT, FLECK, GINGRICH, GROVE, HESS, M. KELLER, W. KELLER, MILLER, MURT, OBERLANDER, O'NEILL, PAYNE, PICKETT, REICHLEY, ROSS, SIPTROTH, SONNEY, STERN, SWANGER, VULAKOVICH AND WATSON, MARCH 3, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON AGING AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES, MARCH 3, 2009
A RESOLUTION
Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study
and issue a report to the General Assembly on the impact of
expanding the powers and duties of the Department of Aging to
include administration of certain programs currently
administered by the Department of Public Welfare.
WHEREAS, The Department of Aging was established by statute
on June 20, 1978, to operate independently of the Department of
Public Welfare; and
WHEREAS, The expressed purpose of establishing the Department
of Aging was to provide a cabinet-level State agency whose
jurisdiction, powers and duties specifically concern and are
directed to advancing the well-being of Pennsylvania’s older
citizens; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has the third largest percentage of
elderly residents in the country, with 20%, or one out of every
five people in this Commonwealth, who are at least 60 years of
age; and
WHEREAS, Specifically there are approximately 2.5 million
Pennsylvanians over 60 years of age and more than 302,000
Pennsylvanians over 85 years of age; and
WHEREAS, Over the next ten years, the number of people who
will be at least 60 years of age is projected to increase by
approximately 9% to 2.6 million people, and the number of people
who will be at least 85 years of age will increase by more than
50% to 365,000; and
WHEREAS, On August 26, 1971, the Pennsylvania Lottery Fund
was established by the act of August 26, 1971 (P.L.351, No.91),
known as the State Lottery Law, for the sole purpose of
providing benefits such as prescription assistance, property tax
and rent rebates, the Shared-Ride Program and fixed route
transportation, and home-based and community-based services
through the network of 52 local area agencies on aging and
approximately 650 senior community centers; and
WHEREAS, A proposal has been made by the Governor's
administration to create a new department that would merge the
Department of Aging with the Office of Long Term Living and
eight existing Medicaid waiver programs; and
WHEREAS, Some of the programs and services proposed to be
transferred to the Department of Aging are designed to focus on
the needs of under-60 populations; and
WHEREAS, The proposed merger would result in changing the
current sole focus of the department from aging issues to
aging-related and disability-related issues not limited to older
citizens, which may not only have policy implications, but also
budget and fiscal implications; and
WHEREAS, Several other states have experienced similar state
agency reorganizations, and it is important to draw upon those
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experiences in order to assure older adults, as well as persons
with disabilities, that the most reasonable and workable
reorganization will occur and result in an agency that best
represents the needs of older adults and persons with
disabilities in this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is a
bipartisan, bicameral legislative services agency whose purpose
is to conduct studies and make recommendations aimed at
eliminating unnecessary expenditures, promoting economy in State
government and assuring that State funds are being expended in
accordance with legislative intent and law; and
WHEREAS, In order to carry out its mandates, the Legislative
Budget and Finance Committee is authorized to conduct a wide
range of research activities pertaining to the operation and
performance of State-funded programs and agencies; therefore be
it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the
Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the economic
impact of establishing a new department that would combine the
Department of Aging, the Office of Long Term Living and eight
Medicaid waiver programs and to study the potential risks and
benefits such activity would have on this Commonwealth; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
solicit input from the stakeholder groups that will be affected
by the creation of such a department; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
prepare a report of its findings which shall include, at a
minimum, all of the following:
(1) identification of all federally and State mandated
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programs and services that will be affected by the
establishment of a new department through combining the
Department of Aging, the Office of Long Term Living and the
eight Medicaid waiver programs;
(2) identification of revenues and expenditures by
source and amount for each of the programs and services;
(3) identification of the number of persons served by
each of the programs and services and their ages; and
(4) identification of other states that have an aging-
related department or agency that is organized in a similar
manner to the merger which is being proposed, including
information regarding the economic impact of reorganization
as well as any risks or benefits experienced by those states
as a result of reorganization;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of the report be transmitted to the
majority and minority chairmen of the Aging and Older Adult
Services Committee, the Appropriations Committee and the Health
and Human Services Committee of the House of Representatives no
later than May 29, 2009.
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