Legislation

The 2022 legislative year began on January 3 and adjourned for the year on August 31. The Assembly introduced 1,566 measures, and the Senate introduced 787. Of these, the Governor signed or allowed to become law without his signature 1,273 bills and vetoed 169. Most of the chaptered measures become effective on January 1, 2023.

This report provides a summary of chaptered legislation for the 2022 legislative year that relates to the Master Plan for Aging.

Goal 1: Housing for All Ages and Stages

More Housing Options:

• AB 323 (Becker, Chapter 364, Statutes of 2021) Senior citizens: intergenerational housing developments.
  This bill permits the establishment of intergenerational housing developments that include older adults along with caregivers and transition age youth.

• AB 1551 (Santiago, Chapter 637, Statutes of 2022) Planning and zoning: development bonuses: mixed-use projects.
  This bill seeks to help address California’s affordable housing crisis by extending the sunset on the previously enacted density bonus program for commercial properties to January 1, 2028. By requiring local governments to provide density bonuses to housing developers, the density bonus program seeks to increase the number of available affordable housing units.

• AB 2011 (Wicks, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2022) Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022.
  This bill enacts the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 to promote affordable housing development through creation of a streamlined approval process for 100% affordable housing projects in commercial zones and for mixed-income housing projects along commercial corridors. The bill will also impose specified labor standards on those projects, including requirements that contractors pay prevailing wages, participate in apprenticeship programs, and make specified healthcare expenditures.

• AB 2119 (Flora, Chapter 381, Statutes of 2022) Veterans: Medical Foster Home Program.
  This bill authorizes the California Department of Social Services to establish a program to issue licenses to medical foster homes for veterans as allowed under the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA), as specified.

Outdoor & Community Spaces for All Ages:

• ACR 199 (Bauer-Kahan, Chapter 140, Statutes of 2022) "Parks Make Life Better!" Month.
  This measure recognizes the importance of access to local parks, trails, open space, and facilities for the health, wellness, development, inspiration, and safety of all Californians and declares the month of July 2022 as "Parks Make Life Better!" Month.

Emergency Preparedness & Response:

• AB 2238 (L. Rivas, Chapter 264, Statutes of 2022) Extreme heat: statewide extreme heat ranking system.
  Requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to develop a statewide extreme heat ranking system in coordination with the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, the California Department of Public Health, and the California Department of Insurance.

• AB 2511 (Irwin, Chapter 788, Statutes of 2022) Skilled Nursing Facilities: backup power source.
  This bill requires Skilled Nursing Facilities to have an alternative source of power to protect resident health and safety for no less than 96 hours during any type of power outage.

• AB 2645 (Rodriguez, Chapter 247, Statutes of 2022) Local emergency plans: integration of access and functional needs: Community Resilience Centers.
  This bill requires a county to utilize Community Resilience Centers as community-wide assets during disasters – including extreme heat events – and integrate these centers into their local emergency plans.

Goal 2: Health Reimagined

Bridging Health Care with Home:

• SB 281 (Dodd, Chapter 898, Statutes of 2022) Medi-Cal: Short-Term Community Transitions program.
  This bill extends the sunset by three years for the California Community Transitions (CCT) program that assists eligible residents in institutional settings with transition to a community setting. The bill requires the Department of Health Care Services to extend new CCT enrollment until January 1, 2026 and extend CCT services until January 1, 2027.

• AB 2604 (Calderon, Chapter 534, Statutes of 2022) Long-Term Care Insurance.
  This bill requires Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) providers certified by the California Partnership for Long-Term Care Program (Partnership) to provide lower-cost inflation adjustment options.

Health Care as We Age:

• AB 32 (Aguiar-Curry, Chapter 515, Statutes of 2022) Telehealth.
  This bill permits a health care provider, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) or a rural health clinic (RHC) to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services and when established in accordance with state and federal law, regulations, and guidance. Additionally, the bill permits a health care provider, an FQHC, or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video, and when established in accordance with state and federal law, regulations, and guidance.

• AB 2352 (Nazarian, Chapter 590, Statutes of 2022) Prescription drug coverage.
  Requires a health care service plan (health plan) or health insurer to furnish specified information about a prescription drug upon request by an enrollee or insured, or their prescribing provider. Prohibits a health plan or health insurer from restricting a prescribing provider from sharing the information furnished about the prescription drug, including information about the cash price of the drug, or penalizing a provider for prescribing, administering, or ordering a lower cost or clinically appropriate alternative drug.

• SB 838 (Pan, Chapter 603, Statutes of 2022) Health care: prescription drugs.
  This bill requires the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS)to enter into a partnership to manufacture at least one form of insulin, to be made available at production and dispensing costs. This bill also requires this partnership to include representation and involvement with the governance of the contractor entity. In addition, this bill requires CalHHS, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to develop a California-based manufacturing facility for generic drugs.

• AB 2127 (Santiago, Chapter 118, Statutes of 2022) Health care coverage: dependent adults.
  This bill clarifies that a health care service plan, a health insurer, or a solicitor is required to provide an individual with the name, address, and telephone number of the local Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy (HICAP) program.

• AB 2288 (Choi, Chapter 21, Statutes of 2022) Advance Health Care Directives: mental health treatment.
  This bill clarifies that Advance Health Care Directives include mental health and treatment and makes more prominent the requirement that the advanced health care directive be either notarized or witnessed by two qualified individuals.

• SB 923 (Wiener, Chapter 822, Statutes of 2022) Gender-affirming care.
  This bill requires health plans and insurers to require support staff who are in direct contact with enrollees or insureds to complete evidence-based cultural competency training for the purpose of providing trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as transgender, gender diverse, or intersex (TGI). This bill adds processes to continuing medical education requirements related to cultural and linguistic competency for physician and surgeons specific to gender-affirming care services, as specified.

Lifelong Healthy Aging:

• AB 988 (Bauer-Kahan, Chapter 747, Statutes of 2022) Mental health: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
  This bill enacts the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act. The bill outlines a number of requirements for the Office of Emergency Services to implement the technology and related provisions for the 998 and 911 centers, as specified.

• AB 2145 (Davies, Chapter 157, Statutes of 2022) Dental services: long-term health care facilities.
  This bill provides that a Registered Dental Hygienist in Alternative Practice may provide dental hygiene services to a patient in a long-term care facility, as specified. The bill also authorizes a Registered Dental Hygienist in alternative practice to provide oral health in-service training to staff in a long-term health care facility.

Nursing Home Innovation:

• AB 1502 (Muratsuchi, Chapter 578, Statutes of 2022) Freestanding Skilled Nursing Facilities.
  This bill would prohibit a person or an applicant for licensure from acquiring, operating, establishing, managing, conducting, or maintaining a freestanding Skilled Nursing Facility without first obtaining a license from the State Department of Public Health for that purpose.

• AB 1907 (Bauer-Kahan, Chapter 277 Statutes of 2022) Long-term health care facilities: inspections.
  This bill extends the maximum period between inspections of a Skilled Nursing Facility from 2 years to 30 months and deletes obsolete references to a health facility inspections program.

• SB 1227 (Eggman, Chapter 619, Statutes of 2022) Involuntary commitment: intensive treatment.
  This bill permits a second up to 30-days of intensive treatment period under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act for a person who is still in need of intensive services and the certification for an additional up-to 30 days has begun, as specified.

Goal 3: Inclusion and Equity, not Isolation

Inclusion & Equity in Aging:

• ACR 115 (Nguyen, Chapter 84, Statutes of 2022) Older Americans Month.
  Recognizes the month of May 2022 as Older Americans Month and encourages all Californians to recognize and treat all older adults with compassion and respect, and to participate in services and activities that contribute to the health, welfare, and happiness of older adults.

• AB 325 (Irwin, Chapter 377, Statutes of 2022) Veterans: discharge upgrades.
  This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish the Veteran’s Military Discharge Upgrade Grant program to help fund service providers that will educate veterans about the discharge upgrade process and assist eligible veterans to apply. The bill will assist LGBTQ veterans discharged under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) in updating their records and accessing education, health, burial, and other benefits available to honorably discharged service members.

Closing the Digital Divide:

• AB 2750 (Bonta, Chapter 597, Statutes of 2022) Department of Technology: state digital equity plan.
  This bill requires the Department of Technology, in consultation with the public, the Public Utilities Commission and the California Broadband Council, to develop a state digital equity plan by January 1, 2024.

• HR 125 (Reyes, 2022) Relative to Communications.
  Resolves that the Assembly urges the United States Congress to pass, and the President of the United States to sign, legislation to endow a mission-driven Digital Equity Foundation to make sustainable investments in digital literacy and inclusion.

Opportunities to Work:

• AB 1195 (Garcia, Chapter 892, Statutes of 2022) Limited Eligibility and Appointment Program: lists.
  This bill seeks to enhance opportunities for employment of people with disabilities by requiring the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to provide a Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP)employment referral list to a state agency upon the agency’s request, and other specifications as outlined. The LEAP is an alternative examination program for people with disabilities that offers a means of assessing the qualifications and skills of job applicants with disabilities for employment by the state.

Protection from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation:

• SCR 112 (Dodd, Chapter 111, Statutes of 2022) Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month.
  This Resolution proclaims and acknowledges the month of June 2022 as Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in California and reiterates the importance of annually recognizing Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in the state.

• AB 1663 (Maienschein, Chapter 894, Statutes of 2022) Protective proceedings.
  This bill revises how probate conservatorships are investigated, established, and terminated; revises who may serve as conservator for individuals with developmental disabilities; requires the Judicial Council, subject to an appropriation, to establish a conservatorship alternatives program within each self-help center; establishes voluntary supported decision making as a way to help individuals with disabilities; and requires the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, subject to an appropriation, to administer a statewide Supported Decision making Technical Assistance Program.

• AB 895 (Holden, Chapter 577, Statutes of 2022) Skilled Nursing Facilities, intermediate care facilities, and residential care facilities for the elderly: notice to prospective residents.
  This bill requires a Skilled Nursing or an intermediate care facility to provide a prospective resident of the skilled Nursing facility or intermediate care facility, or their representative, prior to or at the time of admission, a written notice that includes specified contact information for the local Long-Term Care Ombudsman and links to specified internet websites relating to these facilities.

• AB 1855 (Nazarian, Chapter 583, Statutes of 2022) Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program: facility access.
  This bill prohibits a Skilled Nursing Facility or Residential Care Facility for the Elderly from denying entry to a representative of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program acting in their official capacity, except as specified. The bill authorizes a facility, during a state of emergency, health emergency, or local health emergency to require a representative of the office entering the facility to adhere to infection control protocols for the duration of their visit that are no more stringent than those required for facility staff.

• AB 2275 (Wood, Chapter 960, Statutes of 2022) Mental health: involuntary commitment.
  This bill makes various clarifications and changes to the processes for involuntary detentions under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, including specifying timeframes for when involuntary holds begin and for conducting certification review hearings and judicial reviews.

• AB 1720 (Holden, Chapter 581, Statutes of 2022) Care facilities: criminal background checks.
  This bill authorizes the California Department of Social Services to grant a simplified criminal record exemption to an applicant seeking a license or position within various community care facilities, as specified, and removes the requirement for those applicants to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury before the receipt of live scan results regarding prior criminal convictions.

• AB 1929 (Gabriel, Chapter 154, Statutes of 2022) Medi-Cal benefits: violence prevention services.
  This bill adds violence prevention services as a covered benefit under Medi-Cal, subject to medical necessity and utilization controls. The bill authorizes the Department of Health Care Services to implement, interpret, or make specific that provision by means of all-county letters, plan letters, or plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions until regulations are adopted.

• AB 2338 (Gipson, Chapter 782, Statutes of 2022) Health care decisions: decisionmakers and surrogates.
  Creates a list of relatives who can make medical decisions for an incapacitated adult who does not otherwise have a legally recognized health care decisionmaker.

• SB 1054

  (Ochoa Bogh, Chapter 506, Statutes of 2022) Public social services: records: confidentiality: multidisciplinary personnel.
  This bill specifies that confidentiality provisions relating to applications and records concerning any form of public social services includes protective services provided through public social services agencies. This bill also authorizes employees of a county’s Adult Protective Services agency (APS) or a county’s child welfare agency to disclose information for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect or the abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult, as specified.

• SB 1342 (Bates, Chapter 621, Statutes of 2022) Aging multidisciplinary personnel teams.
  This bill authorizes an Area Agency on Aging or a county, or both, to establish an aging multidisciplinary personnel team with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of older adults to services and to allow provider agencies to share confidential information for the purpose of coordinating services. The bill requires the sharing of information permitted under these provisions to be governed by protocols developed by each Area Agency on Aging or county, as specified, and requires each Area Agency on Aging or county to provide a copy of its protocols to the California Department of Aging.

Goal 4: Caregiving That Works

Friends & Family Caregiving Support:

• AB 1041 (Wicks, Chapter 748, Statutes of 2022) Employment: leave.
  This bill expands the list of individuals for which an employee can take leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to include a "designated person", by the employee, and allows an employer to limit the employee to one designated person per 12-month period for family care and medical leave.

• SB 114 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 4, Statutes of 2022) Employment: COVID-19: supplemental paid sick leave.
  This bill outlines specifications for COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for covered employees who are unable to work or telework due to COVID-19, including caring for a family member, as specified.

• SB 951 (Durazo, Chapter 878, Statutes of 2022) Unemployment insurance: contribution rates: disability insurance: paid family leave: weekly benefit amount.
  This bill extends the existing wage replacement rates for the State Disability (SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs, set to sunset January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2025. The bill also revises the formulas for determining benefits under both programs to provide an increased wage replacement rate ranging from 70-90%.

• SB 1058 (Durazo, Chapter 317, Statutes of 2022) Disability insurance: paid family leave: demographic data.
  This bill requires the Employment Development Department to collect demographic data for individuals participating in the State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave programs to inform outreach efforts. This includes race and ethnicity data and sexual orientation and gender identity data.

Direct Care Workforce:

• AB 2697 (Aguiar-Curry, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2022) Medi-Cal: community health worker services.
  This bill codifies the requirement that Community Health Worker services be a covered Medi-Cal benefit. Additionally, the bill requires Medi-Cal managed care plans to engage in outreach and education efforts to enrollees. Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Health Care Services, to engage stakeholders implementation of the Community Health Worker services benefit.

Goal 5: Affording Aging

Ending Older Adult Homelessness:

• AB 2483 (Maienschein, Chapter 655, Statutes of 2022) Housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.
  Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to award incentives in the Multi-family Housing Program (MHP) to developments that set aside a percentage of units for people experiencing homelessness who are receiving specified Medi-Cal services.

• SB 1421 (Jones, Chapter 671, Statutes of 2022) California Interagency Council on Homelessness.
  This bill adds a current or formerly homeless person with a developmental disability to the California Interagency Council on Homelessness Advisory Committee.

Income Security as We Age:

• AB 305 (Maienschein, Chapter 376, Statutes of 2022) Veteran services: notice.
  This bill requires specified governmental agencies to modify intake and application forms to determine affiliation with the Armed Forces of the United States and notify the individual of potential eligibility for state and federal Veterans’ benefits.

• SB 1126 (Cortese, Chapter 192, Statutes of 2022) CalSavers: retirement savings.
  This bill requires eligible employers with one or more eligible employees that do not offer a retirement savings program to have a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement by December 31, 2025, to allow employee participation in the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program.

• SJR 5 (Wilk, Chapter 181, Statutes of 2022) Social Security benefits: COVID-19.
  Urges the United States Congress to amend the United States Social Security Administration's index of earnings to ensure that a decline in aggregate wages due to COVID-19 does not result in decreased benefits.

• SJR 11 (Skinner, Chapter 157, Statutes of 2022) The Social Security 2100 Act: A Sacred Trust.
  This Resolution affirms the Legislature’s support for expanding Social Security and requests California Representatives in Congress to support expanding Social Security by voting in favor of the Social Security 2100 Act: A Sacred Trust.

2021 Chaptered Legislation Report