Continued Funding for Senior Services During COVID–19 Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 440 To provide continued funding for services under the Older Americans Act of 1965, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. KELLY, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. PETERS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. SMITH, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To provide continued funding for services under the Older Americans Act of 1965, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Continued Funding 4 for Senior Services During COVID–19 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONTINUED FUNDING FOR SERVICES UNDER THE 6 OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is appropriated, out of 8 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S440.IS S440 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 440 IS the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, for an addi- 1 tional amount for ‘‘Aging and Disability Services Pro- 2 grams’’ within the Administration for Community Living, 3 for activities authorized under the Older Americans Act 4 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), $1,529,500,000, to re- 5 main available until expended, of which— 6 (1) $480,000,000 shall be available for pro- 7 viding supportive services under part B of title III 8 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 9 3030d et seq.), including— 10 (A) for efforts to ensure that older individ- 11 uals have access to legal assistance by sup- 12 porting the network of legal services in the 13 State for older individuals, which may include— 14 (i) supporting the State in maintain- 15 ing or developing a legal hotline for older 16 individuals; and 17 (ii) supporting other legal assistance 18 services authorized under part B of title 19 III of such Act; 20 (B) for efforts to provide services to sup- 21 port older individuals with limited English pro- 22 ficiency in addressing concerns as a result of 23 COVID–19; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S440.IS S440 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 440 IS (C) for efforts related to COVID–19 vac- 1 cination outreach, including education, commu- 2 nication, transportation, and other activities to 3 facilitate vaccination of older individuals; and 4 (D) for prevention and mitigation activities 5 related to COVID–19 focused on addressing ex- 6 tended social isolation among older individuals, 7 including activities for investments in techno- 8 logical equipment and solutions or other strate- 9 gies aimed at alleviating negative health effects 10 of social isolation due to long-term stay-at-home 11 recommendations for older individuals for the 12 duration of the COVID–19 public health emer- 13 gency; 14 (2) $750,000,000 shall be available for pro- 15 viding nutrition services under subparts 1 and 2 of 16 part C of title III of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3030e et 17 seq.); 18 (3) $44,000,000 shall be available for providing 19 evidence-based disease prevention and health pro- 20 motion services and information under part D of 21 title III of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3030m et seq.); 22 (4) $145,000,000 shall be available for pro- 23 viding caregiver services under part E of title III of 24 such Act (42 U.S.C. 3030s et seq.); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S440.IS S440 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 440 IS (5) $75,500,000 shall be available for providing 1 activities for health, independence, and longevity 2 under titles II and IV of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3011 3 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 3031 et seq.), of which— 4 (A) $500,000 shall be available for car- 5 rying out section 417 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 6 3032f); and 7 (B) $75,000,000 shall be available for the 8 Research, Demonstration, and Evaluation Cen- 9 ter for the Aging Network under section 201(g) 10 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3011(g)); 11 (6) $25,000,000 shall be available for providing 12 supportive services, including nutrition services, 13 under title VI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3057 et seq.); 14 and 15 (7) $10,000,000 shall be available to carry out 16 the long-term care ombudsman program under title 17 VII of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3058 et seq.). 18 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF MATCHING REQUIRE- 19 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 20 State matching requirements under sections 304(d)(1)(D) 21 and 309(b)(2) of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 22 U.S.C. 3024(d)(1)(D); 42 U.S.C. 3029(b)(2)) shall not 23 apply to any funds made available under subsection (a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S440.IS S440 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 440 IS (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘older 1 individual’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given such 2 terms in section 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 3 (42 U.S.C. 3002). 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S440.IS S440 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS