Building Age-Friendly Communities Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4827 To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to enhance age-friendly communities for older individuals. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 23, 2019 Mr. CRIST introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to enhance age-friendly communities for older individuals. 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 ‘‘Building Age-Friendly 4 Communities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE ON 6 AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES. 7 Section 203 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 8 U.S.C. 3013) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (b)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4827 IH (A) in paragraph (18) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1 the end, 2 (B) in paragraph (19) by striking the pe- 3 riod at the end, and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(20) section 393D of the Public Health Serv- 6 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 280b–1f), relating to safety of 7 seniors.’’, and 8 (2) in subsection (c)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 10 (i) by striking ‘‘Aging’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘Age-Friendly Communities’’, and 12 (ii) by inserting ‘‘to support the abil- 13 ity of older individuals to age in place, in- 14 cluding through the provision of homeless- 15 ness prevention services, support the abil- 16 ity of older individuals to access preventive 17 health care, promote age-friendly commu- 18 nities, and address the ability of older indi- 19 viduals to access long-term care supports, 20 including access to caregivers and home- 21 and community-based services’’ before the 22 period at the end, 23 (B) in paragraph (4) by inserting ‘‘, except 24 that the first term of a member appointed to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Oct 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4827 IH the Interagency Coordinating Committee on 1 Age-Friendly Communities shall begin not later 2 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 3 the effective date of this exception’’ before the 4 period at the end, 5 (C) in paragraph (5) by striking ‘‘once 6 each year’’ and inserting ‘‘semiannually’’, 7 (D) in paragraph (6)— 8 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 9 (I) in clause (iii) by striking 10 ‘‘and’’ at the end, 11 (II) in clause (iv) by adding 12 ‘‘and’’ at the end, and 13 (III) by adding at the end the 14 following: 15 ‘‘(v) identifying best practices for con- 16 necting older individuals to services for which 17 they may be eligible;’’, 18 (ii) by amending subparagraph (B)(ii) 19 to read as follows: 20 ‘‘(ii) innovations in technology applications 21 (including assistance technology devices and as- 22 sistance technology services) that— 23 ‘‘(I) promote safe and accessible inde- 24 pendent living environments; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Oct 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4827 IH ‘‘(II) give older individuals access to 1 information on available services or help in 2 providing services to older individuals;’’, 3 (E) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘non- 4 governmental experts and organizations, includ- 5 ing public health interest and research groups 6 and foundations’’ and inserting ‘‘nongovern- 7 mental organizations, academic or research in- 8 stitutions, community-based organizations, and 9 philanthropic organizations’’, 10 (F) by redesignating subparagraphs (E), 11 (F), and (G) as subparagraphs (F), (G), and 12 (H), respectively, 13 (G) by inserting after subparagraph (D) 14 the following: 15 ‘‘(E) work with the Centers for Disease Control 16 and Prevention, the National Institute on Aging, 17 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the 18 Housing and Urban Development Office of Lead 19 Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, and other Fed- 20 eral agencies as appropriate, to develop rec- 21 ommendations, in accordance with paragraph (1), to 22 reduce falls among older individuals that incorporate 23 evidence-based falls prevention programs and home 24 modifications to reduce and prevent falls;’’, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4827 IH (H) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(9) In this subsection, the term ‘age-friendly com- 2 munity’ means a community that-— 3 ‘‘(A) is taking steps— 4 ‘‘(i) to include accessible housing, acces- 5 sible spaces and buildings, safe and secure 6 paths, variable route transportation services, 7 and programs and services designed to maintain 8 health and well-being; 9 ‘‘(ii) to respect and include older individ- 10 uals in social opportunities, civic participation, 11 volunteerism, and employment; and 12 ‘‘(iii) to facilitate access to supportive serv- 13 ices for older individuals; and 14 ‘‘(B) has a plan in place to meet local needs for 15 housing, transportation, civic participation, social 16 connectedness, and accessible spaces.’’. 17 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON AGE-FRIENDLY COM- 18 MUNITIES. 19 Section 205(a)(2) of the Older Americans Act of 20 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3016(a)(2)) is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub- 22 paragraph (D), and 23 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4827 IH ‘‘(C) The Assistant Secretary may provide technical 1 assistance, including through the regional offices of the 2 Administration, to State agencies, area agencies on aging, 3 local government agencies, or leaders in age-friendly com- 4 munities (as defined in section 203(c)(9)) regarding— 5 ‘‘(i) dissemination of, or consideration of ways 6 to implement, best practices and recommendations 7 from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on 8 Age-Friendly Communities established under section 9 203(c); and 10 ‘‘(ii) methods for managing and coordinating 11 existing programs to meet the needs of growing age- 12 friendly communities.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4827.IH H4827 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS