Aging and Youth Committee 09/20/06

The Senate Aging and Youth Committee met on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 and unanimously reported out the following bill as amended:

Senate Bill 273 amends the Older Adult Protective Services Act by defining what results in a lifetime and ten-year ban from care-dependent facilities.  It also defines an employee, a care-dependent facility and what protective services is to do in an emergency situation.  Senator Vance offered Amendment 09288 which makes the effective date July 1, 2007.

Aging and Youth Committee 05/03/06

The Senate Aging & Youth Committee met on Wednesday, May 3, 2006, and took action as follows:

Reported Out as Amended (unanimously)

Senate Bill 886 (Fontana) amends Title 23 (Domestic Relations), further providing, in provisions relating to child abuse of students in public and private schools and for reports of suspected child abuse by school employees.  It also provides for duties of administrators and school employees, for investigation of such reports, for responsibilities of county agencies, for information in statewide central register and for other related provisions.

Amendment 7569 makes changes to other sections of the Child Protective Services Law that were necessitated by applying the same definition of child abuse to all settings and ensures that there is cooperation between the county agency and law enforcement.  It also makes provision for oral reports to the department and to county agencies.

House Bill 1326 (Baldwin) establishes the At-Risk Elderly Wireless Emergency Telephone Program, conferring powers and duties on the Department of Aging and providing additional powers to the Area Agencies on Aging.

Amendment 7596 is technical in nature.

House Bill 1446 (Gingrich) provides for the powers and duties of the Department of Aging and area agencies on aging and for annual review of care plans.  It requires criminal background checks and communicable disease screenings of certain providers, prohibits certain telephone access and provides for procedures for noncompliance.

Amendment 7641 gives the consumer the right to request the presence of another individual when having his or her face-to-face home visit.  In addition the frequency of visits shall be determined by the consumer’s acuity level as outlined in the contact plan.

Aging and Youth Committee 04/26/06

The Senate Aging & Youth Committee met on Wednesday, April 26, 2006, and took action as follows:

Reported Out as Amended (unanimously)

House Bill 348 (Harhart) - This bill amends Titles 23 (Domestic Relations) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for multidisciplinary team establishing the Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Response Account.  It also provides for additional duties of the Department of Public Welfare and for distribution of funds and further providing for deposits into account.

Amendment 7455 indicates that if additional Federal resources are made available for purposes appropriate to children’s advocacy centers, every effort shall be made to include children’s advocacy centers in the funding plans submitted by the department to the Federal Government.

Reported Out as Committed (unanimously)

House Bill 1559 (Godshall) - This bill provides for unannounced inspections of certain facilities and persons that provide child day care.  It also confers powers and duties on the Department of Public Welfare.

Senate Bill 1188 (Vance) - This bill amends the State Lottery Law, further providing for definitions, for physician, certified registered nurse practitioner and pharmacy participation, for reduced assistance, for program generally, for restricted formulary, for reimbursement, for income verification, for contracts and for the pharmaceutical assistance contract for the elderly needs enhancement tier, for pharmacy best practices and cost controls review.  It also further provides for penalties establishing the coordination of Federal and State benefits and making editorial changes.

Aging and Youth Committee 02/13/06

The Senate Aging & Youth Committee met on Monday, February 13, 2006, and took action as follows:

Reported Out as Committed (unanimously)

Senate Bill 1033 (Wonderling) – This bill amends Title 23 (Domestic Relations), providing for background requirements for certain job applicants.

Senate Bill 922 (Orie) – This bill amends the Children’s Trust Fund Act, further providing for the Children’s Trust Fund Board, for powers and duties of the board and for powers and duties of the Department of Public Welfare.

Senate Resolution (Orie) – Recognizes youth mental illness and suicide as a public health crisis and encourages evidence-based initiatives to screen children and adolescent for mental disorders in order to identify illness and prevent suicide among youths.

Reported Out as Amended (unanimously)

House Bill 247 (Hess) – Amends the Health Care Facilities Act, further providing for definitions, licensure of home care agencies, establishing certain consumer protections and providing for inspections and plans of correction and for applicability of act.

Amendment 4661 added a prohibited activities section for individuals affiliated with a home care agency.

House Bill 200 (Mundy) – Establishes the Ounce of Prevention Program to provide grants to certain entities that provide home visitation and other services to low-income, at-risk expectant first-time mothers and their newborn children and families.  It also provides for the powers and duties of the Department of Public Welfare.

Amendment 5708 changes the language of the bill by amending the intent of the program, the process to be eligible for a grant under this act, the powers and duties of the department, how both the grant recipient and the department will submit a report, funding and that the act shall take effect in 60 days.

Senate Resolution 167 (Orie) – Directs the Joint State Government Commission to establish a task force to develop educational materials to identify elderly person’s at risk for suicide and to identify barriers and ways to surmount barriers encountered by professionals and nonprofessionals in connecting at-risk persons with appropriate resources.

Aging and Youth Committee 02/14/05

Passed unanimously without amendment.

SB 86 (Greenleaf)   Would allow for an investigatory file to be opened for a child who resides in one state but is abused in another. It will also allow the county where the child resides to provide a copy of the file to the other state's child protective services agency and to law enforcement where the incident occurred.

Passed unanimously with amendment.

SB 63 (Kasunic)   Would require child protective services in counties to take, update and maintain photographs of children who have been suspected of being abused.

Amendment 00080   To SB 63 also passed unanimously. The amendment requires that the photographs of the children suspected of being abused are updated once a year.