HB820

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	820
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to caregiving.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that families, rather than institutions, are the primary providers of long-term care for older adults in the State. According to the executive office on aging, in 2003, approximately twenty-one per cent of Hawaii's adult population provided care or assistance to a person age sixty or older. Caregivers are motivated to provide care to family members because of their family-oriented values, the preference of the elderly to remain at home with their families, and the high cost of institutional long-term care.

In Hawaii, the likelihood of becoming a caregiver is similar across different demographic groups and among persons with varied socioeconomic characteristics. Adults of any household income have a similar likelihood of providing care to an elderly person. Married persons in Hawaii are just as likely to provide care to an older adult as their unmarried counterparts.

Among the different ethnic groups in Hawaii, native Hawaiians are most likely to provide regular care to an older adult, followed by Filipinos, Japanese, and Caucasians. According to the executive office on aging, twelve per cent of men and sixteen per cent of women provide care or assistance to someone age sixty or older. In national studies, women are more likely than men to be primary caregivers, providing higher intensity and frequency of care.

According to the executive office on aging, sixty-five per cent of Hawaii's caregivers are employed. To balance their employment and elder care roles, working caregivers take leaves of absence, report to work late or leave early, change from full-time to part-time employment status, change to less demanding jobs, retire early, or give up work completely. As a consequence, caregiving may reduce a caregiver's retirement income because reduced hours on the job or fewer years in the workforce may mean fewer contributions to pensions, social security, and other retirement savings.

By 2020, more than one in four individuals will be sixty years old or older. The need for personal care increases with age due to physical, sensory, cognitive, and self-care disabilities. As Hawaii's population ages, many more families will be providing higher levels of long-term care to frail and disabled older adults at home.

Under Act 262, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, the executive office on aging is required to coordinate a statewide system of caregiver support services by, among other things:

(1) Integrating family caregiver support with the aging and disability resource center demonstration project;

(2) Analyzing the long-term care needs of older adults and the capacity of family and informal caregivers to help them remain safely at home;

(3) Advocating, mobilizing, and coordinating employer and community resources to enable and augment family caregiver support;

(4) Establishing and maintaining protocols and standards for federal and state caregiver services administered by state, county, or other local agencies on aging;

(5) Establishing and supervising the alignment of long‑term care advocacy assistance staff caregiver support objectives with the planning, resource development, grants management, data management, and evaluation functions of the executive office on aging; and

(6) Coordinating statewide support for grandparents and other aging relative caregivers of children eighteen and under.

The purpose of this Act is to continue to provide for the coordination and development of family caregiver support services in Hawaii.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $80,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum or so much thereof as my be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the executive office on aging to continue to coordinate a statewide system of family caregiver support services.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________