September 25, 2024

Three California Commission on Aging Bills Signed into Law

The California Commission on Aging (CCoA) announced that sponsored bills SB 1249, AB 2620, and AB 2207, were signed into law by Governor Newsom. These laws, part of a 12-bill package, advance the interests of California’s older adults, adults with disabilities, and caregivers, in anticipation of 2030 when one in four Californians will be aged 60 or over.

Authored by Senator Richard Roth, SB 1249 modernizes the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishing new core programs and reporting measures to strengthen the Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) network and respond to a growing and increasingly diverse population of older adults.

“We must ensure that we address the diverse needs of our rapidly aging population,” said Senator Roth. “The signing of SB 1249 modernizes the Older Californians Act, creating performance metrics and processes to integrate services for aging residents with our other social service programs.”

AB 2620, authored by Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, improves CCoA’s efficiency by cleaning up outdated language and provisions and codifying its advisory body status under the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act. The bill also revises language to reflect commissioners’ professional, lived, or academic experience.

AB 2207, authored by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, promotes the representation and participation of older adults. To help ensure a “California for All, “as prioritized in the Governor’s Master Plan on Aging, AB 2207 expands the membership of three state advisory bodies — Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Committee, California Workforce Development Board, and California Behavioral Health Planning Council — to include advocates for older adults.

As the state’s principal advocacy body for older adults, the CCoA advises state leaders, legislators, and governmental agencies on policies and programs that impact the lives of older Californians and supports programs and services that promote equity, inclusion, autonomy, choice, access, respect, integrity, collaboration, and partnership.

For more information about the CCoA and its initiatives, please visit http://ccoa.ca.gov.

Ashby Village members are clowning around

Member Spotlight

Ashby Village

With 600 members and volunteers, Ashby Village is a warm, welcoming community, rooted in connection, social support and a spirit of resiliency. We draw strength from one another to live our lives with vitality and joy. Given our Berkeley roots, we are socially active, too, advocating for policies to make our city age-friendly.