Aging Committee advances four long-term care measures, including background-check and COLA proposals

The Aging Committee voted Feb. 18 to advance four bills to the House floor, moving two study placeholders and two policy proposals that affect long-term care residents and staff.

Committee members voted to send HB 6772, a placeholder “study of the needs of senior citizens,” and SB 1177, another placeholder study of long-term care needs, to the floor. The committee also advanced HB 6774, concerning long-term care facility employee and volunteer background checks, and HB 6775, which would adjust long-term care residents’ personal needs allowances (PNA) and tie future increases to cost-of-living indexing.

The committee’s action came after brief debate on each measure. Representative Hughes moved HB 6772 to be placed on the House calendar; the clerk called the roll and the motion carried. On HB 6774, the committee adopted substitute language that retains background checks for employees and limits checks for volunteers to cases where volunteers will have direct access to patients. "The substitute language requires volunteers to submit a background check only if they will have direct access to patients," the chair said during floor discussion. Representative Case raised cost concerns about the scope of background checks and whether the bill requires fingerprint-based checks or a facility-level review. The chair responded that the bill looks at…