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Committee hears calls to shore up Area Agencies on Aging as demand outpaces funding
Summary
Lawmakers pressed the Department of Aging to increase funding for the Area Agencies on Aging, citing meal service cuts, wait lists and a 22% rise in the older population since 2014; the department says a proposed $20 million will stabilize services while advocates press for substantially more.
Lawmakers at a Pennsylvania House budget hearing on the Department of Aging urged immediate increases to state support for Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), saying flat or reduced funding has forced program cuts and created waiting lists for in‑home and nutrition services.
The committee discussed language in the governor’s budget that transfers and reductions would leave the department with a roughly $3.2 million to $3.3 million net change; members focused on a separately proposed $20,000,000 increase intended to stabilize the AAA network. Representative Brown said AAAs are facing possible wait lists and service cuts and asked how the $20 million figure was derived. Secretary Jason Kovulj replied the request aligns with the loss of temporary ARPA support and reflected what the department began to see once those federal dollars expired.
Kovulj emphasized the immediate effect of cuts on services that keep people at home: “The $20,000,000 will help us stabilize, will stop the bleed, so to speak, to make sure that we can continue to keep senior centers open, and that we can continue to take care of individuals on wait list,” he said. The department provided several operating snapshots: about 2,707 individuals are on the Options program waiting list and 55 on the caregiver support waiting list; the AAAs deliver roughly 26,000 meals a day and the department reported about 4,646,000 meals served so far this year.
Committee members said the growth in Pennsylvania’s older population has outpaced funding. The secretary noted a 22% increase in the senior population since 2014 while AAAs have received only about a 2.5% funding increase in the same period. Members and witnesses pressed for larger investments; Chairwoman Madden cited advocates calling for $105,000,000 to close waiting lists and build workforce capacity, while the department urged a staged, evidence‑based approach and described the $20,000,000 request as a stabilization step.
The hearing also explored how returned or “unspent” funds are handled. Secretary Kovulj said dollars returned to the department are often federally restricted and must be redistributed by category, which helps explain why some AAAs report returned funds while others face shortages.
The committee raised potential impacts of broader federal cuts. Kovulj said about 19% of the department’s dollars come from federal sources (roughly $114,000,000) and that significant federal reductions could force deep cuts to meals, senior centers and federally funded programs like PA MEDI.
The department said it would provide additional data requested by legislators, including average sizes of returned federal grants over the past five years and more granular wait‑time calculations. The budget hearing concluded without a vote; members said they would continue to press for larger investments to keep services operating.
