Senate Bill S7726

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7726

SPONSOR: WEBB
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to directing the
development of a demonstration program to authorize individuals aged
sixteen and seventeen to be consumer directed personal assistants; and
providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof

 
PURPOSE:

Directs the development of a demonstration program to authorize individ-
uals aged sixteen and seventeen to be consumer directed personal assist-
ants

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 adds a new subdivision 3-a to allow for the development of a
demonstration program to authorize sixteen and seventeen year olds to
serve as consumer directed personal assistants. These individuals shall
adhere to labor laws and shall not be authorized to work more than 8
              

hours a day, six days a week.

Section 2.The effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) has a rich
history in New York, providing the option for individuals who need some
assistance with their activities of daily living in order to age in
place and remain in their homes. This program is crucial to those who
are able to direct their own care and able to hire their own personal
care aides to help them live outside of the confines of a long-term
residential facility.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of home health
aides and personal care aides will grow 32% from 2020 to 2030, much
faster than the average for all occupations. This growth is being driven
by the aging population and the increasing number of people with chronic
health conditions. However, the home care workforce, including personal
care aides, is struggling to keep up with demand. In 2021, there were an
estimated 1.2 million job openings for home health aides and personal
care aides, but only 990,000 people were employed in these occupations.
This shortage is expected to worsen in the coming years, as the number
of older adults continues to grow.

This legislation seeks to provide some relief to the home care workforce
shortage by authorizing a demonstration program that will allow 16- and
17-year-olds to work as personal care aides through the CDPAP program.
Over the past several years, CDPAP consumers have found it very diffi-
cult to attract and retain personal care aides through this program due
to the low reimbursement rates through the medicaid program and dimin-
ishing health care workforce. States like Minnesota have already
expanded their workforce for personal care aides to include 16- and 17-
year olds to address the growing need for caregivers. Not only will this
demonstration program assist consumers of CDPAP through the expansion of
the potential workforce, but it provides younger personal care aids with

valuable work experience and the opportunity to learn about the health-
care field.

The demonstration program would be evaluated after three years to deter-
mine its effectiveness.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed
repealed three years after such date.