In January 2021, Governor Newsom released California’s Master Plan for Aging (MPA), which lays out a ten-year plan to prepare the state for an aging and changing population. The MPA set five major goals: Housing for All Ages and Stages; Health Reimagined; Inclusion & Equity, Not Isolation; Caregiving that Works; and Affording Aging.
Five years into the implementation of the MPA, the Legislature and Administration continue to have the opportunity to work together to create a state where older adults and people with disabilities can age in place and live with dignity. The list below highlights some of the bills that have been introduced in the 2025 legislative session that would directly affect older adults and people with disabilities and advance the MPA. In addition to this year’s legislative efforts, stakeholders have submitted additional budget proposals for consideration that augment the Governor’s initial budget proposals.
Justice in Aging compiled this summary of 2025 legislative bills and budget requests. Sponsors are listed when known. Questions and additions, including to sponsors, can be referred to Yasmin Peled at ypeled@justiceinaging.org. Inclusion on this list does not indicate endorsement by Justice in Aging.
Goal 1: Housing for All Ages and Stages
Bills:
- AB 474 (Ward): Home Sharing
- LeadingAge California
- This bill aims to increase participation in nonprofit home sharing programs, particularly among older adults.
- AB 508 (Aguiar-Curry): Residential Care Facility for the Elderly Staffing Disclosure
- California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
- This bill would require RCFEs to calculate their daily staffing levels, already an industry best practice, and share them with residents, prospective residents, and their families so they can better understand how much care to expect, compare facilities, and make better choices about their long-term care options.
- AB 804 (Wicks and Stefani): Medi-Cal Housing Support Services
- Corporation for Supportive Housing, Housing California, Western Center on Law and Poverty
- This bill would require California to seek federal approval for a Medi-Cal benefit that would fund housing support services as an entitlement, helping the state scale up the number of people receiving services and receive federal funding toward the costs of the services.
- AB 1068 (Bains): Long-Term Care Emergency Response System
- This bill is intended create a statewide comprehensive long-term care emergency response system that strengthens California’s emergency preparedness system and protects the state’s growing older adult population.
- SB 434 (Wahab): Residential Care Facility for the Elderly Eviction Protections
- California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
- This bill would require 60 days’ notice of an RCFE eviction if the resident has lived there for more than a year and 90 days’ notice if they have lived there for two years or more, and require RCFEs to provide moderate discharge planning for residents facing eviction, and enable fines on facilities that dump their residents without due process.
Budget Requests:
- The California Commission on Aging requests $150 million in one-time General Fund support for the Housing and Disability Advocacy Program (HDAP) to maintain critical housing and benefits advocacy services for older adults and individuals with disabilities experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The request seeks to sustain current service levels and prevent drastic reductions, and preserve critical housing and benefits advocacy infrastructure built through prior investments.
- The California Commission on Aging requests $100 million in one-time General Fund support for the Community Care Expansion (CCE) Program to strengthen the state’s long-term care infrastructure and expand housing and supportive services options.
- The Alameda Senior Services Coalition requests $88.8 million in ongoing funding for the Home Safe program, to ensure that counties can continue to offer the broad range of services that prevent homelessness for individuals involved in or in the intake process for Adult Protective Services (APS).
Goal 2: Health Reimagined
Bills:
- AB 315 (Bonta): Medi-Cal Home and Community Based Alternatives Waiver
- Disability Rights California, Cardea Health, East Bay Innovations
- This bill would require the Department of Health Care Services to expand capacity in the Medi-Cal Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) waiver and to submit to the Legislature a study of rates and rate-setting methodologies for HCBA waiver services.
- AB 517 (Krell): Medi-Cal Complex Rehabilitation Technology Wheelchairs
- California Foundation for Independent Living Centers
- Streamlines the process for service and repairs for complex rehabilitation technology (CRT)-powered wheelchairs under California’s Medi-Cal program. Prohibits the California Department of Health Care Services from requiring prior authorization for the repair of CRT-powered wheelchairs if the cost does not exceed $1,250 and removes the need for an individual prescription or medical necessity documentation for approved CRT-powered wheelchair repairs.
- AB 1161 (Harabedian): Public Benefits Protection for Disaster Survivors
- Western Center on Law and Poverty
- This bill would ensure low-income Californians impacted by disasters remain eligible for public benefit programs (including CalWORKs, CalFresh, CAPI, IHSS, and Medi-Cal) for at least 90 days instead of being automatically terminated if they do not submit timely renewal information.
- SB 250 (Ochoa Bogh): Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan Skilled Nursing Facility Directory
- California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
- This bill adds nursing homes to an already existing Managed Care Provider Directory administered by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), empowering Medi-Cal beneficiaries to make informed choices when looking for a nursing home or a Managed Care Plan.
- SB 508 (Valladares): Out of State Physicians and Surgeons Telehealth
- California Senior Legislature
- This bill expands life threatening disease requirement of an eligible patient to include a person who has been diagnosed with any stage of cancer and provides that patients are not subject to the clinical trial requirement.
- SB 530 (Richardson): Protecting Medi-Cal Provider Access
- National Health Law Program, Western Center on Law and Poverty
- This bill would strengthen access to Medi-Cal providers by permanently extending Medi-Cal time and distance standards; extending compliance to delegated entities, including sub-plans or provider groups; and enhancing the alternative access standards requirement through increased transparency and data reporting.
Budget Requests:
- Justice in Aging and Western Center on Law and Poverty request $33 million in General Fund in FY 2025-26 and $80 million ongoing General Fund to implement the reform approved in the FY 2022-23 budget to increase the ‘maintenance need income level’ of the Medi-Cal Share of Cost program to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The current Medi-Cal Share of Cost program forces older adults and people with disabilities to live on $600 per month in order to access Medi-Cal services, trapping them in deep poverty.
- The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, The Children’s Partnership, and Western Center on Law and Poverty request $1.1 billion to permanently extend key unwinding flexibilities to ensure low-income Californians maintain access to Medi-Cal without gaps in coverage.
Goal 3: Inclusion & Equity, Not Isolation
Bills:
- AB 561 (Quirk Silva): Alternative Service of Elder Abuse Restraining Orders
- Justice in Aging, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Elder Law & Advocacy, San Diego City Attorney, Civil Prosecutors Coalition.
- This bill would update the elder abuse restraining order statute to allow for alternative service of these restraining orders, as well as to allow for remote appearance at hearings. This change would mirror the protections that victims of domestic violence have when they seek restraining orders.
- AB 1069 (Bains): Area Agencies on Aging Disaster Preparedness
- California Association of Area Agencies on Aging
- This bill would ensure that Area Agencies on Aging and Aging and Disability Resource Connection programs have access to shelters so that older adults and people with disabilities can either continue to receive services or access needed services.
- SB 239 (Arreguin): Open Meetings Teleconferencing
- California Senior Legislature
- This bill authorizes a subsidiary body to use alternative teleconferencing provisions and would impose requirements for notice, agenda and public participation.
- SB 470 (Laird): Public Participation and Disability Access on State Boards and Commissions
- California Commission on Aging
- This bill seeks to permanently modernize the Bagley-Keene Act by removing the sunset provision from his previous legislation, SB 544(2023). SB 470 requires a quorum at a single location, mandates that remote officials keep their cameras on, and preserves remote testimony options, ensuring boards and commissions remain open and accessible while maintaining transparency in decision-making.
Budget Requests:
- The California Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers request an additional $15 million to support currently emerging and expand existing operations of the Aging and Disability Resource Connections (ADRCs).
- The California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association allocates $15.9 million of existing CDPH reserves that currently fund local Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs to enable those programs to meet existing state and federal mandates statewide. Funding would be directed towards unannounced quarterly facility visits, resolving residents’ complaints, abuse and neglect investigations, volunteer training and management, and other critical services including witnessing Advanced Health Care Directives (AHCDs) signed in long-term care as required by state law, supporting resident and family councils, and providing information, assistance, training, and referrals to facility staff, residents, and family members.
Goal 4: Caregiving That Works
Bills:
- AB 283 (Haney): IHSS Statewide Collective Bargaining
- SEIU California
- This bill would move the entirety of the IHSS workforce into one master collective bargaining agreement and bargain with the state rather than the 58 separate counties.
- SB 412 (Limon): Training on Dementia for Home Care Aides
- Alzheimer’s Association
- This bill would require that licensed home care aides receive training on caring for individuals with dementia.
- SB 590 (Durazo): Paid Family Leave for Family of Choice
- California Work and Family Coalition, AARP
- This bill would expand the definition of “family member” and “family care leave” which will allow family caregivers to take paid family leave to care for individuals related by blood or whose association with the caregiver is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Goal 5: Affording Aging
Budget Requests:
- The California Senior Legislature requests $500,000 in 2025-26 and $4 million ongoing to increase the personal needs allowance from $35 to $50 per month and requires that amount to be increased annually up to the amount of any cost of living adjustment implemented by the Social Security Administration.
- The Californians for SSI Coalition requests $156 million to provide an ongoing cost-of-living increase for the State Supplementary Payment (SSP): This budget request would provide an ongoing annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for the SSP grant. A COLA for the state portion of the SSI/SSP benefit would ensure that low-income older adults and individuals with disabilities in California can keep up with rising costs for basic needs like utilities, food, medicine, and rent.
- The Californians for SSI Coalition requests $20 million to revive an Emergency Grant Program for Older Adults & People with Disabilities: This budget request would appropriate $20 million ongoing funding in 2025-2026 to revive an Emergency Grant program (WIC 12550) as a 5-year, time-limited program. The program would provide financial assistance in a one-time lump sum to recipients of SSI, IHSS, or CAPI to support older adults and people with disabilities facing emergencies.
- The Californians for SSI Coalition requests $370 million to lift SSI/SSP grants to at least the Federal Poverty Line: This budget request would provide a five-step increase over five years to bring and keep the SSI/SSP grant at 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) as a down payment to the Elder Economic Security Index, which reflects the true cost of living for SSI/SSP recipients.
