SECOND REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES NANCE (Sponsor) AND COOPER (155) (Co-sponsor).
Read 1st time January 15, 2008 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 208.819, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to transition grants for persons in nursing homes.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 208.819, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 208.819, to read as follows:
208.819. 1. Subject to appropriations, persons institutionalized in nursing homes who are [Medicaid] MO HealthNet eligible and who wish to move back into the community shall be eligible for a one-time [Missouri] transition [to independence] grant. The [Missouri] transition [to independence] grant shall be limited to up to [fifteen] twenty-four hundred dollars to offset the initial down payments [and] , setup costs, and other expenditures associated with housing a senior or person with disabilities needing home and community-based services as such person moves out of a nursing home. Such grants shall be established and administered by the division of [vocational rehabilitation] senior and disability services in consultation with the department of social services. The division of [vocational rehabilitation] senior and disability services and the department of social services shall cooperate in actively seeking federal and private grant moneys to further fund this program; except that, such federal and private grant moneys shall not limit the general assembly's ability to appropriate moneys for the [Missouri] transition [to independence] grants.
2. The [division of medical services within the department of social services, the] department of health and senior services and the [division of vocational rehabilitation within the department of elementary and secondary education] department of mental health shall work together to develop information and training on community-based service options for residents transitioning into the community[. Representatives of disability-related community organizations shall complete such training before initiating contact with institutionalized individuals] and shall promulgate rules as needed.
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