SECOND REGULAR SESSION
[PERFECTED]
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES NANCE (Sponsor) AND COOPER (155) (Co-sponsor).
Read 1st time January 15, 2008 and copies ordered printed.
Read 2nd time January 16, 2008 and referred to the Special Committee on Senior Citizen Advocacy January 24, 2008.
Reported from the Special Committee on Senior Citizen Advocacy January 31, 2008 with recommendation that the bill Do Pass by Consent. Referred to the Committee on Rules pursuant to Rule 25(21)(f).
Reported from the Committee on Rules February 11, 2008 with recommendation that the bill Do Pass by Consent with no time limit for debate.
Perfected by Consent February 19, 2008.
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Section A. Section 208.819, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 208.819, to read as follows: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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