PUBLIC LAW 115–119—JAN. 22, 2018 132 STAT. 23 

Public Law 115–119 

115th Congress 

An Act 

To provide for the establishment and maintenance of a Family Caregiving Strategy, 

and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘RAISE 

Family Caregivers Act’’. 

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

In this Act: 

(1) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Advisory Council’’ 

means the Family Caregiving Advisory Council convened under 

section 4. 

(2) FAMILY CAREGIVER.—The term ‘‘family caregiver’’ means 

an adult family member or other individual who has a significant relationship with, and who provides a broad range of 

assistance to, an individual with a chronic or other health 

condition, disability, or functional limitation. 

(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

of Health and Human Services. 

(4) STRATEGY.—The term ‘‘Strategy’’ means the Family 

Caregiving Strategy set forth under section 3. 

SEC. 3. FAMILY CAREGIVING STRATEGY. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation with the heads 

of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall develop jointly with 

the Advisory Council and submit to the Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee on 

Aging of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

of the House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible 

for carrying out family caregiver programs, and make publicly available on the internet website of the Department of Health and 

Human Services, a Family Caregiving Strategy. 

(b) CONTENTS.—The Strategy shall identify recommended 

actions that Federal (under existing Federal programs), State, and 

local governments, communities, health care providers, long-term 

services and supports providers, and others are taking, or may 

take, to recognize and support family caregivers in a manner that 

reflects their diverse needs, including with respect to the following: 

(1) Promoting greater adoption of person- and family-centered care in all health and long-term services and supports 

settings, with the person receiving services and supports and 

Consultation. 

Public 

information. 

Web posting. 

Recognize, 

Assist, Include, 

Support, and 

Engage Family 

Caregivers Act 

of 2017. 

42 USC 3030s 

note. 

Jan. 22, 2018 

[H.R. 3759] 


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132 STAT. 24 PUBLIC LAW 115–119—JAN. 22, 2018 

the family caregiver (as appropriate) at the center of care 

teams. 

(2) Assessment and service planning (including care transitions and coordination) involving family caregivers and care 

recipients. 

(3) Information, education and training supports, referral, 

and care coordination, including with respect to hospice care, 

palliative care, and advance planning services. 

(4) Respite options. 

(5) Financial security and workplace issues. 

(6) Delivering services based on the performance, mission, 

and purpose of a program while eliminating redundancies. 

(c) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary, in carrying 

out subsection (a), shall oversee the following: 

(1) Collecting and making publicly available information 

submitted by the Advisory Council under section 4(d) to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and 

the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate, the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for carrying out family 

caregiver programs, including evidence-based or promising 

practices and innovative models (both domestic and foreign) 

regarding the provision of care by family caregivers or support 

for family caregivers. 

(2) Coordinating and assessing existing Federal Government programs and activities to recognize and support family 

caregivers while ensuring maximum effectiveness and avoiding 

unnecessary duplication. 

(3) Providing technical assistance, as appropriate, such as 

disseminating identified best practices and information sharing 

based on reports provided under section 4(d), to State or local 

efforts to support family caregivers. 

(d) INITIAL STRATEGY; UPDATES.—The Secretary shall— 

(1) not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

of this Act, develop, publish, and submit to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special 

Committee on Aging of the Senate, the Committee on Education 

and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the 

State agencies responsible for carrying out family caregiver 

programs, an initial Strategy incorporating the items addressed 

in the Advisory Council’s initial report under section 4(d) and 

other relevant information, including best practices, for recognizing and supporting family caregivers; and 

(2) biennially update, republish, and submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the 

Special Committee on Aging of the Senate, the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for carrying out family 

caregiver programs the Strategy, taking into account the most 

recent annual report submitted under section 4(d)(1)— 

(A) to reflect new developments, challenges, opportunities, and solutions; and 

(B) to review progress based on recommendations for 

recognizing and supporting family caregivers in the 

Strategy and, based on the results of such review, recommend priority actions for improving the implementation 

of such recommendations, as appropriate. 

Deadline. 

Publications. 


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PUBLIC LAW 115–119—JAN. 22, 2018 132 STAT. 25 

(e) PROCESS FOR PUBLIC INPUT.—The Secretary shall establish 

a process for public input to inform the development of, and updates 

to, the Strategy, including a process for the public to submit recommendations to the Advisory Council and an opportunity for public 

comment on the proposed Strategy. 

(f) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act preempts any 

authority of a State or local government to recognize or support 

family caregivers. 

(g) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit the Secretary (through regulation, guidance, grant 

criteria, or otherwise) to— 

(1) mandate, direct, or control the allocation of State or 

local resources; 

(2) mandate the use of any of the best practices identified 

in the reports required under this Act; or 

(3) otherwise expand the authority of the Secretary beyond 

that expressly provided to the Secretary in this Act. 

SEC. 4. FAMILY CAREGIVING ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

(a) CONVENING.—The Secretary shall convene a Family 

Caregiving Advisory Council to advise and provide recommendations, including identified best practices, to the Secretary on recognizing and supporting family caregivers. 

(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—The members of the Advisory Council 

shall consist of— 

(A) the appointed members under paragraph (2); and 

(B) the Federal members under paragraph (3). 

(2) APPOINTED MEMBERS.—In addition to the Federal members under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall appoint not more 

than 15 voting members of the Advisory Council who are not 

representatives of Federal departments or agencies and who 

shall include at least 1 representative of each of the following: 

(A) Family caregivers. 

(B) Older adults with long-term services and supports 

needs. 

(C) Individuals with disabilities. 

(D) Health care and social service providers. 

(E) Long-term services and supports providers. 

(F) Employers. 

(G) Paraprofessional workers. 

(H) State and local officials. 

(I) Accreditation bodies. 

(J) Veterans. 

(K) As appropriate, other experts and advocacy 

organizations engaged in family caregiving. 

(3) FEDERAL MEMBERS.—The Federal members of the 

Advisory Council, who shall be nonvoting members, shall consist of the following: 

(A) The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services (or the Administrator’s designee). 

(B) The Administrator of the Administration for 

Community Living (or the Administrator’s designee who 

has experience in both aging and disability). 

(C) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or the Secretary’s designee). 

Recommendations. 


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132 STAT. 26 PUBLIC LAW 115–119—JAN. 22, 2018 

(D) The heads of other Federal departments or agencies 

(or their designees), including relevant departments or 

agencies that oversee labor and workforce, economic, 

government financial policies, community service, and other 

impacted populations, as appointed by the Secretary or 

the Chair of the Advisory Council. 

(4) DIVERSE REPRESENTATION.—The Secretary shall ensure 

that the membership of the Advisory Council reflects the diversity of family caregivers and individuals receiving services and 

supports. 

(c) MEETINGS.—The Advisory Council shall meet quarterly 

during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 

this Act and at least three times during each year thereafter. 

Meetings of the Advisory Council shall be open to the public. 

(d) ADVISORY COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after the date 

of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Advisory 

Council shall submit to the Secretary, the Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee 

on Aging of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for carrying out family caregiver programs, 

and make publicly available on the internet website of the 

Department of Health and Human Services, a report concerning 

the development, maintenance, and updating of the Strategy, 

including a description of the outcomes of the recommendations 

and any priorities included in the initial report pursuant to 

paragraph (2), as appropriate. 

(2) INITIAL REPORT.—The Advisory Council’s initial report 

under paragraph (1) shall include— 

(A) an inventory and assessment of all federally funded 

efforts to recognize and support family caregivers and the 

outcomes of such efforts, including analyses of the extent 

to which federally funded efforts are reaching family caregivers and gaps in such efforts; 

(B) recommendations— 

(i) to improve and better coordinate Federal programs and activities to recognize and support family 

caregivers, as well as opportunities to improve the 

coordination of such Federal programs and activities 

with State programs; and 

(ii) to effectively deliver services based on the 

performance, mission, and purpose of a program while 

eliminating redundancies, avoiding unnecessary 

duplication and overlap, and ensuring the needs of 

family caregivers are met; 

(C) the identification of challenges faced by family 

caregivers, including financial, health, and other challenges, and existing approaches to address such challenges; 

and 

(D) an evaluation of how family caregiving impacts 

the Medicare program, the Medicaid program, and other 

Federal programs. 

(e) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Advisory Council. 

Evaluation. 

Recommendations. 

Records. 

Assessment. 

Public 

information. 

Web posting. 

Time period. 

Public 

information. 


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PUBLIC LAW 115–119—JAN. 22, 2018 132 STAT. 27 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 3759 (S. 1028): 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 

Vol. 163 (2017): Dec. 18, considered and passed House. 

Vol. 164 (2018): Jan. 8, considered and passed Senate. 

Æ 

SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

out this Act. This Act shall be carried out using funds otherwise 

authorized. 

SEC. 6. SUNSET PROVISION. 

The authority and obligations established by this Act shall 

terminate on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment 

of this Act. 

Approved January 22, 2018. 


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