II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4733 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary 

of Health and Human Services to make grants to develop or expand 

in-person and virtual peer support programs for family caregivers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2024 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, 

and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize 

the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make 

grants to develop or expand in-person and virtual peer 

support programs for family caregivers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Caregiver Peer 

5 Support Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PEER SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR FAMILY CARE2 GIVERS. 

3 Title IV of the Older Americans Act of 1965 is 

4 amended by inserting after section 414 (42 U.S.C. 3032c) 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 415. PEER SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR FAMILY CARE7 GIVERS. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) DISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ has the 

10 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Ameri11 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

12 12102). 

13 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en14 tity’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) a State; 

16 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit organization; 

17 ‘‘(C) an institution of higher education (as 

18 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 

19 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)); 

20 ‘‘(D) an aging and disability network enti21 ty; 

22 ‘‘(E) a junior or community college (as de23 fined in section 312(f) of the Higher Education 

24 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)); 


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1 ‘‘(F) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 

2 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu3 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); or 

4 ‘‘(G) a Tribal organization (as defined in 

5 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 

6 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)). 

7 ‘‘(3) FAMILY CAREGIVER.—The term ‘family 

8 caregiver’ has the meaning given such term in sec9 tion 2 of the RAISE Family Caregivers Act (42 

10 U.S.C. 3030s note) and includes paid and unpaid 

11 family caregivers. 

12 ‘‘(4) IMMIGRANT.—The term ‘immigrant’ has 

13 the meaning given the term ‘alien’ in section 101(a) 

14 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

15 1101(a)). 

16 ‘‘(5) PEER SUPPORT PROGRAM.—The term 

17 ‘peer support program’ includes a program, to assist 

18 family caregivers, that— 

19 ‘‘(A) is carried out with the best practices 

20 identified under section 373(e); 

21 ‘‘(B) consists of activities of national sig22 nificance described in or conducted under sec23 tion 373(i); or 


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1 ‘‘(C) consists of activities described in or 

2 conducted under section 411(a)(11) or 

3 417(a)(1)(F). 

4 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make grants to 

5 eligible entities to develop or expand in-person and virtual 

6 peer support programs for family caregivers. 

7 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 

8 grant under this section may use the funds awarded 

9 through such grant— 

10 ‘‘(1) to develop or expand in-person and virtual 

11 peer support programs, including programs under 

12 which family caregivers assist other family care13 givers with navigating administrative or financial 

14 forms, policies, and processes and provide emotional 

15 support; 

16 ‘‘(2) to carry out workforce development, re17 cruitment, and retention activities to train, recruit, 

18 and retain certified peer support specialists; and 

19 ‘‘(3) to develop, expand, or improve virtual, 

20 peer, mental, and behavioral health support services 

21 for family caregivers carried out by the entity, in22 cluding language access services, including trans23 lation and interpretation services for family care24 givers— 


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1 ‘‘(A) for whom English is not their pri2 mary language; or 

3 ‘‘(B) who use American Sign Language. 

4 ‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION OF UNDERSERVED COMMU5 NITIES.—The Secretary shall identify regions and popu6 lations that are underserved with respect to peer support 

7 programs for family caregivers. 

8 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this sec9 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

10 that propose to serve or currently serve— 

11 ‘‘(1) underserved regions and populations iden12 tified under subsection (d); 

13 ‘‘(2) low-income communities; 

14 ‘‘(3) underserved racial and ethnic commu15 nities; 

16 ‘‘(4) communities with a high number of immi17 grants; 

18 ‘‘(5) communities with a high number of indi19 viduals for whom English is not their primary lan20 guage; 

21 ‘‘(6) the LGBTQ+ community; 

22 ‘‘(7) family caregivers younger than age 35; or 

23 ‘‘(8) family caregivers with a disability. 


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1 ‘‘(f) OUTREACH PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall con2 duct outreach to family caregivers to increase awareness 

3 about the availability of grants under this section. 

4 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

6 out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 

7 through 2029.’’. 

Æ 


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