II 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3248 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
DECEMBER 6, 2006 
Received 
AN ACT 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a pro-
gram to assist family caregivers in accessing affordable 
and high-quality respite care, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lifespan Respite Care 
Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. LIFESPAN RESPITE CARE. 
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘TITLE XXIX—LIFESPAN 
RESPITE CARE 
‘‘SEC. 2901. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) ADULT WITH A SPECIAL NEED.—The term 
‘adult with a special need’ means a person 18 years 
of age or older who requires care or supervision to— 
‘‘(A) meet the person’s basic needs; 
‘‘(B) prevent physical self-injury or injury 
to others; or 
‘‘(C) avoid placement in an institutional 
facility. 
‘‘(2) AGING AND DISABILITY RESOURCE CEN-
TER.—The term ‘aging and disability resource cen-
ter’ means an entity administering a program estab-
lished by the State, as part of the State’s system of 
long-term care, to provide a coordinated system for 
providing— 
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‘‘(A) comprehensive information on avail-
able public and private long-term care pro-
grams, options, and resources; 
‘‘(B) personal counseling to assist individ-
uals in assessing their existing or anticipated 
long-term care needs, and developing and imple-
menting a plan for long-term care designed to 
meet their specific needs and circumstances; 
and 
‘‘(C) consumer access to the range of pub-
licly supported long-term care programs for 
which consumers may be eligible, by serving as 
a convenient point of entry for such programs. 
‘‘(3) CHILD WITH A SPECIAL NEED.—The term 
‘child with a special need’ means an individual less 
than 18 years of age who requires care or super-
vision beyond that required of children generally 
to— 
‘‘(A) meet the child’s basic needs; or 
‘‘(B) prevent physical injury, self-injury, or 
injury to others. 
‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘eli-
gible State agency’ means a State agency that— 
‘‘(A) administers the State’s program 
under the Older Americans Act of 1965, admin-
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isters the State’s program under title XIX of 
the Social Security Act, or is designated by the 
Governor of such State to administer the 
State’s programs under this title; 
‘‘(B) is an aging and disability resource 
center; 
‘‘(C) works in collaboration with a public 
or private nonprofit statewide respite care coali-
tion or organization; and 
‘‘(D) demonstrates— 
‘‘(i) an ability to work with other 
State and community-based agencies; 
‘‘(ii) an understanding of respite care 
and family caregiver issues across all age 
groups, disabilities, and chronic conditions; 
and 
‘‘(iii) the capacity to ensure meaning-
ful involvement of family members, family 
caregivers, and care recipients. 
‘‘(5) FAMILY
CAREGIVER.—The term ‘family 
caregiver’ means an unpaid family member, a foster 
parent, or another unpaid adult, who provides in- 
home monitoring, management, supervision, or 
treatment of a child or adult with a special need. 
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‘‘(6) LIFESPAN RESPITE CARE.—The term ‘life-
span respite care’ means a coordinated system of ac-
cessible, community-based respite care services for 
family caregivers of children or adults with special 
needs. 
‘‘(7) RESPITE CARE.—The term ‘respite care’ 
means planned or emergency care provided to a 
child or adult with a special need in order to provide 
temporary relief to the family caregiver of that child 
or adult. 
‘‘(8) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the Vir-
gin Islands of the United States, the Commonwealth 
of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
‘‘SEC. 2902. LIFESPAN RESPITE CARE GRANTS AND COOP-
ERATIVE AGREEMENTS. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 
‘‘(1) to expand and enhance respite care serv-
ices to family caregivers; 
‘‘(2) to improve the statewide dissemination and 
coordination of respite care; and 
‘‘(3) to provide, supplement, or improve access 
and quality of respite care services to family care-
givers, thereby reducing family caregiver strain. 
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‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to subsection (e), the 
Secretary is authorized to award grants or cooperative 
agreements for the purposes described in subsection (a) 
to eligible State agencies for which an application is sub-
mitted pursuant to subsection (d). 
‘‘(c) FEDERAL LIFESPAN APPROACH.—In carrying 
out this section, the Secretary shall work in cooperation 
with the National Family Caregiver Support Program of 
the Administration on Aging and other respite care pro-
grams within the Department of Health and Human Serv-
ices to ensure coordination of respite care services for fam-
ily caregivers of children and adults with special needs. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—Each Governor desiring the 
eligible State agency of his or her State to receive 
a grant or cooperative agreement under this section 
shall submit an application on behalf of such agency 
to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 
containing such information as the Secretary shall 
require. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 
under this section shall include— 
‘‘(A) a description of the eligible State 
agency’s— 
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‘‘(i) ability to work with other State 
and community-based agencies; 
‘‘(ii) understanding of respite care 
and family caregiver issues across all age 
groups, disabilities, and chronic conditions; 
and 
‘‘(iii) capacity to ensure meaningful 
involvement of family members, family 
caregivers, and care recipients; 
‘‘(B) with respect to the population of fam-
ily caregivers to whom respite care information 
or services will be provided or for whom respite 
care workers and volunteers will be recruited 
and trained, a description of— 
‘‘(i) the population of family care-
givers; 
‘‘(ii) the extent and nature of the res-
pite care needs of that population; 
‘‘(iii) existing respite care services for 
that population, including numbers of fam-
ily caregivers being served and extent of 
unmet need; 
‘‘(iv) existing methods or systems to 
coordinate respite care information and 
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services to the population at the State and 
local level and extent of unmet need; 
‘‘(v) how respite care information dis-
semination and coordination, respite care 
services, respite care worker and volunteer 
recruitment and training programs, or 
training programs for family caregivers 
that assist such family caregivers in mak-
ing informed decisions about respite care 
services will be provided using grant or co-
operative agreement funds; 
‘‘(vi) a plan for administration, col-
laboration, and coordination of the pro-
posed respite care activities with other re-
lated services or programs offered by pub-
lic or private, nonprofit entities, including 
area agencies on aging; 
‘‘(vii) how the population, including 
family caregivers, care recipients, and rel-
evant public or private agencies, will par-
ticipate in the planning and implementa-
tion of the proposed respite care activities; 
‘‘(viii) how the proposed respite care 
activities will make use, to the maximum 
extent feasible, of other Federal, State, 
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and local funds, programs, contributions, 
other forms of reimbursements, personnel, 
and facilities; 
‘‘(ix) respite care services available to 
family caregivers in the eligible State agen-
cy’s State or locality, including unmet 
needs and how the eligible State agency’s 
plan for use of funds will improve the co-
ordination and distribution of respite care 
services for family caregivers of children 
and adults with special needs; 
‘‘(x) the criteria used to identify fam-
ily caregivers eligible for respite care serv-
ices; 
‘‘(xi) how the quality and safety of 
any respite care services provided will be 
monitored, including methods to ensure 
that respite care workers and volunteers 
are appropriately screened and possess the 
necessary skills to care for the needs of the 
care recipient in the absence of the family 
caregiver; and 
‘‘(xii) the results expected from pro-
posed respite care activities and the proce-
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dures to be used for evaluating those re-
sults; 
‘‘(C) assurances that, where appropriate, 
the eligible State agency will have a system for 
maintaining the confidentiality of care recipient 
and family caregiver records; and 
‘‘(D) a memorandum of agreement regard-
ing the joint responsibility for the eligible State 
agency’s lifespan respite program between— 
‘‘(i) the eligible State agency; and 
‘‘(ii) a public or private nonprofit 
statewide respite coalition or organization. 
‘‘(e) PRIORITY; CONSIDERATIONS.—When awarding 
grants or cooperative agreements under this section, the 
Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) give priority to eligible State agencies that 
the Secretary determines show the greatest likeli-
hood of implementing or enhancing lifespan respite 
care statewide; and 
‘‘(2) give consideration to eligible State agencies 
that are building or enhancing the capacity of their 
long-term care systems to respond to the comprehen-
sive needs, including respite care needs, of their resi-
dents. 
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‘‘(f) USE OF GRANT OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT 
FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—Each 
eligible State agency awarded a grant or coop-
erative agreement under this section shall use 
all or part of the funds— 
‘‘(i) to develop or enhance lifespan 
respite care at the State and local levels; 
‘‘(ii) to provide respite care services 
for family caregivers caring for children or 
adults; 
‘‘(iii) to train and recruit respite care 
workers and volunteers; 
‘‘(iv) to provide information to care-
givers about available respite and support 
services; and 
‘‘(v) to assist caregivers in gaining ac-
cess to such services. 
‘‘(B) OPTIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—Each 
eligible State agency awarded a grant or coop-
erative agreement under this section may use 
part of the funds for— 
‘‘(i) training programs for family 
caregivers to assist such family caregivers 
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in making informed decisions about respite 
care services; 
‘‘(ii) other services essential to the 
provision of respite care as the Secretary 
may specify; or 
‘‘(iii) training and education for new 
caregivers. 
‘‘(2) 
SUBCONTRACTS.—Each 
eligible 
State 
agency awarded a grant or cooperative agreement 
under this section may carry out the activities de-
scribed in paragraph (1) directly or by grant to, or 
contract with, public or private entities. 
‘‘(3) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the 
costs of the activities to be carried out under 
paragraph (1), a condition for the receipt of a 
grant or cooperative agreement under this sec-
tion is that the eligible State agency agrees to 
make available (directly or through donations 
from public or private entities) non-Federal 
contributions toward such costs in an amount 
that is not less than 25 percent of such costs. 
‘‘(B) DETERMINATION
OF
AMOUNT
CON-
TRIBUTED.—Non-Federal 
contributions 
re-
quired by subparagraph (A) may be in cash or 
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