I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3248 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program to assist 
family caregivers in accessing affordable and high-quality respite care, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 12, 2005 
Mr. FERGUSON (for himself, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. TERRY, Mr. NORWOOD, Mrs. 
WILSON of New Mexico, and Mr. BROWN of Ohio) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce 
A BILL 
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, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lifespan Respite Care 
Act of 2005’’. 
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; or 
‘‘(B) prevent physical self-injury or injury 
to others. 
‘‘(2) CHILD WITH A SPECIAL NEED.—The term 
‘child with a special need’ means a person less than 
18 years of age who requires care or supervision be-
yond that required of children generally to— 
‘‘(A) meet the child’s basic needs; or 
‘‘(B) prevent physical self-injury or injury 
to others. 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘eligible 
recipient’ means— 
‘‘(A) a State agency; 
‘‘(B) any other public entity that is capa-
ble of operating on a statewide basis; 
‘‘(C) a private, nonprofit organization that 
is capable of operating on a statewide basis;
‘‘(D) a political subdivision of a State that 
has a population of not less than 3,000,000 in-
dividuals; or 
‘‘(E) any recognized State respite coordi-
nating agency that has— 
‘‘(i) a demonstrated ability to work 
with other State and community-based 
agencies; 
‘‘(ii) an understanding of respite care 
and family caregiver issues; and 
‘‘(iii) the capacity to ensure meaning-
ful involvement of family members, family 
caregivers, and care recipients. 
‘‘(4) 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. 
‘‘(5) 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. 
‘‘(6) 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. 
‘‘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. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to subsection (e), the 
Secretary is authorized to award grants or cooperative 
agreements to eligible recipients who submit an applica-
tion 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-
ficer of the Administration on Aging and other respite care 
program officers within the Department to ensure coordi-
nation of respite care services for family caregivers of chil-
dren and adults with special needs. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—Each eligible recipient de-
siring to receive a grant or cooperative agreement 
under this section shall submit an application to the 
Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Secretary shall re-
quire. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 
under this section shall include— 
‘‘(A) a description of the applicant’s— 
‘‘(i) understanding of respite care and 
family caregiver issues; 
‘‘(ii) capacity to ensure meaningful in-
volvement of family members, family care-
givers, and care recipients; and 
‘‘(iii) collaboration with other State 
and community-based public, nonprofit, or 
private agencies; 
‘‘(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 
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 collaboration and co-
ordination of the proposed respite care ac-
tivities with other related services or pro-
grams offered by public or private, non-
profit 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, 
and local funds, programs, contributions, 
other forms of reimbursements, personnel, 
and facilities; 
‘‘(ix) respite care services available to 
family caregivers in the applicant’s State 
or locality, including unmet needs and how 
the applicant’s plan for use of funds will 
improve the coordination and distribution 
of respite care services for family care-
givers 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-
dures to be used for evaluating those re-
sults; and 
‘‘(C) assurances that, where appropriate, 
the applicant shall have a system for maintain-
ing the confidentiality of care recipient and 
family caregiver records. 
‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—When awarding grants or coopera-
tive agreements under this section, the Secretary shall give 
priority to— 
‘‘(1) applicants that show the greatest likeli-
hood of implementing or enhancing lifespan respite 
care statewide; and 
‘‘(2) applicants from States that are not other-
wise receiving a grant under this title. 
‘‘(f) USE OF GRANT OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT 
FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(A) MANDATORY USES OF FUNDS.—Each 
eligible recipient that is awarded a grant or co-
operative agreement under this section shall use 
the funds, unless such a program is in exist-
ence— 
‘‘(i) to develop 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) DISCRETIONARY USES OF FUNDS.— 
Each eligible recipient that is awarded a grant 
or cooperative agreement under this section 
may use the funds for— 
‘‘(i) training programs for family 
caregivers to assist such family caregivers 
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 recipient 
that is awarded a grant or cooperative agreement 
under this section may use the funds to subcontract 
with a public or nonprofit agency to carry out the 
activities described in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(g) TERM OF GRANTS OR COOPERATIVE AGREE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 
grants or cooperative agreements under this section 
for terms that do not exceed 5 years. 
‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 
grant or cooperative agreement under this section at 
the end of the term of the grant or cooperative 
agreement determined under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 
available under this section shall be used to supplement 
and not supplant other Federal, State, and local funds 
available for respite care services.
‘‘SEC. 2903. NATIONAL LIFESPAN RESPITE RESOURCE CEN-
TER. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall award a 
grant or cooperative agreement to a public or private non-
profit entity to establish a National Resource Center on 
Lifespan Respite Care (referred to in this section as the 
‘center’). 
‘‘(b) PURPOSES
OF
THE
CENTER.—The center 
shall— 
‘‘(1) maintain a national database on lifespan 
respite care; 
‘‘(2) provide training and technical assistance 
to State, community, and nonprofit respite care pro-
grams; and 
‘‘(3) provide information, referral, and edu-
cational programs to the public on lifespan respite 
care. 
‘‘SEC. 2904. REPORT. 
‘‘Not later than January 1, 2007, the Secretary shall 
report to the Congress on the activities undertaken under 
this title. Such report shall evaluate— 
‘‘(1) the number of States that have lifespan 
respite care programs; 
‘‘(2) the demographics of the caregivers receiv-
ing respite care services through grants or coopera-
tive agreements under this title; and
‘‘(3) the effectiveness of entities receiving 
grants or cooperative agreements under this title. 
‘‘SEC. 2905. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this title— 
‘‘(1) $90,500,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 
‘‘(2) such sums as are necessary for fiscal years 
2007 through 2010.’’. 
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