Your AARP: California

November 2009

Courtroom victory — About 8,000 Californians receiving adult day care are again getting services up to five days a week, thanks to a class action lawsuit brought by the AARP Foundation, Disability Rights California and the National Senior Citizens Law Center.

In September, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an injunction stopping the state from enforcing a law that cut weekly services from five days to three to reduce costs. The lawsuit said reducing availability of these services would place more than 22 percent of the 36,000 Californians using adult day care facilities at risk of nursing home placement, hospitalization, injury or death. Most people who receive such services have multiple disabilities or are too frail to be left alone.

July-August 2009

Special phones — A state project that distributes free specialized phones to Californians with hearing, speech, cognitive, mobility or vision disabilities is being publicized by AARP California and the state Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program.

An estimated 3 million Californians who have difficulty hearing, seeing, speaking, moving or remembering are eligible to receive these phones. The project, called the California Telephone Access Program, or CTAP, offers some 60 types of specialized equipment that amplifies sound, adjusts tone, lights up for incoming calls, displays the spoken word as text or has large buttons with raised numbers. Applications are available at www.ddtp.org; a medical professional is needed to verify eligibility.

For more information, call CTAP at 1-800-806-1191; TTY, 1-800-806-4474.

March 2009

Redistricting New Process Could Jump-Start Change — A good-government victory in California could have national ramifications.  After rigorous education campaigns by AARP, Common Cause and other groups, Californians voted Nov. 4 for a new redistricting process. Proposition 11, backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R, eliminates the practice of state legislators drawing boundaries for their own districts, which effectively guaranteed their reelection. A panel of 14 citizens will now decide Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts, beginning in 2011.

AARP California President Jeannine English, who helped develop Prop. 11, says, "Many elections were decided before a vote was cast or in the primary elections, when only the members of one party voted. With Proposition 11, voters can be assured they will have a say in who represents them."

In the wake of California's vote, Florida and several other states are considering similar initiatives to change the way political districts are determined, says Kathay Feng, California Common Cause executive director.

"Proposition 11 has the potential to be a real catalyst for other states," says AARP CEO Bill Novelli. "It strikes a real blow on behalf of good government. It could be the start of something big." — Laura Mecoy