[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3759 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.3759

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen


                                 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 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.
    (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).
            (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.
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.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.