SB 971: Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program. - California

08/30/26 - Enrolled → SB971 · 1 edit

MINOR

The substantive legislative text of SB 971 is unchanged between these two versions. The differences are entirely in presentation format: the first version is the formal enrolled bill document, while the second is the same text as displayed on the California Legislature website with navigation elements, version history, and metadata. One minor grammatical correction was made (changing 'a county' to 'the county' in subdivision (a)).

TECHNICAL

In Section 105146(a), the phrase 'as determined by a county' was changed to 'as determined by the county,' a minor grammatical correction with no substantive policy effect.

08/05/26 - Amended Assembly → 08/30/26 - Enrolled · 3 edits · Aug 30, 2026

MINOR

The transition from the Amended Assembly version to the Enrolled version of SB 971 involves only procedural and formatting changes. The bill was passed by the Senate on August 27, 2026 and by the Assembly on August 17, 2026, and the document was reformatted into its final enrolled form with signature lines for the Secretary of the Senate, Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and Governor. No substantive policy language was altered.

TECHNICAL

Amendment history dates (April 6, April 9, July 2, August 5) and coauthor listings were removed from the header, replaced with passage dates: Passed the Senate August 27, 2026 and Passed the Assembly August 17, 2026.

Signature lines added for Secretary of the Senate, Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Governor's receipt date, and Governor's approval date, consistent with standard enrolled bill formatting.

Line numbers were removed from the statutory text and page headers/footers were reformatted to match the final enrolled document layout.

07/02/26 - Amended Assembly → 08/05/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Aug 5, 2026

MODERATE

The August 5 amendment makes three substantive changes: it replaces 'older adults' with 'older individuals' (now defined by reference to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 9018 rather than a fixed age of 55), removes local school districts from the list of entities authorized to establish the program, and adds a new subdivision clarifying that the program does not duplicate or supplant existing California Community Colleges adult education services.

DEFINITION

The term 'older adults' (previously defined as persons 55 years of age or older) is replaced with 'older individual,' which now takes its meaning from Section 9018 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. This aligns the bill's terminology with existing state law rather than setting a standalone age threshold.

SCOPE

Local school districts are removed from the list of entities that may establish a Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program under subdivision (a). School districts remain listed as potential collaboration partners but can no longer serve as the lead establishing entity.

REQUIREMENT

A new subdivision (f) states that nothing in the chapter is intended to duplicate or supplant current adult education courses, classes, and services provided by the California Community Colleges under Section 84757 of the Education Code and Article 9 (commencing with Section 84900) of Chapter 5 of Part 50 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code. This protects existing community college funding and programming from being displaced by the new partnership program.

TECHNICAL

The chapter title is changed from 'Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program' to 'Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program' (singular form).

04/09/26 - Amended Senate → 07/02/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Jul 2, 2026

MODERATE

The Assembly amendment to SB 971 broadens both who can establish Healthy Aging Community Partnership Programs and who can participate in them. Community colleges, public and private colleges, and public and private universities were added as eligible entities that may establish programs. The target population was expanded from 'older adults' (persons 55 or older) to also include 'individuals' as defined in Section 9018 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, effectively opening program access to a wider group beyond just older adults.

SCOPE

The list of entities authorized to establish programs was expanded to include community colleges, public or private colleges, and public or private universities, in addition to local health departments, area agencies on aging, local school districts, and other county departments.

ELIGIBILITY

The target population was expanded from 'older adults' (persons 55 years of age or older) to also include 'individuals,' with a new definition added stating that 'individual' has the same meaning as defined in Section 9018 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. This broadens who can participate in programs beyond just older adults.

DEFINITION

The program was renamed from 'Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program' to 'Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program' (singular form).

TECHNICAL

A typo was corrected: 'area agency of on aging' was changed to 'area agency on aging.' Page numbering shifted from 97 to 96 due to reformatting.

04/06/26 - Amended Senate → 04/09/26 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Apr 9, 2026

MODERATE

The April 9 amendment removes the entire second section of the bill (Chapter 5, Section 10495) that would have established a mandatory Older Adult Education Program with required components like communal meals and specific instructional topics. The bill is now narrowed to only the Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program (Section 105146), which authorizes but does not mandate specific program content. A typo was also introduced, changing 'area agency of aging' to 'area agency of on aging.'

Scope change

The bill's scope was significantly narrowed. It previously covered two distinct programs: a flexible Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program and a more prescriptive Older Adult Education Program with mandatory content requirements. The amendment eliminates the second program entirely, leaving only the partnerships framework that allows local entities to design their own community-based activities without mandated components.

SCOPE

The entire Older Adult Education Program section (Chapter 5, Section 10495) was removed. This section had required local health departments that established older adult education programs to include communal meals and instruction in digital literacy, fall prevention, nutrition, health care navigation, emergency preparedness, and civic engagement.

The bill title was narrowed from covering both 'adult education' (Division 101) and 'older adults' (Division 103) to only covering 'older adults' under Division 103 of the Health and Safety Code.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the school district fiscal agent provisions that would have allowed a school district to serve as fiscal agent for an older adult education program, use local/public health/philanthropic funds, and protected against diverting funding from other education programs.

TECHNICAL

A typo was introduced in Section 105146(a), changing 'area agency of aging' to 'area agency of on aging.'

02/04/26 - Introduced → 04/06/26 - Amended Senate · 5 edits · Apr 6, 2026

MODERATE

The amended bill adds an entirely new 'Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program' (Section 105146) alongside the existing Older Adult Education provisions. The new program broadens which local entities can establish programs for older adults, expands the types of activities allowed (adding arts, culture, language learning, and other enrichment), defines 'older adults' as persons 55 or older, and explicitly states implementation is non-mandatory and subject to local resource availability.

SCOPE

A new Healthy Aging Community Partnerships Program (Section 105146) is added to the Health and Safety Code, authorizing local health departments, area agencies of aging, local school districts, or other county departments (as determined by the county) to establish community-based programs for older adults promoting healthy aging, social engagement, and independent living.

The new section explicitly states it shall not be construed as mandatory for any local entity or department to implement, and that implementation is subject to the availability of local resources and partnerships.

The original Older Adult Education section (Section 10495) is retained with its fixed curriculum requirements (digital literacy, fall prevention, nutrition, health care navigation, emergency preparedness, civic engagement) and fiscal agent provisions for school districts, but now sits alongside the broader new program rather than being the sole mechanism.

DEFINITION

The bill now defines 'older adults' as persons 55 years of age or older, a threshold not present in the introduced version.

REQUIREMENT

Program activities under the new section may include technology assistance, physical activity, music or arts programming, cultural programming, language learning opportunities, shared meals, and other community-based enrichment activities - a broader and more flexible list than the original bill's fixed curriculum requirements.

Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program.

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