After two failed attempts to require permanent backup power at assisted living communities, Texas lawmakers are trying again with the backing of the state AARP chapter. One provider group, however, said the effort would produce a “blanket, unfunded mandate” that does not “acknowledge the uniqueness of assisted living communities.”
AARP Texas is advocating for legislation that would require assisted living communities to have adequate backup power to help maintain safe temperatures during a power outage. State regulations currently require assisted living communities to provide emergency power and to maintain temperatures between 68 and 82 degrees, but those requirements don’t carry the force of law, according to the consumer advocacy organization.
“AARP Texas sees the serious need for backup power requirements to be ingrained in state law, not just administrative code,” Andrea Earl, AARP Texas associate state director of advocacy and outreach, said in a statement. State law already calls for backup power at nursing homes, but the Texas AARP is calling for those requirements to be expanded.
As part of what she called a “disaster resilience legislative package,” Texas Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) last month filed a bill, SB 481, related to emergency preparedness and response plans, including backup power, for assisted living communities and nursing homes.
“This legislation is aimed at closing the gap between the haves and have-nots after disasters, when safe living conditions are too often a privilege,” stated a Nov. 25 press release from Alvarado about the package.
The state senator said that Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in July, exposed “critical gaps in Texas’s disaster preparedness” and left “our most vulnerable residents in dire straits.”
SB 481 would require assisted living communities and nursing homes to maintain emergency generators to power heating, cooling and emergency functions for at least 96 hours.
“In Harris County alone, 14 nursing homes and 30 assisted living facilities were without power for at least four days after Beryl struck, leaving residents exposed to extreme heat,” Alvarado’s press release stated. “This bill ensures facilities can maintain safe temperatures, properly store medications and operate essential medical equipment during extended outages.”
Bills introduced in the Texas legislature in 2021 and 2023 to require backup power at all assisted living communities did not move forward.
A ‘blanket, unfunded mandate’
The Texas Assisted Living Association said it does not support “blanket mandates.”
TALA President and CEO Diana Martinez told McKnight’s Senior Living that the bill would require every assisted living community and nursing home in Texas to have permanently installed generators or backup power and enough on-site fuel to support that equipment for several days.
“These legislative attempts have typically applied to all properties, regardless of size, location, other risks such as wildfires, community and resident needs, or local zoning and permitting restrictions,” Martinez said. “Neither this session’s proposal nor previous bills have included a provision which would make the new changes contingent upon funding from the state to offset the considerable expense.”
She added that neither past nor present bills included flexibilities or a waiver process for existing communities that cannot meet the new standards, do not recognize existing generators and backup power investments, and lay out timeframes for compliance that are “out of sync with current equipment and manufacturer backlogs.”
“TALA is opposed to blanket, unfunded mandates which shift the state’s responsibility for critical infrastructure and do not acknowledge the uniqueness of assisted living communities,” Martinez said. “TALA is supportive of comprehensive measures that address issues that were identified by Hurricane Beryl.”
Hurricane Beryl caused 28 deaths among Texas older adults, half from overheating, according to AARP. Winter Storm Uri in 2021 led to the deaths of 107 Texas older adults from hypothermia.
LeadingAge Texas similarly said any legislative proposals should take into consideration site capabilities and the associated costs of generator mandates. Proposals requiring HVAC, for example, may be neither financially nor practically feasible for most facilities — especially older assisted living communities and nursing homes, according to Emiliano Romero, LeadingAge Texas director of advocacy and public policy.
Some proposals would require facilities with multiple levels of care on one property (think continuing care retirement communities) to purchase additional generators to power settings beyond assisted living and skilled nursing. That, Romero said, would require investments of over $1 million with no assurance of financial assistance from the state.
“Flexibility, with respect to the source of generation, is not afforded to providers in some proposals,” Romero said. “We are hopeful that we can find a solution that allows us to continue delivering high quality care while protection senior Texans.”
In the wake of Uri in 2021, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission surveyed 2,025 assisted living communities and 1,217 nursing facilities, finding that the ability to provide cooling and heating during a power outage varied widely. Among assisted living communities, 47% reported having generators, but of those, only 56% said they could provide cooling, and 59% said they could provide heating.
Other states have requirements
Hurricane Irma prompted Florida to pass backup power legislation for assisted living communities and nursing homes in 2018. Twelve nursing home residents had died of environmental heat exposure during the 2017 hurricane.
Some other states also have similar laws. For instance, Virginia passed a law in 2019 that requires assisted living communities to maintain adequately sized emergency generators or to accept mobile generators. Oregon requires assisted living communities offering ventilator-assisted care to have functional emergency backup generators. And Maryland requires assisted living communities to have emergency electrical power generators on site.
In 2023, the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Special Committee on Aging recommended that states consider emergency power requirements for assisted living and other residential care settings, as well as better emergency communications between assisted living communities and nursing homes and state and local authorities. Those recommendations followed the release of an investigative report, “Left in the Dark,” that looked at how assisted living communities and nursing facilities weathered blackouts wrought by Winter Storm Uri.
Source: McKnights Seniorliving