At the mid-way point in the Legislative Session, Seniors and their caregivers are carefully following the progress of several bills important to them.

Seniors will be interested in Senate Bill 3255. It would establish a commission to address the high cost of long term care insurance.

"Because it's so terribly expensive for people to buy private long term care insurance, the older you get, of course, the more expensive it gets, we think that there ultimately needs to be some kind of a public mechanism that would support that," said Bruce Bottorff, from the A.A.R.P.

A Joint Legislative Committee on Family Caregiving has proposed an omnibus bill that incorporates several items of interest including aging in place issues and would allow the kupuna care to include overnight, weekend and emergency respite services.

"But one of the most important parts is a so called cash and counseling program that would essentially give family caregivers some limited resources that they could spend in a discretionary way for their loved ones," said Botorff.

Those funds would be spent keeping the Seniors at home. Aging in place is important to seniors and that leads to Senate Bill 2047 which establish tax credits for people modifying their homes to make them senior-friendly.

"We need to try to provide incentives for people to modify their homes in appropriate ways like with grab bars and so forth and that would allow people to stay in their homes longer," said Botorff.

This Friday there is Family Caregiver Day at the Capitol. Exhibitors, including A.A.R.P will be there to provide information and resources for seniors and their caregivers. At 1 pm, a rally will be held to raise awareness about the thousands of family caregivers in the State.

"And also to celebrate the work that family caregivers are doing, to call attention to the great work that they do, basically in an unpaid capacity and to support the legislation that I just mentioned," said Botorff.