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87 STAT, 40

in the planning or provision of a broad range of social services within such planning and service area,

and must provide assurance, found adequate by the State agency, that it will have the ability to develop an area plan and to carry out, directly or through contractual or other arrangements, a program pursuant to the plan within the planning and service area. In designating an area agency on aging, the State agency shall give preference to an established office on aging, unless the State agency finds that no such office within the planning and service area will have the capacity to carry out the area plan.

"Area Plans

"(c) In order to be approved by the State agency, an area plan for a planning and service area shall be developed by the area agency on aging designated with respect to such area under subsection (a) and shall

"(1) provide for the establishment of a comprehensive and coordinated system for the delivery of social services within the planning and service area covered by the plan, including determining the need for social services in such area (taking into consideration, among other things, the numbers of older persons with low incomes residing in such area), evaluating the effectiveness of the use of resources in meeting such need, and entering into agreements with providers of social services in such area, for the provision of such services to meet such need;

"(2) in accordance with criteria established by the Commissioner by regulation relating to priorities, provide for the initiation, expansion, or improvement of social services in the planning and service area covered by the area plan;

"(3) provide for the establishment or maintenance of information and referral sources in sufficient numbers to assure that all older persons within the planning and service area covered by the plan will have reasonably convenient access to such sources. For purposes of this section and section 305 (a) (7), an information and referral source is a location where the State or other public or private agency or organization (A) maintains current information with respect to the opportunities and services available to older persons, and develops current lists of older persons in need of services and opportunities, and (B) employs a specially trained staff to inform older persons of the opportunities and services which are available, and assists such persons to take advantage of such opportunities and services; and

"(4) provide that the area agency on aging will—

"A) conduct periodic evaluations of activities carried out pursuant to the area plan;

"(B) render appropriate technical assistance to providers of social services in the planning and service area covered by the area plan;

"(C) where necessary and feasible, enter into arrangements, consistent with the provisions of the area plan, under which funds under this title may be used to provide legal services to older persons in the planning and service area carried out through federally assisted programs or other public or nonprofit agencies;

"(D) take into account, in connection with matters of general policy arising in the development and administration of the area plan, the views of recipients of services under such plan;

"(E) where possible, enter into arrangements with organizations providing day care services for children so as to provide opportunities for older persons to aid or assist, on a voluntary basis, in the delivery of such services to children; and

"(F) establish an advisory council, consisting of representatives of the target population and the general public, to advise the area agency on all matters relating to the administration of the plan and operations conducted thereunder.

"STATE PLANS

87 STAT. 41

"SEC. 305. (a) In order for a State to be eligible for grants for Eligibility. a fiscal year from its allotments under section 303 and section 306, except as provided in section 307 (a), it shall submit to the Commissioner a State plan for such year which meets such criteria as the Commissioner may prescribe by regulation and which—

"(1) provides that the State agency will evaluate the need for social services within the State and determine the extent to which existing public or private programs meet such need;

"(2) provides for the use of such methods of administration (including methods relating to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards on a merit basis, except that the Commissioner shall exercise no authority with respect to the selection, tenure of office, or compensation of an individual employed in accordance with such methods) as are necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the plan;

"(3) provides that the State agency will make such reports, in such form, and containing such information, as the Commissioner may from time to time require, and comply with such requirements as the Commissioner may impose to assure the correctness of such reports;

"(4) provides that the State agency will conduct periodic evaluations of activities and projects carried out under the State plan;

"(5) establishes objectives, consistent with the purposes of this title, toward which activities under the plan will be directed, identifies obstacles to the attainment of those objectives, and indicates how it proposes to overcome those obstacles;

"(6) provides that each area agency on aging designated pursuant to section 304(a)(2)(A) will develop and submit to the State agency for approval an area plan which complies with section 304 (c);

"(7) provides for establishing or maintaining information and referral sources in sufficient numbers to assure that all older persons in the State who are not furnished adequate information and referral sources under section 304 (c) (3) will have reasonably convenient access to such sources;

"(8) provides that no social service will be directly provided by the State agency or an area agency on aging, except where, in the judgment of the State agency, provision of such service by the State agency or an area agency on aging is necessary to assure an adequate supply of such service; and

"(9) provides that subject to the requirements of merit employment systems of State and local governments, preference shall be given to persons aged sixty or over for any staff positions (full time or part time) in State and area agencies for which such persons qualify.

87 STAT, 42

Hearing.

Appeal.

"(b) The Commissioner shall approve any State plan which he finds fulfills the requirements of subsection (a) of this section.

"(c) The Commissioner shall not make a final determination disapproving any State plan, or any modification thereof, or make a final determination that a State is ineligible under section 304, without first affording the State reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing.

"(d) Whenever the Commissioner, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency, finds that—

"(1) the State is not eligible under section 304,

"(2) the State plan has been so changed that it no longer complies with the provisions of subsection (a), or

"(3) in the administration of the plan there is a failure to comply substantially with any such provision of subsection (a), the Commissioner shall notify such State agency that no further payments from its allotments under section 303 and section 306 will be made to the State (or, in his discretion, that further payments to the State will be limited to projects under or portions of the State plan not affected by such failure), until he is satisfied that there will no longer be any failure to comply. Until he is so satisfied, no further payments shall be made to such State from its allotments under section 303 and section 306 (or payments shall be limited to projects under or portions of the State plan not affected by such failure). The Commissioner shall, in accordance with regulations he shall prescribe, disburse the funds so withheld directly to any public or nonprofit private organization or agency or political subdivision of such State submitting an approved plan in accordance with the provisions of section 304 and section 306. Any such payment or payments shall be matched in the proportions specified in sections 203 and 306.

"(e) A State which is dissatisfied with a final action of the Commissioner under subsection (b), (c), or (d) may appeal to the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which the State is located, by filing a petition with such court within sixty days after such final action. A copy of the petition shall be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Commissioner, or any officer designated by him for that purpose. The Commissioner thereupon shall file in the 72 Stat. 941; court the record of the proceedings on which he based his action, as 80 Stat. 1323. provided in section 2112 of title 28, United States Code. Upon the filing of such petition, the court shall have jurisdiction to affirm the action of the Commissioner or to set it aside, in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently, but until the filing of the record, the Commissioner may modify or set aside his order. The findings of the Commissioner as to the facts, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive, but the court, for good cause shown, may remand the case to the Commissioner to take further evidence, and the Commissioner may thereupon make new or modified findings of fact and may modify his previous action, and shall file in the court the record of the further proceedings. Such new or modified findings of fact shall likewise be conclusive if supported by substantial evidence. The judgment of the court affirming or setting aside, in whole or in part, any action of the Commissioner shall be final, subject to review by 62 Stat. 928. the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in section 1254 of title 28, United States Code. The commencement of proceedings under this subsection shall not, unless so specifically ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the Commissioners action.

"PLANNING, COORDINATION, EVALUATION, AND ADMINISTRATION OF STATE

PLANS

"SEC. 306. (a) (1) Amounts appropriated as authorized by section 303 may be used to make grants to States for paying such percentages as each State agency determines, but not more than 75 per centum, of the cost of the administration of its State plan, including the preparation of the State plan, the evaluation of activities carried out under such plan, the collection of data and the carrying out of analyses related to the need for social services within the State, the dissemination of information so obtained, the provision of short-term training to personnel of public or nonprofit private agencies and organizations engaged in the operation of programs authorized by this Act, and the carrying out of demonstration projects of statewide significance relating to the initiation, expansion, or improvement of social service.

"(2) Any sums allotted to a State under this section for covering part of the cost of the administration of its State plan which the State determines is not needed for such purpose may be used by such State to supplement the amount available under section 303 (e) (1) to cover part of the cost of the administration of area plans.

"(3) Any State which has designated a single planning and service area pursuant to section 304 (a) (1) (E) covering all, or substantially all, of the older persons in such State, as determined by the Commissioner, may elect to pay part of the costs of the administration of State and area plans either out of sums allotted under this section or out of sums made available for the administration of area plans pursuant to section 303 (e) (1), but shall not pay such costs out of sums allotted under both such sections.

87 STAT. 43

"(b) (1) From the sums appropriated for any fiscal year under sec- Allotment. tion 303 for carrying out the purposes of this section, each State shall be allotted an amount which bears the same ratio to such sum as the population aged sixty or over in such State bears to the population aged sixty or over in all States, except that (A) no State shall be allotted less than one-half of 1 per centum of the sum appropriated for the fiscal year for which the determination is made, or $160,000, whichever is greater, and (B) Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands shall each be allotted no less than one-fourth of 1 per centum of the sum appropriated for the fiscal year for which the determination is made, or $50,000, whichever is greater. For the purpose of the exception contained in clause (A) of this paragraph, the term 'State' does not include Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

"(2) The number of persons aged sixty or over in any State and in all States shall be determined by the Commissioner on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data available to him.

"(c) The amounts of any State's allotment under subsection (b) Reallotment. for any fiscal year which the Commissioner determines will not be required for that year shall be reallotted, from time to time and on such dates during such year as the Commissioner may fix, to other States in proportion to the original allotments to such States under subsection (b) for that year, but with such proportionate amount for any of such other States being reduced to the extent it exceeds the sum the Commissioner estimates such State needs and will be able to use for such year; and the total of such reductions shall be similarly reallotted among the States whose proportionate amounts were not so reduced. Such reallotments shall be made on the basis of the State plan so approved, after taking into consideration the population aged

87 STAT 44

Matching funds.

Grants.

Housing.

Continuing

education.

sixty or over. Any amount reallotted to a State under this subsection during a year shall be deemed part of its allotment under subsection (b) for that year.

(d) The allotment of a State under this section for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973, shall remain available until the close of the following fiscal year.

"PAYMENTS

"SEC. 307. (a) Payments of grants or contracts under this title may be made (after necessary adjustments on account of previously made overpayments or underpayments) in advance or by way of reimbursement, and in such installments, as the Commissioner may determine. From a State's allotment for a fiscal year which is available pursuant to section 306 the Commissioner may pay to a State which does not have a State plan approved under section 305 such amounts as he deems appropriate for the purpose of assisting such State in developing a State plan. From a State's allotment for a fiscal year which is available pursuant to section 303, the Commissioner may, during the period ending one year after the date of enactment of the Older Americans Comprehensive Services Amendments, pay, in accordance with such regulations as he may prescribe, to a State which does not have a State plan approved under section 305, such amounts as he deems appropriate for the purpose of continuing Federal financial assistance for activities assisted under the plan of such State approved under section 303 of this Act prior to enactment of the Older Americans Comprehensive Services Amendments.

(b) Beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975, not less than 25 per centum of the non-Federal share (pursuant to section 303(e)) of the total expenditures under the State plan shall be met from funds from State or local public sources.

(c) A State's allotment under section 303 for a fiscal year shall be reduced by the percentage (if any) by which its expenditures for such year from State sources under its State plan approved under section 305 are less than its expenditures from such sources for the preceding fiscal year.

"MODEL PROJECTS

“SEC. 308. (a) The Commissioner may, after consultation with the State agency, make grants to any public or nonprofit private agency or organization or contracts with any agency or organization within such State for paying part or all of the cost of developing or operating statewide, regional, metropolitan area, county, city, or community model projects which will expand or improve social services or otherwise promote the well-being of older persons. In making grants and contracts under this section, the Commissioner shall give special consideration to projects designed to

"(1) assist in meeting the special housing needs of older persons by (A) providing financial assistance to such persons, who own their own homes, necessary to enable them to make the repairs and renovations to their homes which are necessary for them to meet minimum standards, (B) studying and demonstrating methods of adapting existing housing, or construction of new housing, to meet the needs of older persons suffering from physical disabilities, and (C) demonstrating alternative methods of reliering older persons of the burden of real property taxes on their homes;

"(2) provide continuing education to older persons designed to enable them to lead more productive lives by broadening the educational, cultural, or social awareness of such older persons,

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