AZ GRRC approves new rules for dementia care

After more than 18 months of work, which included story collection, stakeholder meetings, legislative testimony, lobbying, and so much more, Arizona will finally have improved standards in Assisted Living Facilities.

What’s Important to Know:

Last year during the legislative session, AARP Arizona, along with hundreds of storytellers, fought to pass HB 2764, a bill that primarily did two things: Create a standard for what “memory care” should look like in Arizona and increase the penalties for care facilities that are bad actors. To see those changes in the community, the law that was passed had to go through a process known as “rulemaking,” where the law is further clarified at a state-level department with input from stakeholders. In this case, the Arizona Department of Health, which has authority over residential care facilities, was where these rules would be drafted. After this step, the rules must be approved by the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council, who are made up of appointed members of the public to determine if the rules match the requirements of the new law and are not overly burdensome.

The Governor’s Regulatory Review Council meeting on these rules took place on June 3 at 10:00 a.m. AARP Arizona, storytellers, and other advocacy organizations (Alzheimer’s Association) made the case that the rules, the culmination of almost two years of work on this issue, should be approved and put into place.

Fortunately, after listening to nearly an hour of testimony, each member of the council agreed with AARP’s position that the rules will help protect Arizona families and their loved ones and they approved the rules 5-0!

This is an immense step forward in seeing better care, more training, and even greater accountability for care facilities in Arizona.

Here’s a timeline of all the events that took place.

Timeline:

October 2023 – AARP Arizona begins collecting stories from family caregivers on receiving care in residential care facilities

December 2023 – The first stakeholder meeting on Memory Care legislation

January 2024-March 2024 – 8 additional stakeholder meetings take place over the course of 2 months

April 2024 – HB 2764 is signed by Gov. Hobbs, marked by a ceremonial bill signing

December 2024 – The first stakeholder meeting happens on the Draft rules from the Department of Health

January-April 2025 – 4 additional stakeholder meetings occur at the Department of Health to discuss revisions to the draft rules

June 3, 2025 – The Governor’s Regulatory Review Council approves the rules