Several state agencies are lamenting their cuts in funding.

Nona Tolentino, director of long-term care services at Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance and program director of Kern's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, wrote via e-mail about the unfunded mandates she is left with in wake of the cuts.

According to the state budget, funding for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and Supportive Services programs was reduced by $5,978,000. The program was cut by 49 percent, the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging reports.

The ombudsman program investigates and works to resolve complaints made by, or on behalf of, residents in long-term care facilities.

Here's what Tolentino wrote:

Other programs were also hit but did not get the same fiscal impact as the ombudsman program.
 
For those who are unfamiliar with our funding process, the ombudsman program receives its mandate from the Older Americans Act and California Older Americans Act. The Federal OAA requires our focus on the nursing homes and facilities for the elderly. The California Legislature enhanced our authority and extended the scope of our duties through subsequent legislation, including the mandate to receive and investigate abuse and report, not only in nursing homes, but in residential care facilities, adult residential facilities and day programs. This is in addition to responding to 24-hour crisis line calls, witnessing advance health care directives completed in nursing homes.

We are a volunteer-based program, but our limited staff investigates and resolves more than 50 percent of the complaints, especially those with complex  allegations of abuse, inappropriate discharges, transfers or evictions and those situations that involve complex medical or legal issues.
 
This cut, which is retroactive to July 1, has placed Ombudsman programs in a precarious and unprecedented state ... Our state office is reviewing feverishly our unfunded mandates as we speak, and our local agency, Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, which houses our program, is also reviewing our contract.
 
Please be mindful that our office remains open albeit with limited responses at this time until the dust settles ... We remain committed to doing the best we can under the existing budget constraints, and ask for your understanding at this time.

For more information, I've also attached the press release on the cuts from the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging.