SB1919: AGING-ELDER ABUSE/EXPLOITATION

Legislative Summary

Amends the Adult Protective Services Act. Expands the scope of the Act to include reports of abandonment. Provides that if a mandated reporter has reason to believe an elderly person's death may be the result of abuse, abandonment, or neglect, the matter shall be reported for subsequent referral to the appropriate law enforcement agency and the coroner or medical examiner. Requires a mandated reporter to testify in any resulting administrative hearing. Requires the Department on Aging to offer an annual trauma-informed training program that includes instruction on how trauma impacts caseworkers and other employees who respond to and prevent adult abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment. Requires the Department to implement a demonstration project to allow for the use of a risk assessment tool to assist in identifying elderly persons who may be experiencing elder abuse, abandonment, neglect, or exploitation. Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a prosecution for theft by deception of a victim age 60 or older or a person with a disability may be commenced within 7 (rather than 3) years of the last act committed in furtherance of the crime. Concerning the offense of financial exploitation of an elderly person or a person with a disability, expands the scope of "person who stands in a position of trust and confidence" to include a friend or acquaintance of the elderly person or person with a disability who is in a position of trust. Amends the Home Repair Fraud Act. Provides that a person commits aggravated home repair fraud when he or she promises a performance that he or she knows will not be completed at any time during the performance of the service.