Senate Bill 12-78, sponsored by Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, and Sen. Evie Hudak, Westminster, calls for residents to report abuse, exploitation or self-neglect of elderly and at-risk adults.
“I think we need a law for mandatory reporting of elderly abuse,” Schafer said.The bill updates the definition of abuse of at-risk adults to include exploitation and illegally taking money or property from them. It will also allow for disclosure of information among agencies to improve coordination for investigation of at-risk adult cases, and will require background checks for all prospective county employees who would have direct contact with the parties to such cases.
The final reading for the bill was on May 3. Schafer and Hudak could not get the bill passed this year because they could not find $4 million for funding in time for the current session.
Federal law requires care providers of the elderly to report any sort of abuse, but Schafer's bill would extend that requirement to all people in contact with senior citizens.
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Proposed Bill Aims to Protect Elderly
This law speaks to legislators, too. When constituents come to you with complaints about the legalized theft in guardianship abuse, you have a mandatory duty to report....
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ReplyDeleteBut even more important than reporting is the need for actual enforcement of the existing laws.