Protecting vulnerable seniors from abuse

“By 2020, the U.S. Census predicts 20 percent of New Hampshire’s 1.3 million residents will be 65 years or older, up from 13.5 percent in 2010,” notes Cheryl Steinberg, director of New Hampshire Legal Assistance’s Senior Law Project.

While there are many reasons to cheer this increased longevity, it also brings with it some challenges that need to be addressed.

A bill passed by both the House and Senate and awaiting Gov. Chris Sununu’s signature addresses one of those challenges, the financial exploitation and abuse of senior citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable due to physical or mental impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 25,000 men and women in the state.

State Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 696, which gives seniors who believe they are being financially exploited the ability to receive emergency legal protection while the courts sort out the facts of the case. That emergency relief includes ordering someone to stop taking a senior’s property against their wishes.

In 2014, recognizing the financial exploitation of seniors was a growing problem, the Legislature created criminal laws so that those who took advantage of seniors can be prosecuted. Unfortunately, while these laws are sometimes able to get justice after the fact, they do not empower police, the courts and other protective agencies to stop the exploitation before damage has been done.

Cushing’s bill, HB 696, does just that.

As Steinberg explained in a letter to the House Criminal Justice Committee, which Cushing chairs, “While criminal prosecution is vitally important in combating financial exploitation and other forms of abuse, it does not give the victim the opportunity to take immediate action to stop the abuse, preserve assets, or recoup damages incurred from abuse.”

In this same letter, Steinberg notes the bill has been supported by a wide range of stakeholders including the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, AARP-NH, the Alzheimer’s Association, the NH Bankers Association, the NH Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Disability Rights Center-NH.

“When someone has been financially exploited, their money is gone and it is very difficult to get it back,” said Douglas McNutt, associate state director of AARP-NH. “As this bill provides a mechanism to quickly stop the abuse, HB 696 will be a significant tool to protect against financial exploitation and preserve people’s independence.”

Cushing, Steinberg and Portsmouth Police Detective Rochelle Jones visited our editorial board this week to explain the importance of the bill, in the face of a misinformation campaign by those who are trying to frame it as a gun confiscation bill.

“The bill is an essential new tool to help strengthen our state’s response to this ever-growing problem,” said Detective Jones, who also serves as the Portsmouth PD’s senior services liaison. “It is our duty as a community to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

For the record, House Bill 696 is not a gun confiscation bill, and there is not united opposition to the bill among Second Amendment rights groups in the state. In fact, the bill does not even mention guns (a reference was removed at the request of gun rights stakeholders).

We urge Gov. Sununu to ignore the politically motivated distortions about the bill and to focus on the facts of the very real protections it will provide to our vulnerable seniors. We urge Gov. Sununu to sign House Bill 696.

Rep. Cushing put it well: “The governor cares about vulnerable people. By passage of this bill, it takes a large step forward to making sure that our elderly and vulnerable population is not exploited.”

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Protecting vulnerable seniors from abuse