Senate Bill S6956

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6956

SPONSOR: SERINO
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law and the elder law, in relation
to providing protective services to certain individuals

 
PURPOSE:

The legislation creates a hotline for the reporting of various forms of
abuse which may jeopardize the health or welfare of vulnerable adults.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends Section 473 of the social services law to add a new
subdivision that establishes a statewide, toll-free hotline to receive
reports of various forms of abuse regarding vulnerable adults. The
hotline shall be operational twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Section 2: Amends subdivision 16 of section 202 of the elder law to
clarify that a public awareness campaign regarding elder abuse as estab-
              

lished by Chapter 455 of the Laws of 2016 shall also include information
regarding the statewide hotline.

Section 3: Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

It has been noted that elders who experience abuse, even moderate in
severity, have a 300% higher risk of death when compared to those who
have not been abused. A recent survey by the U.S. Government Account-
ability Office found that nationally, Adult Protective Services (APS)
programs would benefit from more "easily accessible" and "centrally
available" information on effective services for elder abuse cases.

While many believe that the resources available to APS are akin to those
provided to Child Protective Services, there are actually significant
disparities between the funding streams available for each, as well as
their respective mandated reporting requirements. While both systems are
responsible for reporting, investigating, and intervening in reported
cases of the abuse of a vulnerable person, Adult Protective Services
unfortunately has fewer opportunities for funding from federal and state
resources, and must deal with drastic understaffing and constrained
resources to protect an increasing aging population. As a compounding
factor, New York is one of four states that currently does not require
reporting when someone suspects adult abuse. As a result, there are
systematic problems of cases of abuse going unreported. In fact, a
recent study of elder abuse prevalence in New York found that there was
a significant discrepancy between the rate of elder abuse events
reported by New Yorkers and the number of cases referred to service
agencies, amounting to an incidence rate calculated at nearly 24 times
greater than that of the number of referred cases.

Absent a large overhaul of our current system of reporting and investi-
gating elder abuse cases across the state, we must begin to take steps
to ensure that there are systematic improvements made to guarantee that
we are responding to the needs of the growing aging population of our
state and supporting the local entities that have served at the front
lines of investigation and intervention.  Currently, reports of
suspected elder abuse can be received through a hybrid of offices
including local and state hotlines and offices. On the state level,
Adult Protective Services receives complaints through a hotline estab-
lished through the Office of Children and Family Services. This legis-
lation will enhance the already established hotline with requirements
that it be staffed on a twenty-four hours, seven days a week, basis to
ensure that reports are received in a timely and effective manner. Given
the increasing elderly population of our state, as well as other vulner-
able adults, it is time that we signal to the public that these cases
are a serious problem that will be combatted with all the tools avail-
able to the state on a continual basis.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-20: S.1418 Referred to Aging

2018: S.7557 Passed Senate

2017: S.2154-A Vetoed Memo 184

2016: S.6921 Reported and Committed to Finance

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Subject to appropriation

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become law.