Add Art 4 Title 1 §§400 - 412, Title 2 §§420 - 426, Eld L; amd §§120.05, 135.30, 135.45 & 140.10, add Art 261
§§261.00 - 261.08, Pen L
Enacts the Senior Anti-Violence and Enforcement Act (SAVE); establishes a central registry for access to reports of maltreatment of seniors; creates a council on elder abuse; establishes penal provisions regarding offenses against the elderly and disabled.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6555C
SPONSOR: Crespo TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the elder law and the penal law, in
relation to enacting the senior anti-violence and enforcement act
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:
Enacts the Senior Anti-Violence and Enforcement Act (SAVE), which will
provide new protections for seniors, including mandatory reporting of
crimes or abuse and the creation of a statewide abuse registry, estab-
lishment of new investigatory procedures, provision for research on
senior violence, and establishment of new criminal penalties for crimes
against seniors.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Short Title: Creates the Senior Anti-Violence and Enforcement
Act (SAVE)
Section 2. Amends the Elder law by adding a new article 4. Requires
mandatory reporting of abuse and mistreatment of seniors. Establishes a
broad definition of abuse and mistreatment that includes not only phys-
ical abuse, but also financial, sexual, emotional or psychological
abuse, neglect, abandonment, financial or material exploitation, and
self-neglect. Creates a new statewide central registry for senior abuse
and neglect in the State Office for the Aging (SOFA).
Provides for the following mandatory reporters, including health care
workers, social workers, mental health professionals, persons employed
by or associated with a licensed or registered facility which provides
care to seniors, peace and police officers, district attorneys and other
law enforcement officials, as well as bankers, financial consultants and
others. The bill also allows any person to report.
Establishes the State Office for the Aging as the lead agency for senior
abuse and neglect, and the designated agencies are established as lead
agencies at the local level. Requires each designated. agency to estab-
lish a Senior Anti-Violence Services (SAVS) unit. Requires that proce-
dures for investigation be established by SOFA, and carried out by the
SAVS units, using community teams of local services.
Section 3. Amends the Penal Law,- section 60.35, the section heading and
subdivision 1. Establishes a mandatory senior anti-violence services
fee. Increases fees for various crimes.
Section 4. Amends the State Finance Law. Adds a new section 97-1111.
Establishes the Senior Anti-Violence Services Account in the joint
custody of the State Comptroller and the Commissioner of Taxation and
Finance. Provides that monies in such account shall be collected from
mandatory fees established by this chapter and shall be made available
by appropriation from the legislature, allocated by the Director of the
Budget and made available for local assistance services through the
State Office for the Aging.
Section 5. Amends the Vehicle and Traffic Law, Section 1809. Estab-
lishes a mandatory surcharge and crime victim assistance fee for certain
driving infractions.
Sections 6, 7 8, 9, 10 and 11. Amends the Vehicle and Traffic Law,
Section 1809, subdivision 1. Establishes a Senior Anti-Violence Services
Fee of $25.00 upon the conviction of a crime under this chapter.
Section 12. Amends the Banking Law Section 4, subdivision 3. Provides
that no financial institution shall be held liable for reporting
instances of suspected abuse or mistreatment of seniors when such
reporting is done in good faith.
Section 13. Amends the Penal Law by adding a new article 261, Offenses
Against the Elderly and Disabled. Makes numerous changes to the penal
law and adds new sections dealing with abandonment of an elderly or
disabled person, endangering the welfare of an elderly or disabled
person and endangering the welfare of an elderly person.
Section 14. Amends the Penal Law, section 120.05 by adding a new subdi-
vision 13. Creates the new crime of assault in the second degree when a
person being eighteen years old or more intends to cause physical injury
to a person sixty years old or more.
Section 15. Amends the Penal Law, Section 135.30. Kidnapping defense
does not apply when the abducted person is sixty years old or more or is
a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially
limits a major life activity, and the kidnapping was done with the
intention of compelling such person to transfer an asset to the defend-
ant or to a third party.
Section 16. Amends the Penal Law, Section 135.45 by adding a new subdi-
vision 3. Custodial interference in the second degree when a person who
knows that he or she has no right to do so, takes or entices any person
sixty years of age or more or a person who has a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, from the
custody of another person or institution.
Section 17. Amends the Penal Law, Section 140.10 subdivision (g) and
adds a new subdivision (h), Criminal Trespass in the third degree.
Provides that a person shall be guilty of criminal trespass in the third
degree when the person enters a dwelling which is occupied by a person
sixty years of age or more or by a person who has a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.
Section 18. Severability Clause Section 19. Effective Date
EXISTING LAW:
None
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the New York State Elder Abuse Prevalence Study which was
released during the Elder Abuse Summit held from November 16-18, 2010 in
Albany, New York:
*There is a dramatic gap between the rate of elder abuse events reported
by older New Yorkers and the number of cases referred to and served in
the formal elder abuse service system;
*The elder abuse prevalence rate in New York State was nearly 24 times
greater than the number of cases referred to social services, law
enforcement or legal authorities who have the capacity as well as the
responsibility to assist older adult victims.
*Emotional abuse was the most common form of mistreatment reported by
agencies providing data on elder abuse victims. This finding stands in
contrast to the results of the Self-Reported Study in which financial
exploitation was the most prevalent form of mistreatment.
*Applying the prevalence rate to the general population of older New
Yorkers, an estimated 268,280 older adults in the state have been
victims of at least one form of elder abuse since turning 60.
The major findings of the Self-Reported Study include: a total preva-
lence rate of 76 per 1,000 older residents of New York State for any
form of elder abuse was found; the cumulative prevalence of any form of
non-financial elder mistreatment was 46.2 per thousand subjects studied;
and, the highest rate of mistreatment occurred for major financial
exploitation (theft of money or property, using items without permis-
sion, impersonation to get access, forcing or misleading to get items
such as money, bank cards, accounts, power of attorney) with a rate of
41 per 1,000 surveyed.
New York is one of only eight States in the country that does not
require some form of mandatory reporting for elder abuse. Elder abuse
takes many forms, and the courts and criminal justice system see it in
many contexts: criminal assault, battery, rape or theft; civil fraud or
conversion matters; personal injury actions; guardianship or conserva-
torship; mental health commitment; special protective proceedings; cases
involving health care decisions for an incapacitated patient; and crimi-
nal or civil cases regarding institutional care. This bill addresses all
of these situations.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2015: S.239A - Referred to Aging/A.6555 - Referred to Aging
2014: S.720A - Amend and Recommit to Aging/A.133A- Amend and Recommit to
Aging
2013: S.720- Reported, Committed to Codes/A.133 - Referred to Aging
2012: S.309-A - Amend and Recommit to Transportation/A.1010-A-Amend and
Recommit to Aging
2011: 5.309 - Notice of Committee Consideration Requested, Committee
Discharged and Committed to Transportation/A.1010 Referred to Aging
2009-2010 5.5582 - Reported and Committed to Codes/A.9078 - Referred to
Aging
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, with provisions.
