Enacts the Senior Anti-Violence and Enforcement Act

Summary of provisions

Section 1. Short Title

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 physical 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 establish a Senior Anti-Violence Services (SAVS) unit. Requires that procedures for investigation be established by SOFA, and carried out by the SAVS units, using community teams of local services.

Section 3. Amends subdivision 1, section 60.35 of the Penal Law. 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 section 1809 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. Establishes a mandatory surcharge and crime victim assistance fee for certain driving infractions.

Sections 6, 6a and 7. Amends subdivision 1 of section 1809 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. Establishes a Senior Anti-Violence Services Fee of $25.00 upon the conviction of a crime under this chapter.

Section 8. Amends subdivision 3 of section 4 of the Banking Law. 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 9. 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 10. Amends section 120.05 of the Penal Law by adding a new subdivision 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 11. Amends Section 135.30 of the Penal Law. 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 defendant or to a third party.

Section 12. Amends Section 135.45 of the Penal Law by adding a new subdivision 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 13. Amends section 140.10 of the Penal Law 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 14. Severability clause.

Section 15. 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 prevalence 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 permission, 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 conservatorship; mental health commitment; special protective proceedings; cases involving health care decisions for an incapacitated patient; and criminal or civil cases regarding institutional care. This bill addresses all of these situations.

Legislative history

2011 S.309 - Discharged from Aging and Committed to Transportation/A.1010 Referred to Aging

2009-2010 S.5582 - Reported and Committed to Codes/A.9078 - Referred to Aging

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

Immediately, with provisions.