Report Title:

Elder Abuse; Financial Exploitation

Description:

Creates three positions within the Department of Human Services, Adult Protective Services program, to investigate reported cases of suspected dependent adult abuse, including financial exploitation and provide appropriate services, including referral to law enforcement. Appropriates funds. (SB883 SD2)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

883

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

S.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that dependent adults, including elders sixty years of age or older and individuals with physical or mental impairments, comprise a significant and growing sector of the population with a heightened risk of being subject to abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Many elders and individuals with physical or mental impairments become dependent on caregivers, care organizations, or care facilities for their personal health, safety, or welfare, and are therefore vulnerable to physical, mental, and emotional abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect in their own homes in the community, in hospitals and institutions.

To address this problem, Hawaii's dependent adult protective services law (chapter 346, part X, Hawaii Revised Statutes) requires the department of human services, adult protective services program, to investigate all reported incidents of suspected dependent adult abuse, including financial exploitation. A dramatic increase is expected in the number of dependent adults for which adult protective services will be responsible in the coming years because of Hawaii's growing elder population. In the 2000 census, elders made up only seventeen per cent of the population; by 2020, one in four, or twenty-five per cent of Hawaii residents will be sixty years of age or older, according to state executive office on aging projections.

To address growing community awareness of dependent adult abuse in general, and financial exploitation in particular, the department of human services implemented a one year (March 1, 2002, through February 28, 2003) demonstration project, the financial exploitation project, to strengthen the department's response to the misuse of a dependent adult's money or property. Grant funds obtained through the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program, U.S. Department of Justice, enabled the department of human services to hire a social worker, an investigator/auditor, and a social services assistant (collectively, the "project team") to augment the existing adult protective services staff on Oahu. The project team investigates reported incidents of financial exploitation of dependent adults on Oahu and utilizes the skills of the investigator/auditor to examine and evaluate financial documents and records. In addition, the project team provides accounting and auditing support on an as-needed basis to adult protective services staff on the neighbor islands.

During fiscal year 2001-2002, the department of human services investigated five hundred nine incidents of suspected dependent adult abuse statewide, of which two hundred seventy-one (fifty-three per cent) occurred on Oahu. Of the Oahu investigations, thirty-three (twelve per cent) of the cases reportedly involved financial exploitation. The department of human services projects that the number of reported dependent adult abuse will increase by an estimated ten per cent (fifty cases) each year.

The financial exploitation project has dramatically increased the department of human services' ability to respond to incidents of suspected financial exploitation of dependent adults. For the quarter ending June 30, 2002, adult protective services staff investigated six cases involving financial exploitation on Oahu. For the quarter ending September 30, 2002, the first quarter in which the financial exploitation project was fully staffed, the project team investigated eighteen cases involving financial exploitation on Oahu, more than double the number of investigated cases from the previous quarter. For comparison, the adult protective services staff investigated sixty-two cases of suspected dependent adult abuse, including financial exploitation cases, during the quarter ending September 30, 2002.

The grant funding for the financial exploitation demonstration project is expected to end on or about February 28, 2003, leaving the three temporary positions unfunded. The loss of these temporary positions once the federal funding has been exhausted will significantly impede the department of human services' ability to fulfill its duty under the dependent adult protective services law to protect Hawaii's elders and dependent adults from abuse including financial exploitation. Converting the three positions from temporary to permanent status will enable the department of human services to satisfy its statutory mandate through the retention of staff with the specialized skills and knowledge to investigate, prevent further exploitation, and protect the remaining assets of dependent adults.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to establish three positions in the department of human services, adult protective services program, to conduct statutorily mandated investigations of incidents of suspected abuse, including the financial exploitation of dependent adults.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $       , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2003-2004, and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, to create three positions in the department of human services, adult protective services program, as follows:

(1) One social worker IV;

(2) One auditor III; and

(3) One social services assistant III;

to investigate incidents of suspected abuse, including financial exploitation of dependent adults, and provide appropriate services, including referral to law enforcement, as required by state law; provided that, if funding from alternative sources is obtained by the department for the financial exploitation project, the amount of this appropriation shall be reduced by the amount so obtained.

SECTION 3. An officer or employee of the State who does not have tenure and who may be transferred or appointed to a civil service position as a consequence of this Act shall become a civil service employee without the loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefits or privileges and without the necessity of examination; provided that the officer or employee possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which transferred or appointed.

SECTION 4. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.