Requires the office for the aging to develop and provide elder abuse prevention training to train senior service centers and contractors in the detection and reporting of elder abuse in consultation with the office of children and family services.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A582
SPONSOR: Steck TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the elder law, in relation to providing elder abuse
prevention training
PURPOSE:
This bill ensures senior service providers are trained in the detection
and reporting of elder abuse by the New York State of Aging in cooper-
ation with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services,
and the Division of State Police.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new section 219-a of the elder law, providing the
director shall develop a program to train senior service providers in
the detection and reporting of elder abuse, including training on the
counseling of elder abuse victims. The director shall require that
employees of senior centers and entities that contract with the Office
for the Aging and the Office of Children and Family Services to provide
services to senior citizens - be trained in elder abuse detection,
reporting and counseling, and receive supplemental refresher training at
least once every three years. This requirement applies to employees with
significant and direct person to person contact with senior citizens.
Further, the director shall require senior centers to hold at least two
educational sessions per year during which guests and members of the
senior center will receive counseling regarding elder abuse prevention
and awareness and be instructed on how to detect and report instances of
elder abuse.
Section 2 provides this act shall take effect on the one hundred twenti-
eth day after it shall have become a law.
EXISTING LAW:
The director of the New York State of Aging, in cooperation with the New
York State Office of Children and Family Services, and the Division of
State Police, is required• to develop, maintain and disseminate educa-
tional material relating to elder abuse, as well as establish and imple-
ment written procedures and policies for when state police encounters
abuse.
JUSTIFICATION:
Elder abuse takes on numerous forms, including physical, sexual,
emotional and financial. With such abuse against vulnerable persons
increasingly a problem, a proactive approach is necessary. This includes
ensuring senior service providers and employees of senior centers are
properly trained in elder abuse detection, reporting and counseling.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022 referred to assembly aging
2021 PASSED SENATE
2021 referred to assembly aging 2020 REFERRED TO SENATE AGING
2019 REFERRED TO SENATE AGING
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
582
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Aging
AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to providing elder abuse
prevention training
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The elder law is amended by adding a new section 219-a to
2 read as follows:
3 219-a. Elder abuse awareness and prevention training. 1. The director
4 shall, in cooperation with the office of children and family services
5 and the division of state police:
6 (a) develop, maintain and disseminate educational material relating to
7 abuse of adults, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional
8 abuse, active neglect, passive neglect, self neglect, and financial
9 exploitation, as such terms are defined in section four hundred seven-
10 ty-three of the social services law,
11 (b) establish and implement written procedures and policies for senior
12 centers and contractors in the event employees of senior centers and
13 employees of entities that contract with the office and the office of
14 children and family services encounters such abuse, including the
15 provision of information and referral, and
16 (c) nothing in this section shall prevent the office from utilizing
17 materials in section two hundred nineteen of this title.
18 2. (a) The director shall develop a program to train senior service
19 providers in the detection and reporting of elder abuse. Such program
20 shall also include training on the counseling of elder abuse victims.
21 (b) The director shall require that employees of senior centers and
22 employees of entities that contract with the office and the office of
23 children and family services to provide services to senior citizens, be
24 trained in elder abuse detection, reporting and counseling, and receive
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01078-01-5
A. 582 2
1 supplemental refresher training regarding the same at least once every
2 three years, if such employee has or is expected to have significant and
3 direct person to person contact with senior citizens.
4 (c) The director shall require senior centers to hold at least two
5 educational sessions per year during which guests and members of the
6 senior center will receive counseling regarding elder abuse prevention
7 and awareness and be instructed on how to detect and report instances of
8 elder abuse.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
10 it shall have become a law.
