HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1620
As Reported By House Committee On:
Health Care
Title: An act relating to protection of vulnerable adults.
Brief Description: Protecting vulnerable adults.
Sponsors: Representatives Conway, Parlette, Cody, Miloscia, Poulsen, Hatfield and Keiser; by request of Department of Social and Health Services.
Brief History:
Committee Activity:
Health Care: 2/11/99, 3/1/99 [DPS].
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Brief Summary of Substitute Bill
$Consolidates three statutes that require reporting and investigation of abuse, abandonment, financial exploitation and neglect.
$Definitions of abuse, abandonment, financial exploitation and neglect are made uniform and reporting requirements are clarified and streamlined.
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 10 members: Representatives Cody, Democratic Co-Chair; Parlette, Republican Co-Chair; Pflug, Republican Vice Chair; Alexander; Campbell; Conway; Edmonds; Edwards; Mulliken and Ruderman.
Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 1 member: Representative Boldt.
Staff: Antonio Sanchez (786-7383).
Background:
Elder abuse is widespread in the United States. It is a national problem with a frequency and rate approximate to that of child abuse. Based on two national studies on elder abuse, 48 percent of the incidents investigated are substantiated. However, only one in five incidents of abuse or neglect are ever reported and substantiated by Adult Protective Services. In general, there appears to be a higher rate of female abuse victims. The National Elder Abuse Incident Study found that almost 90 percent of the elder abuse and neglect incidents are with a known perpetrator, who most often is a family member. Two-thirds of the perpetrators are adult children or spouses. Rates of reported abuse to the state's Adult Protective Services Program have increased approximately 60 percent in the last three years.
Under current law vulnerable adults include:
!Adults over the age of 60 who lack the functional, mental, physical ability to care for himself or herself;
!Adult clients of the Division of Developmental Disabilities;
!Dependent adults with a legal guardian;
!Adults receiving in-home care services; and
!Adults living in a nursing home, adult family home, boarding home.
Currently, three separate statutes direct the reporting requirements of abandonment, abuse, exploitation, and neglect of vulnerable adults, investigating those elements, and protecting vulnerable adults from further abuse. The three statutes contain overlapping client populations, separate, and different sets of definitions, different lists of professionals required to report incidents of abuse, different criteria for reporting suspected criminal activity to law enforcement, different requirements for investigating incidents, and different provisions for providing protective services.
Summary of Substitute Bill:
Three statutes that require the reporting and investigation of incidents of abuse are consolidated. One statutory reference is created to be applicable for law enforcement, prosecutors, mandated reporters, medical professionals, licensing authorities, other agencies that are involved in services provision for vulnerable adults, and the Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) social workers and investigators of abandonment, abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect, or anybody wishing to report.
The definition of abandonment, abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect are made uniform for all vulnerable adults. The three overlapping lists of those responsible for reporting suspected cases of abuse and neglect are combined into one list and the reporters are given the same reporting requirements for vulnerable adults. The items that must be reported are specified. Immunity and confidentiality is provided for the reporter. Whistleblower, protection order, injunction, and civil penalty provisions are amended to correspond with changes in definitions. Language is added to guide the DSHS in the disclosure of public records, responding to reports, reporting to law enforcement when a crime is suspected, and for reporting to the appropriate licensing authority. The department is given the authority to expand its ability to interview other individuals like neighbors or landlords, not just family members. The department is given the responsibility for developing separate rules relating to the investigation of vulnerable adults in in-home settings. The department must provide a report on the feasibility of developing a registry of perpetrators of abuse.
Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill: New language in the definition section is removed or modified to comply internally or to conform with current practice. Residential habilitation centers are included under vulnerable adult protections. A new definition is added for individual providers. The definition of self neglect is further specified and limited. Reporting requirements are further specified. Restrictions are added for taking pictures of a vulnerable adult. The department is required to notify the facility in which an incident has occurred when the investigation is completed. Whistleblower protections and processes are clarified. The practices of well organized religious denominations are taken into consideration.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date of Substitute Bill: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: (original bill) Consolidating these statutes will streamline the complaint process and clarify when, where and how protections for vulnerable adults should be implemented.
Testimony Against: (original bill) New language added by the department should be reviewed and removed and language should be sensitive to the unique caring environment in adult family homes.
Testified: (support) Pat Lashway and Kathy Leitch, Department of Social & Health Services; and Bruce Reeves, Senior Citizen Lobby.
(concerns) Nick Federici, Washington Association of Housing Services for the Aging; Gail McGaffick, Home Care Association of Washington; and Jeff Crollard, Long-term Care Ombudsman Program.
(oppose) Jeff Larsen, Washington State Residential Care Council and United Cerebral Palsy of Washington; and Bill Day, Adult Family Home Association.