Ray's Round Up: The 2016 Road Map

After a tumultuous end to 2015 in Harrisburg, 2016 has begun rather quietly.  Perhaps the biggest political news of the first half of January has been the number of state legislators who have announced they will not be running for re-election.  The total does not seem historically high yet (11 legislators have announced their retirements), but it is unusual that this many incumbents have opted to make their futures known a month before the February 16 filing deadline for the April 26 primary election.  It is very likely in the coming weeks more legislators will decide to leave the General Assembly at the end of 2016.  These retirements add to the twelve seats that became open in 2015 because of resignations and have been filled (or are in the process of being filled) with newly-elected replacements, plus a number of incumbents who are running for higher office.  The result will be a 2017-18 General Assembly with an unusually high number of freshmen legislators roaming the halls of the Capitol.

Meanwhile the work of the 2016 General Assembly will begin in earnest in the coming weeks.  It is likely the continuing budget situation will dominate the headlines, but other policy issues will hopefully also be on the agenda.  AARP Pennsylvania has a number of issues that impact 50+ Pennsylvanians that we will be closely following and highlighting over the next few weeks.  Our list includes:

• Enactment of the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act
• Creating more opportunities for respite care for family caregivers
• Improving the reliability and affordability of utility service
• Making home and community based care a larger component of our long-term care system
• Protecting Pennsylvanians against fraudulent activities
• Advancing tele-medicine as a way to improve health care
• Promoting safe streets policies at the state and local levels

 

And on the federal level:

• Having candidates Take a Stand on their plans to protect Social Security
• Ensuring investors are protected from unscrupulous financial advisors
• Passing the federal Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Act to create a national family caregiving strategy

 

As we look at issues of concern for 2016, the first one I’ll highlight is something important to all Pennsylvanians - an update to the Older Adult Protective Services Act (OAPSA).

OAPSA is designed to protect older Pennsylvanians from abuse and neglect.  It is a strong law that defines elder abuse and sets criminal penalties for those who harm older Pennsylvanians and place them in vulnerable situations.  When the law was adopted, elder abuse referred mostly to physical and mental harm, and it has allowed state and local officials to protect many older Pennsylvanians from dangerous situations.  Unfortunately, a number of people have turned to a different form of exploitation of older Pennsylvanians over the past few years.  Financial exploitation of the elderly is a growing problem and our laws need to catch up to ensure we have the proper protections and penalties for this type of despicable crime.

Senator Bob Mensch and Representative Tim Hennessey, Chairman of the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee, have each proposed legislation in the past few years to strengthen OAPSA in the area of financial exploitation.  The bills have gotten bogged down because of disputes about the responsibilities of financial institutions to question unusual activity in the accounts of older customers.  Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Teresa Osborne has a deep background in older adult protective service issues, and has been working with these legislators on legislative language that will address the areas of concern and ultimately enhance our laws in this area.

This is a difficult legal issue and new legislation needs to be carefully written.  It is of course complicated by issues such as the onset of conditions such as dementia and disputes within families.  But there are too many situations occurring in Pennsylvania where older citizens are losing savings because of unscrupulous activity, and, unfortunately, many times it turns out that family members have stolen money and threatened their older relatives.  We need to see our law updated and there is great interest among our elected officials to do so.  AARP and other organizations will provide comments and encouragement to ensure that 2016 will be the year Pennsylvania’s Older Adult Protective Services Act is strengthened to protect older Pennsylvanians against financial exploitation.

 

“Ray’s Round Up” features updates on current state and federal issues by Ray Landis, AARP PA’s Advocacy Manager.