HB 1567 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to elder and vulnerable adult abuse 2
fatality review teams; amending s. 415.1103, F.S.; 3
authorizing the establishment of elder and vulnerable 4
adult abuse fatality review teams in certain areas and 5
for certain purposes; revising the definition of the 6
term "vulnerable adult"; revising conditions for 7
review team membership and structure; removing 8
provisions relating to state attorney requirements; 9
authorizing continuance for review teams in existence 10
on a certain date; revising review team requirements 11
to conform to changes made by the act; removing a 12
prohibition from contacting, interviewing, or 13
obtaining information from the family of a victim; 14
expanding immunity from monetary liability to other 15
persons; providing that information and records 16
acquired by a review team are not subject to discovery 17
or introduction into evidence in certain proceedings 18
under certain circumstances; specifying that 19
provisions of law relating to a waiver of sovereign 20
immunity still apply; providing that a person who 21
attends a meeting or other authorized activities of a 22
review team may not testify in certain proceedings as 23
to certain records or information; providing 24
exceptions; providing an effective date. 25
HB 1567 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 27
28
Section 1. Section 415.1103, Florida Statutes, is amended 29
to read: 30
415.1103 Elder and vulnerable adult abuse fatality review 31
teams.— 32
(1)(a) A state attorney, or his or her designee, may 33
initiate An elder and vulnerable adult abuse fatality review 34
team may be established at a local, regional, or state level in 35
his or her judicial circuit to review fatal and near-fatal 36
incidents of deaths of elderly pers ons caused by, or related to, 37
abuse, exploitation, or neglect of vulnerable adults . 38
(b) The purpose of a review team is to learn how to 39
prevent elder and vulnerable adult abuse and abuse -related 40
deaths by intervening early and improving the system respon se to 41
elder and vulnerable adult abuse, exploitation, or neglect. 42
(2) For purposes of this section and s. 415.1104, the term 43
"vulnerable adult" includes a disabled adult and elderly person 44
as those terms are defined in s. 825.101(3) and (4), 45
respectively. 46
(3) A An elder abuse fatality review team may include, but 47
is not limited to, representatives from any of the following 48
entities or persons located in the review team's judicial 49
circuit: 50
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(a)1. Law enforcement agencies. 51
(b)2. The state attorney. 52
(c)3. The medical examiner. 53
(d)4. A county court judge. 54
(e)5. Adult protective services. 55
(f)6. The area agency on aging. 56
(g)7. The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. 57
(h)8. The Agency for Health Care Administration. 58
(i)9. The Office of the Attorney General. 59
(j)10. The Office of the State Courts Administrator. 60
(k)11. The clerk of the court. 61
(l)12. A victim services program. 62
(m)13. An elder law or disability rights attorney. 63
(n)14. Emergency services personnel. 64
(o)15. A certified domestic violence center. 65
(p)16. An advocacy organization for victims of sexual 66
violence. 67
(q)17. A funeral home director. 68
(r)18. A forensic pathologist. 69
(s)19. A geriatrician. 70
(t)20. A geriatric nurse. 71
(u)21. A geriatric psychiatrist or other individual 72
licensed to offer behavioral health services. 73
(v)22. A hospital discharge planner. 74
(w)23. A public guardian. 75
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(x) The Agency for Persons with Disabilities. 76
(y)24. Any other persons who have knowledge re garding 77
fatal and near-fatal incidents of vulnerable adult abuse, 78
disabled adult abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence, or sexual 79
violence, or suicide, including knowledge of research, policy, 80
law, and other matters connected with such incidents involving 81
vulnerable adults, elderly persons, or disabled adults elders, 82
or who are recommended for inclusion by the review team . 83
(4)(a)(c) Participation in a review team is voluntary. 84
Members of a review team shall serve without compensation and 85
may not be reimbursed for per diem or travel expenses. Members 86
shall serve for terms of 2 years, to be staggered as determined 87
by the co-chairs. 88
(d) The state attorney may call the first organizational 89
meeting of the team. At the initial meeting, members of a review 90
team shall choose two members to serve as co -chairs. Chairs may 91
be reelected by a majority vote of a review team for not more 92
than two consecutive terms. At the initial meeting, members of a 93
review team shall establish a schedule for future meetings. Each 94
review team shall meet at least once each fiscal year. 95
(e) Each review team shall determine its local operations, 96
including, but not limited to, the process for case selection. 97
The state attorney shall refer cases to be reviewed by each 98
team. Reviews must be limited to closed cases in which an 99
elderly person's death was caused by, or related to, abuse or 100
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neglect. All identifying information concerning the elderly 101
person must be redacted by the state attorney in documents 102
received for review. As used in this p aragraph, the term "closed 103
case" means a case that does not involve information considered 104
active as defined in s. 119.011(3)(d). 105
(b) Except as required under subsection (6), the structure 106
and activities of a review team, including the number and type 107
of incidents it chooses to review, is determined by the members 108
of the review team. 109
(c)(f) Administrative costs of operating the review team 110
must be borne by the team members or entities they represent. 111
(5)(2) A An elder abuse fatality review team in existence 112
on July 1, 2023 July 1, 2020, may continue to exist and must 113
comply with the requirements of this section. 114
(6)(3) A An elder abuse fatality review team must shall do 115
all of the following: 116
(a) Review fatal and near-fatal incidents involving deaths 117
of elderly persons, disabled adults, or otherwise vulnerable 118
adults in the team's jurisdiction in its judicial circuit which 119
are found to have been caused by, or related to, abuse , 120
exploitation, or neglect. 121
(b) Take into consideration the events leadin g up to a 122
fatal or near-fatal incident, available community resources, 123
current law and policies, and the actions taken by systems or 124
individuals related to the fatal or near-fatal incident, and any 125
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information considered relevant by the team, including a r eview 126
of public records and records for which a public records 127
exemption is granted . 128
(c) Identify potential gaps, deficiencies, or problems in 129
the delivery of services to elderly persons , disabled adults, or 130
otherwise vulnerable adults by public and private agencies which 131
may be related to incidents deaths reviewed by the team. 132
(d) Whenever possible, develop communitywide approaches to 133
address the causes of, and contributing factors to, incidents 134
deaths reviewed by the team. 135
(e) Develop recommendations and potential changes in law, 136
rules, and policies to support the care of elderly persons , 137
disabled adults, and other vulnerable adults and to prevent 138
abuse-related incidents elder abuse deaths. 139
(7)(4)(a) A review team may share wi th other review teams 140
in this state any relevant information that pertains to 141
incidents identified or reviewed by the team the review of the 142
death of an elderly person . 143
(b) A review team member may not contact, interview, or 144
obtain information by request directly from a member of the 145
deceased elder's family as part of the review unless a team 146
member is authorized to do so in the course of his or her 147
employment duties. A member of the deceased elder's family may 148
voluntarily provide information or any recor d to a review team 149
but must be informed that such information or any record is 150
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subject to public disclosure unless a public records exemption 151
applies. 152
(8)(a)(5)(a) Annually by September 1, each elder abuse 153
fatality review team shall submit a summary repo rt to the 154
Department of Elderly Affairs which includes, but is not limited 155
to: 156
1. Descriptive statistics regarding cases reviewed by the 157
team, including demographic information on victims and the 158
causes and nature of their fatal or near-fatal incidents of 159
abuse, exploitation, or neglect. deaths; 160
2. Current policies, procedures, rules, or statutes the 161
review team has identified as contributing to the incidence of 162
elder or vulnerable adult abuse and abuse-related elder deaths, 163
and recommendations for syst em improvements and needed 164
resources, training, or information dissemination to address 165
such identified issues .; and 166
3. Any other recommendations to prevent fatal or near-167
fatal incidents deaths from elder abuse, exploitation, or 168
neglect, based on an anal ysis of the data and information 169
presented in the report. 170
(b) Annually by November 1, the Department of Elderly 171
Affairs shall prepare a summary report of the review team 172
information submitted under paragraph (a). The department shall 173
submit its summary r eport to the Governor, the President of the 174
Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the 175
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Department of Children and Families. 176
(9)(a)(6) There is no monetary liability on the part of, 177
and a cause of action for damages may not arise against , any 178
member of a an elder abuse fatality review team, or any person 179
acting as a witness to, incident reporter to, or investigator 180
for a review team, for any act or proceeding taken or performed 181
within the scope and functions of the team, due to the 182
performance of his or her duties as a review team member in 183
regard to any discussions by, or deliberations or 184
recommendations of, the team or the member unless such person 185
member acted in bad faith, with wanton and willful disregard of 186
human rights, safety, or p roperty. 187
(b) This subsection does not affect the requirements of s. 188
768.28. 189
(10)(a) All information and records acquired by the review 190
team are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence 191
in any civil or criminal action or administrative or 192
disciplinary proceeding by any department or employing agency if 193
the information or records arose out of matters that are the 194
subject of evaluation and review by the review team. However, 195
information, documents, and records otherwise available from 196
other sources are not immune from discovery or introduction into 197
evidence solely because the information, documents, or records 198
were presented to or reviewed by the review team. 199
(b) A person who attends a meeting or other authorized 200
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activities of a review team may not testify in any civil, 201
criminal, administrative, or disciplinary proceedings as to any 202
records or information produced or presented to the review team 203
during its meetings or other activities authorized by this 204
section. 205
(c) This subsection does not prohibit: 206
1. A person who testifies before a review team or is a 207
member of a review team from testifying in a civil, criminal, 208
administrative, or disciplinary proceeding to matters otherwise 209
within his or her knowledge; or 210
2. A member of a review team from testifying in a policy -211
related hearing or matter, as long as the member of the review 212
team does not disclose records or information that would 213
identify the victim or victim's family or any other confidential 214
or exempt records or information pertainin g to a matter reviewed 215
by the review team. 216
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 217