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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; authorizing certain pe rsons and 6
entities to initiate a review team; revising the 7
definition of the term "vulnerable adult"; requiring 8
certain representatives to be active participants on a 9
review team; revising review team membership; removing 10
provisions relating to state attor ney requirements; 11
authorizing a review team to determine the number and 12
types of incidents to review; authorizing continuance 13
for review teams in existence on a certain date; 14
revising review team requirements to conform to 15
changes made by the act; removing a prohibition from 16
contacting, interviewing, or obtaining information 17
from the family of a victim; expanding immunity from 18
monetary liability to certain persons; providing 19
construction; providing that information and records 20
acquired by a review team are not subject to discovery 21
or introduction into evidence in certain proceedings 22
under certain circumstances; specifying that 23
provisions of law relating to a waiver of sovereign 24
immunity still apply; providing that a person who 25
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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
attends a meeting or other auth orized activities of a 26
review team may not testify in certain proceedings as 27
to certain records or information; providing 28
exceptions; providing an effective date. 29
30
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 31
Section 1. Section 415.110 3, Florida Statutes, is amended 32
to read: 33
415.1103 Elder and vulnerable adult abuse fatality review 34
teams.— 35
(1)(a) A state attorney, or his or her designee, may 36
initiate An elder and vulnerable adult abuse fatality review 37
team may be established at a lo cal, regional, or state level in 38
his or her judicial circuit to review fatal and near-fatal 39
incidents of deaths of elderly persons caused by, or related to, 40
abuse, exploitation, or neglect of elderly persons and 41
vulnerable adults. 42
(b) An elder and vulnerable adult abuse fatality review 43
team may be initiated by any of the following persons or 44
entities, which must specify the geographic area in which the 45
team shall serve: 46
1. A state attorney, or his or her designee. 47
2. A law enforcement agency. 48
3. The Department of Children and Families. 49
4. The Office of the Attorney General. 50
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5. The Agency for Persons with Disabilities. 51
(c) The purpose of a review team is to learn how to 52
prevent elder and vulnerable adult abuse and abuse -related 53
deaths by intervening early and improving the system response to 54
elder and vulnerable adult abuse, exploitation, or neglect. 55
(2) For purposes of this section and s. 415.1104, the term 56
"vulnerable adult" includes a disabled adult and elderly person 57
as those terms are defi ned in s. 825.101(3) and (4), 58
respectively. 59
(3)(a) A An elder abuse fatality review team must may 60
include a representative from the person or entity initiating 61
the team, who must be an active participant on the team. 62
(b) A review team may include , but is not limited to, 63
representatives from any of the other persons or entities that 64
may initiate a team under paragraph (1)(b) and any of the 65
following persons or entities or persons located in the review 66
team's judicial circuit : 67
1. Law enforcement agencie s. 68
2. The state attorney. 69
1.3. The medical examiner. 70
2.4. A county court judge. 71
5. Adult protective services. 72
3.6. The area agency on aging. 73
4.7. The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. 74
5.8. The Agency for Health Care Administration. 75
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9. The Office of the Attorney General. 76
6.10. The Office of the State Courts Administrator. 77
7.11. The clerk of the court. 78
8.12. A victim services program. 79
9.13. An elder law or disability rights attorney. 80
10.14. Emergency services personnel. 81
11.15. A certified domestic violence center. 82
12.16. An advocacy organization for victims of sexual 83
violence. 84
13.17. A funeral home director. 85
14.18. A forensic pathologist. 86
15.19. A geriatrician. 87
16.20. A geriatric nurse. 88
17.21. A geriatric psychiatr ist or other individual 89
licensed to offer behavioral health services. 90
18.22. A hospital discharge planner. 91
19.23. A public guardian. 92
20.24. Any other persons who have knowledge regarding 93
fatal and near-fatal incidents of vulnerable adult abuse, elder 94
abuse, domestic violence, or sexual violence, or suicide, 95
including knowledge of research, policy, law, and other matters 96
connected with such incidents involving vulnerable adults or 97
elderly persons elders, or who are recommended for inclusion by 98
the review team. 99
(4)(a)(c) Participation in a review team is voluntary. 100
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Members of a review team shall serve without compensation and 101
may not be reimbursed for per diem or travel expenses. Members 102
shall serve for terms of 2 years, to be staggered as determined 103
by the co-chairs. 104
(d) The state attorney may call the first organizational 105
meeting of the team. At the initial meeting, members of a review 106
team shall choose two members to serve as co -chairs. Chairs may 107
be reelected by a majority vote of a review team fo r not more 108
than two consecutive terms. At the initial meeting, members of a 109
review team shall establish a schedule for future meetings. Each 110
review team shall meet at least once each fiscal year. 111
(e) Each review team shall determine its local operations, 112
including, but not limited to, the process for case selection. 113
The state attorney shall refer cases to be reviewed by each 114
team. Reviews must be limited to closed cases in which an 115
elderly person's death was caused by, or related to, abuse or 116
neglect. All identifying information concerning the elderly 117
person must be redacted by the state attorney in documents 118
received for review. As used in this paragraph, the term "closed 119
case" means a case that does not involve information considered 120
active as defined in s. 119.011(3)(d). 121
(b) A review team may determine the number and type of 122
incidents it chooses to review. 123
(c)(f) Administrative costs of operating the review team 124
must be borne by the team members or entities they represent. 125
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(5)(2) A An elder abuse fatality review team in existence 126
on July 1, 2023 July 1, 2020, may continue to exist and must 127
comply with the requirements of this section. 128
(6)(3) A An elder abuse fatality review team must shall do 129
all of the following: 130
(a) Review fatal and near-fatal incidents involving deaths 131
of elderly persons and vulnerable adults in the team's 132
jurisdiction in its judicial circuit which are found to have 133
been caused by, or related to, abuse , exploitation, or neglect. 134
(b) Take into consideration the events leading up to a 135
fatal or near-fatal incident, available community resources, 136
current law and policies, and the actions taken by systems or 137
individuals related to the fatal or near-fatal incident, and any 138
information considered relevant by the team, including a re view 139
of public records and records for which a public records 140
exemption is granted . 141
(c) Identify potential gaps, deficiencies, or problems in 142
the delivery of services to elderly persons or vulnerable adults 143
by public and private agencies which may be rel ated to incidents 144
deaths reviewed by the team. 145
(d) Whenever possible, develop communitywide approaches to 146
address the causes of, and contributing factors to, incidents 147
deaths reviewed by the team. 148
(e) Develop recommendations and potential changes in la w, 149
rules, and policies to support the care of elderly persons and 150
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vulnerable adults and to prevent abuse-related incidents elder 151
abuse deaths. 152
(7)(4)(a) A review team may share with other review teams 153
in this state any relevant information that pertains to 154
incidents identified or reviewed by the team the review of the 155
death of an elderly person . 156
(b) A review team member may not contact, interview, or 157
obtain information by request directly from a member of the 158
deceased elder's family as part of the revie w unless a team 159
member is authorized to do so in the course of his or her 160
employment duties. A member of the deceased elder's family may 161
voluntarily provide information or any record to a review team 162
but must be informed that such information or any record is 163
subject to public disclosure unless a public records exemption 164
applies. 165
(8)(a)(5)(a) Annually by September 1, each elder abuse 166
fatality review team shall submit a summary report to the 167
Department of Elderly Affairs which includes, but is not limited 168
to: 169
1. Descriptive statistics regarding cases reviewed by the 170
team, including demographic information on victims and the 171
causes and nature of their fatal or near-fatal incidents of 172
abuse, exploitation, or neglect. deaths; 173
2. Current policies, procedure s, rules, or statutes the 174
review team has identified as contributing to the incidence of 175
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elder or vulnerable adult abuse and abuse-related elder deaths, 176
and recommendations for system improvements and needed 177
resources, training, or information disseminatio n to address 178
such identified issues .; and 179
3. Any other recommendations to prevent fatal or near-180
fatal incidents deaths from elder abuse, exploitation, or 181
neglect, based on an analysis of the data and information 182
presented in the report. 183
(b) Annually by November 1, the Department of Elderly 184
Affairs shall prepare a summary report of the review team 185
information submitted under paragraph (a). The department shall 186
submit its summary report to the Governor, the President of the 187
Senate, the Speaker of the Hous e of Representatives, and the 188
Department of Children and Families. 189
(9)(a)(6) There is no monetary liability on the part of, 190
and a cause of action for damages may not arise against, any 191
member of a an elder abuse fatality review team, or any person 192
acting as a witness to, incident reporter to, or investigator 193
for a review team, for any act or proceeding taken or performed 194
within the scope and functions of the team, due to the 195
performance of his or her duties as a review team member in 196
regard to any discuss ions by, or deliberations or 197
recommendations of, the team or the member unless such person 198
member acted in bad faith, with wanton and willful disregard of 199
human rights, safety, or property. 200
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(b) This subsection does not affect the requirements of s. 201
768.28. 202
(10)(a) All information and records acquired by the review 203
team are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence 204
in any civil or criminal action or administrative or 205
disciplinary proceeding by any department or employing agency if 206
the information or records arose out of matters that are the 207
subject of evaluation and review by the review team. However, 208
information, documents, and records otherwise available from 209
other sources are not immune from discovery or introduction into 210
evidence solely because the information, documents, or records 211
were presented to or reviewed by the review team. 212
(b) A person who attends a meeting or other authorized 213
activities of a review team may not testify in any civil, 214
criminal, administrative, or disciplinary pro ceedings as to any 215
records or information produced or presented to the review team 216
during its meetings or other activities authorized by this 217
section. 218
(c) This subsection does not prohibit: 219
1. A person who testifies before a review team or is a 220
member of a review team from testifying in a civil, criminal, 221
administrative, or disciplinary proceeding to matters otherwise 222
within his or her knowledge; or 223
2. A member of a review team from testifying in a policy -224
related hearing or matter, as long as the memb er of the review 225
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team does not disclose records or information that would 226
identify the victim or victim's family or any other confidential 227
or exempt records or information pertaining to a matter reviewed 228
by the review team. 229
Section 2. This act shall ta ke effect July 1, 2023. 230