Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1540 By Senator Garcia 36-00756A-23 20231540__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to elder abuse and vulnerable adult 3 abuse fatality review teams; amending s. 415.1103, 4 F.S.; revising provisions related to elder abuse 5 fatality review teams; revising the scope of such 6 review teams to include review of fatal and near-fatal 7 incidents of abuse, exploitation, or neglect of 8 vulnerable adults in addition to elderly persons; 9 revising the permissible jurisdictions of such review 10 teams; providing purposes of the review teams; 11 revising membership, meetings, and duties of the 12 review teams; authorizing elder abuse fatality review 13 teams existing on a specified date to continue to do 14 so and requiring them to comply with specified 15 provisions; revising annual reporting requirements; 16 providing that certain persons have immunity from 17 monetary liability; providing an exception and 18 construction; providing that certain information and 19 records acquired by a review team are not subject to 20 discovery or introduction into evidence in civil and 21 criminal proceedings; providing an exception; 22 providing that certain persons may not testify in 23 certain proceedings; providing exceptions and 24 construction; providing an effective date. 25 26 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: 30 415.1103Elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse fatality 31 review teams. 32 (1)(a)An elder abuse or a vulnerable adult A state 33 attorney, or his or her designee, may initiate an elder abuse 34 fatality review team may be established at a local or regional 35 level or at the state level in his or her judicial circuit to 36 review fatal and near-fatal incidents of deaths of elderly 37 persons caused by, or related to, abuse, exploitation, or 38 neglect of elderly persons and vulnerable adults. 39 (b)The purpose of the review teams is to learn how to 40 prevent abuse and abuse-related deaths of elderly persons and 41 otherwise vulnerable adults and to improve the system response 42 to instances of such abuse, exploitation, or neglect. 43 (2)(a)An elder abuse or a vulnerable adult abuse fatality 44 review team may include, but need is not be limited to, 45 representatives from any of the following entities or to the 46 following persons, as applicable located in the review teams 47 judicial circuit: 48 1.Law enforcement agencies. 49 2.The state attorney. 50 3.The medical examiner. 51 4.A county court judge. 52 5.Adult protective services. 53 6.The area agency on aging. 54 7.The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. 55 8.The Agency for Health Care Administration. 56 9.The Agency for Persons with Disabilities. 57 10.The Office of the Attorney General. 58 11.10.The Office of the State Courts Administrator. 59 12.11.The clerk of the court. 60 13.12.A victim services program. 61 14.13.An elder law attorney. 62 15.14.Emergency services personnel. 63 16.15.A certified domestic violence center. 64 17.16.An advocacy organization for victims of sexual 65 violence. 66 18.17.A funeral home director. 67 19.18.A forensic pathologist. 68 20.19.A geriatrician. 69 21.20.A geriatric nurse. 70 22.21.A geriatric psychiatrist or other individual 71 licensed to offer behavioral health services. 72 23.22.A hospital discharge planner. 73 24.23.A public guardian. 74 25.24.Any other persons who have knowledge regarding fatal 75 or near-fatal incidents of elder abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, 76 domestic violence, or sexual violence, or suicide, including 77 knowledge of research, policy, law, and other matters connected 78 with such incidents involving elderly persons and vulnerable 79 adults elders, or who are recommended for inclusion by the 80 review team. 81 (b)(c)Participation in a review team is voluntary. Members 82 of a review team shall serve without compensation and may not be 83 reimbursed for per diem or travel expenses. 84 (c)Except as required under subsection (4), the structure 85 and activities of a review team, including the number and type 86 of incidents it chooses to review, are determined by the members 87 of the review team. Members shall serve for terms of 2 years, to 88 be staggered as determined by the co-chairs. 89 (d)The state attorney may call the first organizational 90 meeting of the team. At the initial meeting, members of a review 91 team shall choose two members to serve as co-chairs. Chairs may 92 be reelected by a majority vote of a review team for not more 93 than two consecutive terms. At the initial meeting, members of a 94 review team shall establish a schedule for future meetings. Each 95 review team shall meet at least once each fiscal year. 96 (e)Each review team shall determine its local operations, 97 including, but not limited to, the process for case selection. 98 The state attorney shall refer cases to be reviewed by each 99 team. Reviews must be limited to closed cases in which an 100 elderly persons death was caused by, or related to, abuse or 101 neglect. All identifying information concerning the elderly 102 person must be redacted by the state attorney in documents 103 received for review. As used in this paragraph, the term closed 104 case means a case that does not involve information considered 105 active as defined in s. 119.011(3)(d). 106 (d)(f)Administrative costs of operating the review team 107 must be borne by the team members or entities they represent. 108 (3)(2)An elder abuse fatality review team in existence on 109 July 1, 2023 2020, may continue to exist and must comply with 110 the requirements of this section. 111 (4)(3)An elder abuse or a vulnerable adult abuse fatality 112 review team shall do all of the following: 113 (a)Review fatal and near-fatal incidents involving deaths 114 of elderly persons or otherwise vulnerable adults in the teams 115 jurisdiction in its judicial circuit which are found to have 116 been caused by, or related to, abuse, exploitation, or neglect. 117 (b)Take into consideration the events leading up to a 118 fatal or near-fatal incident, available community resources, 119 current law and policies, and the actions taken by systems or 120 individuals related to the fatal or near-fatal incident, and any 121 information deemed relevant by the review team, including a 122 review of public records and records for which a public records 123 exemption is granted, if available to the review team. 124 (c)Identify potential gaps, deficiencies, or problems in 125 the delivery of services to elderly persons or otherwise 126 vulnerable adults by public and private agencies which may be 127 related to incidents deaths reviewed by the team. 128 (d)Whenever possible, develop communitywide approaches to 129 address the causes of, and contributing factors to, incidents 130 deaths reviewed by the team. 131 (e)Develop recommendations and potential changes in law, 132 rules, and policies to support the care of elderly persons and 133 otherwise vulnerable adults and to prevent abuse-related 134 incidents elder abuse deaths. 135 (5)(4)(a)An elder abuse or a vulnerable adult abuse 136 fatality A review team may share with other review teams in this 137 state any relevant information that pertains to incidents 138 identified or reviewed by the team the review of the death of an 139 elderly person. 140 (b)A review team member may not contact, interview, or 141 obtain information by request directly from a member of the 142 deceased elders family as part of the review unless a team 143 member is authorized to do so in the course of his or her 144 employment duties. A member of the deceased elders family may 145 voluntarily provide information or any record to a review team 146 but must be informed that such information or any record is 147 subject to public disclosure unless a public records exemption 148 applies. 149 (6)(a)(5)(a)Annually by September 1, each elder abuse or 150 vulnerable adult abuse fatality review team shall submit a 151 summary report to the Department of Elderly Affairs which 152 includes, but is not limited to, all of the following: 153 1.Descriptive statistics regarding cases reviewed by the 154 team, including demographic information on victims and the 155 causes and nature of their fatal or near-fatal incidents of 156 abuse, exploitation, or neglect. deaths; 157 2.Current policies, procedures, rules, or statutes the 158 review team has identified as contributing to the incidence of 159 elder abuse and elder deaths of elderly persons or otherwise 160 vulnerable adults, and recommendations for system improvements 161 and needed resources, training, or information dissemination to 162 address such identified issues.; and 163 3.Any other recommendations to prevent fatal or near-fatal 164 incidents deaths from elder abuse, exploitation, or neglect, 165 based on an analysis of the data and information presented in 166 the report. 167 (b)Annually by November 1, the Department of Elderly 168 Affairs shall prepare a summary report of the review team 169 information submitted under paragraph (a). The department shall 170 submit its summary report to the Governor, the President of the 171 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the 172 Department of Children and Families. 173 (7)(a)(6)There is no monetary liability on the part of, 174 and a cause of action for damages may not arise against, any 175 member of an elder abuse or a vulnerable adult abuse fatality 176 review team or any person who serves as a witness for, reports 177 an incident to, or conducts an investigation for a review team, 178 for any act or proceeding taken or performed within the scope 179 and functions of the team due to the performance of his or her 180 duties as a review team member in regard to any discussions by, 181 or deliberations or recommendations of, the team or the member 182 unless such person member acted in bad faith, with wanton and 183 willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property. 184 (b)This subsection does not affect or supersede the 185 requirements of s. 768.28. 186 (8)(a)All information and records acquired by an elder 187 abuse or a vulnerable adult abuse fatality review team are not 188 subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil 189 or criminal action or administrative or disciplinary proceeding 190 by any department or employing agency if the information or 191 records arose out of matters that are the subject of an 192 evaluation and review by the review team. However, information, 193 documents, and records otherwise available from other sources 194 are not immune from discovery or introduction into evidence 195 solely because the information, documents, or records were 196 presented to or reviewed by a review team. 197 (b)A person who attends a meeting or other authorized 198 activity of a review team may not testify in any civil, 199 criminal, administrative, or disciplinary proceedings as to any 200 records or information produced or presented to the review team 201 during its meetings or other activities authorized by this 202 section. 203 (c)This subsection does not prohibit: 204 1.A person who testifies before a review team or is a 205 member of a review team from testifying in a civil, criminal, 206 administrative, or disciplinary proceeding to matters otherwise 207 within his or her knowledge; or 208 2.A member of a review team from testifying in a policy 209 related hearing or matter, as long as the member of the review 210 team does not disclose records or information that would 211 identify the victim or victims family or any other confidential 212 or exempt records or information pertaining to a matter reviewed 213 by the review team. 214 Section 2.This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.