STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6136 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 5, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Aging AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to mandatory reporting of senior abuse or maltreatment The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Article 9-B of the social services law is amended by adding 2 a new title 4 to read as follows: 3 TITLE 4 4 DUTY TO REPORT SENIOR ABUSE 5 Section 473-f. Duty to report senior abuse. 6 § 473-f. Duty to report senior abuse. 1. As used in this section: 7 (a) "Senior" means a person sixty years of age or older. 8 (b) "Person legally responsible for a senior" means and includes the 9 senior's custodian, guardian or any other person formally or informally 10 responsible for the senior's care at the relevant time, any person 11 acting with power of attorney, trustee appointed by a court, or any 12 person who by consent, contract or legal order acts to arrange the 13 affairs of the senior. 14 (c) "Abused senior" means and includes a senior abused in any of the 15 following manners: 16 (i) "Physical abuse" means the non-accidental use of force that 17 results in the suffering of bodily injury, physical pain or impairment 18 resulting from the use of physical force against a senior, including but 19 not limited to, striking with or without an object, hitting, beating, 20 pushing, shoving, shaking, kicking, pinching, being slapped, burned, 21 cut, bruised or improperly physically restrained. Physical abuse also 22 includes any physical signs of impairment or of being subjected to 23 punishment, or signs of being restrained, or a senior's report of being 24 hit, slapped, kicked, or mistreated. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10666-01-5
S. 6136 2 1 (ii) "Sexual abuse" means non-consensual sexual contact of any kind 2 with a senior, including but not limited to, unwanted touching, sexual 3 assault or battery, rape, sodomy, coerced nudity, and sexually explicit 4 photographing, forcing sexual contact or forcing sex with a third party. 5 (iii) "Emotional or psychological abuse" means willful infliction of 6 mental or emotional anguish by threat, humiliation, intimidation or 7 other abusive conduct, including but not limited to, frightening or 8 isolating an adult. Emotional or psychological abuse may also include 9 the infliction of anguish, pain or distress through verbal or nonverbal 10 acts, including but not limited to verbal assaults, insults, threats, 11 intimidation, humiliation, and harassment, infantilizing a senior, 12 isolating a senior from such senior's family, friends or regular activ- 13 ities, or enforced social isolation, the results of which may be evinced 14 by impairments including but not limited to the caregiver's refusal to 15 allow visitors to see a senior alone, or changes in the senior's behav- 16 ior that result in the senior being emotionally upset or agitated, being 17 extremely withdrawn and noncommunicative or nonresponsive, unusual 18 behavior usually attributed to dementia (e.g. sucking, biting, rock- 19 ing). 20 (iv) "Neglect" means the refusal or failure to fulfill any part of a 21 person's obligations or duties to a senior, failure of a person who has 22 fiduciary responsibilities to provide care for a senior or the failure 23 on the part of an in-home service provider to provide such necessary 24 care, including the refusal or failure to provide an elderly person with 25 such life necessities as food, water, clothing, shelter, personal 26 hygiene, medicine, comfort, personal safety, and other essentials 27 included in an implied or agreed-upon responsibility to such senior, the 28 results of which may be evinced by such visible physical impairments as 29 dehydration, malnutrition, untreated bed sores, and poor personal 30 hygiene, unattended or untreated health problems, hazardous or unsafe 31 living conditions/arrangements, unsanitary and unclean living conditions 32 (e.g. dirt, fleas, lice on person, soiled bedding, fecal/urine smell, 33 inadequate clothing). 34 (v) "Abandonment" means the desertion of a senior by an individual who 35 has assumed responsibility for providing care for such senior, or by a 36 person with physical custody of a senior, including but not limited to 37 the desertion of a senior at a hospital, a nursing facility, or other 38 similar institution, or the desertion of a senior at a shopping center 39 or other public location; or a senior's report of being abandoned. 40 (vi) "Financial or material exploitation" means the illegal or improp- 41 er use of a senior's funds, property, or assets, including without limi- 42 tation cashing a senior's checks without authorization or permission, 43 forging a senior's signature, misusing or stealing a senior's money or 44 possessions, coercing or deceiving a senior into signing a document such 45 as a contract or a will, or improper use of conservatorship, guardian- 46 ship, or power of attorney. 47 (vii) "Self-neglect" means the behavior of an elderly person that 48 threatens their own health or safety through the refusal or failure to 49 provide themselves with adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, 50 personal hygiene, medication (when indicated), and safety precautions. 51 2. Adult protective services shall establish a registry that shall be 52 capable of receiving reports by telephone, fax, e-mail, and any other 53 forms of communication the local commissioner of social services deems 54 appropriate, alleging that a senior has become an abused senior, or 55 immediately identifying prior reports of abuse involving such senior or 56 other persons named in the report.
S. 6136 3 1 3. The following persons are required to report or cause a report to 2 be made in accordance with this section when, while acting in their 3 professional or official capacity, they have reasonable cause to suspect 4 that a senior coming before them is an abused senior, or when they have 5 reasonable cause to suspect that a senior is an abused senior, as 6 defined in subdivision one of this section: 7 (a) any health care worker, including any physician, physician assist- 8 ant, surgeon, medical examiner, coroner, dentist, dental hygienist, 9 osteopath, optometrist, chiropractor, podiatrist, resident, intern, 10 psychologist, registered nurse, emergency medical technician, or any 11 hospital or nursing home and assisted living personnel engaged in the 12 admission, examination, care or treatment of persons, or any other 13 health care or health services practitioner, including a Christian 14 Science practitioner, acupuncturist, or other such person; 15 (b) any social worker, social services worker, or any provider of 16 family or group family day care; 17 (c) any mental health professional, substance abuse counselor or alco- 18 holism counselor; 19 (d) any person, including a director, operator, employee, volunteer, 20 or contractor, in a public, private, or not-for-profit facility which 21 provides care to one or more seniors and which is licensed or registered 22 pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or the public health law; 23 (e) any peace officer, police officer, district attorney or assistant 24 district attorney, investigator employed in the office of a district 25 attorney or other law enforcement official; and 26 (f) any banker, financial consultant, attorney, or paralegal with 27 access to a senior's financial records or resources or legal documents 28 or who possesses power of attorney for such senior. 29 The local commissioner of social services shall further define and 30 enumerate in regulations persons and occupations which are required to 31 report when they suspect that a senior has become an abused senior. 32 4. Reports of senior abuse made pursuant to this section shall be made 33 within forty-eight hours of discovery to adult protective services by 34 telephone, fax, e-mail or any other communication protocol on a form 35 supplied by the local commissioner of social services. Oral reports 36 shall be followed by a report in writing within forty-eight hours after 37 such oral report. 38 5. Written reports shall be made in a manner prescribed by and on 39 forms supplied by the local commissioner of social services and shall 40 include the following information: 41 (a) the name and address of the senior; 42 (b) the person responsible for such senior's care, if known; 43 (c) the name and address of the care facility or program in which the 44 senior resides or is receiving care; 45 (d) the senior's age, sex and race; 46 (e) the nature and extent of the injuries, abuse or maltreatment, 47 including any evidence of prior injuries, abuse or maltreatment; 48 (f) the name of the person or persons alleged to be responsible for 49 causing the injury, abuse or maltreatment, if known; 50 (g) family composition, where appropriate; 51 (h) the source of the report; 52 (i) the person making the report and where they can be reached; 53 (j) the actions taken by the reporting source, including the taking of 54 photographs and technological scans, or notifying the medical examiner 55 or coroner; and
S. 6136 4 1 (k) any other information which the local commissioner of social 2 services may by regulation require, or which the person making the 3 report believes might be helpful, in the furtherance of the intent and 4 purposes of this article. 5 6. Whenever such person required to report under this section in their 6 capacity as a member of the staff of a medical or other public or 7 private institution, facility or agency, such person shall make the 8 report as required by this section and immediately notify the person in 9 charge of such institution, facility or agency, or the designated agent 10 of such person. Such person in charge, or the designated agent of such 11 person, shall be responsible for all subsequent administration necessi- 12 tated by the report. Nothing in this section is intended to require more 13 than one report from any such institution, facility or agency. 14 7. A person or official required to report suspected senior abuse or 15 maltreatment who has reasonable cause to suspect that a senior died as a 16 result of abuse or maltreatment shall report the fact to the appropriate 17 medical examiner or coroner. The medical examiner or coroner shall 18 accept the report for investigation and shall report their finding to 19 the police, the appropriate district attorney, the local social services 20 office, and, if the institution making the report is a hospital, the 21 hospital. 22 8. A medical or other public or private institution, facility or agen- 23 cy shall not take any retaliatory personnel action, as such term is 24 defined in paragraph (e) of subdivision one of section seven hundred 25 forty of the labor law, against an employee because such employee 26 believes that they have reasonable cause to suspect that an individual 27 coming before them is a victim of senior abuse and that employee there- 28 fore makes a report in accordance with this section. No residential care 29 facility provider, hospital, medical institution provider or mental 30 health facility provider shall impose any conditions, including prior 31 approval or prior notification, upon a member of their staff specif- 32 ically required to report under this section. At the time of the making 33 of a report, or at any time thereafter, such person or official may 34 exercise the right to request the findings of an investigation made 35 pursuant to this section. 36 9. Any person, institution, facility, agency, organization, partner- 37 ship or corporation which employs persons mandated to report suspected 38 senior abuse shall provide all such current and new employees with writ- 39 ten information explaining the reporting requirements set out in this 40 section. The employers shall be responsible for the costs associated 41 with printing and distributing the written information. 42 10. Any person, official or institution required by this section to 43 report a case of suspected abuse or maltreatment of a senior who will- 44 fully fails to do so shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor and shall 45 be civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by such failure. 46 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Effective immediately the 47 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary 48 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized 49 to be made and completed on or before such date.