| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1469 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and Exchange |
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| 6 | 6 | | Commission for senior investors. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY21, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. G |
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| 10 | 10 | | OTTHEIMER(for himself and Mrs. WAGNER) introduced the following |
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| 11 | 11 | | bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and |
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| 14 | 14 | | Exchange Commission for senior investors. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 18 | 18 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Senior Inves-4 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tor Initiative Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘Senior Security Act 5 |
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| 20 | 20 | | of 2025’’. 6 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEC. 2. SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE. 7 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 8 |
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| 23 | 23 | | U.S.C. 78d) is amended by adding at the end the fol-9 |
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| 24 | 24 | | lowing: 10 |
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| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 28 | 28 | | ‘‘(l) SENIORINVESTORTASKFORCE.— 1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | ‘‘(1) E |
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| 30 | 30 | | STABLISHMENT.—There is established 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | within the Commission the Senior Investor 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Taskforce (in this subsection referred to as the 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ‘Taskforce’). 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(2) D |
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| 35 | 35 | | IRECTOR OF THE TASKFORCE .—The 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | head of the Taskforce shall be the Director, who 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | shall— 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(A) report directly to the Chairman; and 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | ‘‘(B) be appointed by the Chairman, in 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | consultation with the Commission, from among 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | individuals— 12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ‘‘(i) currently employed by the Com-13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | mission or from outside of the Commis-14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | sion; and 15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘(ii) having experience in advocating 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | for the interests of senior investors. 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ‘‘(3) S |
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| 48 | 48 | | TAFFING.—The Chairman shall ensure 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | that— 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ‘‘(A) the Taskforce is staffed sufficiently to 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | carry out fully the requirements of this sub-21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | section; and 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(B) such staff shall include individuals 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | from the Division of Enforcement, Office of 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘‘(4) N |
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| 61 | 61 | | O COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS OF 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | TASKFORCE.—All members of the Taskforce ap-4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | pointed under paragraph (2) or (3) shall serve with-5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | out compensation in addition to that received for 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | their services as officers or employees of the United 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | States. 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ‘‘(5) M |
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| 68 | 68 | | INIMIZING DUPLICATION OF EFFORTS .— 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | In organizing and staffing the Taskforce, the Chair-10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | man shall take such actions as may be necessary to 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | minimize the duplication of efforts within the divi-12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | sions and offices described under paragraph (3)(B) 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | and any other divisions, offices, or taskforces of the 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | Commission. 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ‘‘(6) F |
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| 76 | 76 | | UNCTIONS OF THE TASKFORCE .—The 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | Taskforce shall— 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | ‘‘(A) identify challenges that senior inves-18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | tors encounter, including problems associated 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | with financial exploitation and cognitive decline; 20 |
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| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘(B) identify areas in which senior inves-21 |
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| 82 | 82 | | tors would benefit from changes in the regula-22 |
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| 83 | 83 | | tions of the Commission or the rules of self-reg-23 |
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| 84 | 84 | | ulatory organizations; 24 |
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| 86 | 86 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 87 | 87 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 88 | 88 | | ‘‘(C) coordinate, as appropriate, with other 1 |
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| 89 | 89 | | offices within the Commission, other taskforces 2 |
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| 90 | 90 | | that may be established within the Commission, 3 |
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| 91 | 91 | | self-regulatory organizations, and the Elder 4 |
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| 92 | 92 | | Justice Coordinating Council; and 5 |
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| 93 | 93 | | ‘‘(D) consult, as appropriate, with State 6 |
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| 94 | 94 | | securities and law enforcement authorities, 7 |
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| 95 | 95 | | State insurance regulators, and other Federal 8 |
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| 96 | 96 | | agencies. 9 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ‘‘(7) R |
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| 98 | 98 | | EPORT.—The Taskforce, in coordination, 10 |
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| 99 | 99 | | as appropriate, with the Office of the Investor Advo-11 |
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| 100 | 100 | | cate and self-regulatory organizations, and in con-12 |
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| 101 | 101 | | sultation, as appropriate, with State securities and 13 |
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| 102 | 102 | | law enforcement authorities, State insurance regu-14 |
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| 103 | 103 | | lators, and Federal agencies, shall issue a report 15 |
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| 104 | 104 | | every 2 years to the Committee on Banking, Hous-16 |
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| 105 | 105 | | ing, and Urban Affairs and the Special Committee 17 |
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| 106 | 106 | | on Aging of the Senate and the Committee on Fi-18 |
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| 107 | 107 | | nancial Services of the House of Representatives, the 19 |
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| 108 | 108 | | first of which shall not be issued until after the re-20 |
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| 109 | 109 | | port described in section 3 of the National Senior 21 |
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| 110 | 110 | | Investor Initiative Act of 2025 has been issued and 22 |
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| 111 | 111 | | considered by the Taskforce, containing— 23 |
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| 112 | 112 | | ‘‘(A) appropriate statistical information 24 |
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| 113 | 113 | | and full and substantive analysis; 25 |
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| 115 | 115 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 116 | 116 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 117 | 117 | | ‘‘(B) a summary of recent trends and inno-1 |
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| 118 | 118 | | vations that have impacted the investment land-2 |
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| 119 | 119 | | scape for senior investors; 3 |
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| 120 | 120 | | ‘‘(C) a summary of regulatory initiatives 4 |
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| 121 | 121 | | that have concentrated on senior investors and 5 |
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| 122 | 122 | | industry practices related to senior investors; 6 |
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| 123 | 123 | | ‘‘(D) key observations, best practices, and 7 |
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| 124 | 124 | | areas needing improvement, involving senior in-8 |
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| 125 | 125 | | vestors identified during examinations, enforce-9 |
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| 126 | 126 | | ment actions, and investor education outreach; 10 |
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| 127 | 127 | | ‘‘(E) a summary of the most serious issues 11 |
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| 128 | 128 | | encountered by senior investors, including 12 |
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| 129 | 129 | | issues involving financial products and services; 13 |
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| 130 | 130 | | ‘‘(F) an analysis with regard to existing 14 |
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| 131 | 131 | | policies and procedures of brokers, dealers, in-15 |
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| 132 | 132 | | vestment advisers, and other market partici-16 |
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| 133 | 133 | | pants related to senior investors and senior in-17 |
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| 134 | 134 | | vestor-related topics and whether these policies 18 |
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| 135 | 135 | | and procedures need to be further developed or 19 |
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| 136 | 136 | | refined; 20 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ‘‘(G) recommendations for such changes to 21 |
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| 138 | 138 | | the regulations, guidance, and orders of the 22 |
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| 139 | 139 | | Commission and self-regulatory organizations 23 |
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| 140 | 140 | | and such legislative actions as may be appro-24 |
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| 142 | 142 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 143 | 143 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 144 | 144 | | priate to resolve problems encountered by senior 1 |
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| 145 | 145 | | investors; and 2 |
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| 146 | 146 | | ‘‘(H) any other information, as determined 3 |
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| 147 | 147 | | appropriate by the Director of the Taskforce. 4 |
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| 148 | 148 | | ‘‘(8) R |
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| 149 | 149 | | EQUEST FOR REPORTS .—The Taskforce 5 |
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| 150 | 150 | | shall make any report issued under paragraph (7) 6 |
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| 151 | 151 | | available to a Member of Congress who requests 7 |
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| 152 | 152 | | such a report. 8 |
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| 153 | 153 | | ‘‘(9) S |
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| 154 | 154 | | UNSET.—The Taskforce shall terminate 9 |
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| 155 | 155 | | after the end of the 10-year period beginning on the 10 |
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| 156 | 156 | | date of the enactment of this subsection. 11 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ‘‘(10) S |
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| 158 | 158 | | ENIOR INVESTOR DEFINED .—For pur-12 |
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| 159 | 159 | | poses of this subsection, the term ‘senior investor’ 13 |
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| 160 | 160 | | means an investor over the age of 65. 14 |
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| 161 | 161 | | ‘‘(11) U |
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| 162 | 162 | | SE OF EXISTING FUNDS.—The Commis-15 |
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| 163 | 163 | | sion shall use existing funds to carry out this sub-16 |
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| 164 | 164 | | section.’’. 17 |
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| 165 | 165 | | SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 18 |
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| 166 | 166 | | (a) S |
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| 167 | 167 | | TUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 19 |
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| 168 | 168 | | of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 20 |
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| 169 | 169 | | United States shall submit to Congress and the Senior In-21 |
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| 170 | 170 | | vestor Taskforce the results of a study of financial exploi-22 |
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| 171 | 171 | | tation of senior citizens. 23 |
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| 172 | 172 | | (b) C |
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| 173 | 173 | | ONTENTS.—The study required under sub-24 |
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| 174 | 174 | | section (a) shall include information with respect to— 25 |
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| 177 | 177 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 178 | 178 | | (1) economic costs of the financial exploitation 1 |
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| 179 | 179 | | of senior citizens— 2 |
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| 180 | 180 | | (A) associated with losses by victims that 3 |
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| 181 | 181 | | were incurred as a result of the financial exploi-4 |
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| 182 | 182 | | tation of senior citizens; 5 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (B) incurred by State and Federal agen-6 |
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| 184 | 184 | | cies, law enforcement and investigatory agen-7 |
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| 185 | 185 | | cies, public benefit programs, public health pro-8 |
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| 186 | 186 | | grams, and other public programs as a result of 9 |
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| 187 | 187 | | the financial exploitation of senior citizens; 10 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (C) incurred by the private sector as a re-11 |
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| 189 | 189 | | sult of the financial exploitation of senior citi-12 |
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| 190 | 190 | | zens; and 13 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (D) any other relevant costs that— 14 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (i) result from the financial exploi-15 |
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| 193 | 193 | | tation of senior citizens; and 16 |
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| 194 | 194 | | (ii) the Comptroller General deter-17 |
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| 195 | 195 | | mines are necessary and appropriate to in-18 |
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| 196 | 196 | | clude in order to provide Congress and the 19 |
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| 197 | 197 | | public with a full and accurate under-20 |
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| 198 | 198 | | standing of the economic costs resulting 21 |
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| 199 | 199 | | from the financial exploitation of senior 22 |
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| 200 | 200 | | citizens in the United States; 23 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (2) frequency of senior financial exploitation 24 |
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| 202 | 202 | | and correlated or contributing factors— 25 |
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| 206 | 206 | | (A) information about percentage of senior 1 |
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| 207 | 207 | | citizens financially exploited each year; and 2 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (B) information about factors contributing 3 |
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| 209 | 209 | | to increased risk of exploitation, including such 4 |
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| 210 | 210 | | factors as race, social isolation, income, net 5 |
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| 211 | 211 | | worth, religion, region, occupation, education, 6 |
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| 212 | 212 | | home-ownership, illness, and loss of spouse; and 7 |
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| 213 | 213 | | (3) policy responses and reporting of senior fi-8 |
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| 214 | 214 | | nancial exploitation— 9 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (A) the degree to which financial exploi-10 |
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| 216 | 216 | | tation of senior citizens unreported to authori-11 |
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| 217 | 217 | | ties; 12 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (B) the reasons that financial exploitation 13 |
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| 219 | 219 | | may be unreported to authorities; 14 |
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| 220 | 220 | | (C) to the extent that suspected elder fi-15 |
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| 221 | 221 | | nancial exploitation is currently being re-16 |
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| 222 | 222 | | ported— 17 |
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| 223 | 223 | | (i) information regarding which Fed-18 |
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| 224 | 224 | | eral, State, and local agencies are receiving 19 |
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| 225 | 225 | | reports, including adult protective services, 20 |
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| 226 | 226 | | law enforcement, industry, regulators, and 21 |
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| 227 | 227 | | professional licensing boards; 22 |
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| 228 | 228 | | (ii) information regarding what infor-23 |
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| 229 | 229 | | mation is being collected by such agencies; 24 |
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| 230 | 230 | | and 25 |
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| 233 | 233 | | •HR 1469 IH |
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| 234 | 234 | | (iii) information regarding the actions 1 |
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| 235 | 235 | | that are taken by such agencies upon re-2 |
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| 236 | 236 | | ceipt of the report and any limits on the 3 |
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| 237 | 237 | | agencies’ ability to prevent exploitation, 4 |
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| 238 | 238 | | such as jurisdictional limits, a lack of ex-5 |
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| 239 | 239 | | pertise, resource challenges, or limiting cri-6 |
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| 240 | 240 | | teria with regard to the types of victims 7 |
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| 241 | 241 | | they are permitted to serve; 8 |
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| 242 | 242 | | (D) an analysis of gaps that may exist in 9 |
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| 243 | 243 | | empowering Federal, State, and local agencies 10 |
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| 244 | 244 | | to prevent senior exploitation or respond effec-11 |
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| 245 | 245 | | tively to suspected senior financial exploitation; 12 |
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| 246 | 246 | | and 13 |
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| 247 | 247 | | (E) an analysis of the legal hurdles that 14 |
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| 248 | 248 | | prevent Federal, State, and local agencies from 15 |
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| 249 | 249 | | effectively partnering with each other and pri-16 |
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| 250 | 250 | | vate professionals to effectively respond to sen-17 |
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| 251 | 251 | | ior financial exploitation. 18 |
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| 252 | 252 | | (c) S |
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| 253 | 253 | | ENIORCITIZENDEFINED.—For purposes of this 19 |
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| 254 | 254 | | section, the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an individual over 20 |
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| 255 | 255 | | the age of 65. 21 |
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| 256 | 256 | | Æ |
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