Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB473 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 473
5	5	To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include screening for loneliness
6	6	and coordination of supportive services and health care to address the
7	7	negative health effects of loneliness, to require a report on loneliness,
8	8	and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
11	11	Mr. S
12	12	COTTof Florida (for himself, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced
13	13	the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
14	14	on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include
17	17	screening for loneliness and coordination of supportive
18	18	services and health care to address the negative health
19	19	effects of loneliness, to require a report on loneliness,
20	20	and for other purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Engagement 4
25	25	and Network Initiatives for Older Relief Act’’ or the 5
26	26	‘‘SENIOR Act’’. 6
27	27	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S473.IS S473
28	28	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
29	29	•S 473 IS
30	30	SEC. 2. SCREENING OLDER INDIVIDUALS FOR LONELINESS 1
31	31	AND COORDINATION OF SUPPORTIVE SERV-2
32	32	ICES AND HEALTH CARE TO ADDRESS LONE-3
33	33	LINESS. 4
34	34	Section 102(14)(N) of the Older Americans Act of 5
35	35	1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002(14)(N)) is amended by inserting 6
36	36	‘‘and loneliness’’ after ‘‘social isolation’’ each place it ap-7
37	37	pears. 8
38	38	SEC. 3. REPORT ON LONELINESS. 9
39	39	(a) P
40	40	REPARATION OFREPORT.— 10
41	41	(1) I
42	42	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, in car-11
43	43	rying out activities under section 206(a) of the Older 12
44	44	Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3017(a)), pre-13
45	45	pare a report— 14
46	46	(A) on programs authorized by such Act 15
47	47	(42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), and supported or 16
48	48	funded by the Administration on Aging, that in-17
49	49	clude a focus on addressing the negative health 18
50	50	effects associated with loneliness through tar-19
51	51	geting older individuals identified as being in 20
52	52	greatest social need, as appropriate; and 21
53	53	(B) that examines the relationship between 22
54	54	the strength of multigenerational family units 23
55	55	and loneliness in older individuals. 24
56	56	(2) I
57	57	MPACT.—Such report shall identify— 25
58	58	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S473.IS S473
59	59	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
60	60	•S 473 IS
61	61	(A) whether loneliness is being adequately 1
62	62	addressed under the programs described in 2
63	63	paragraph (1)(A), including, to the extent prac-3
64	64	ticable— 4
65	65	(i) the prevalence of loneliness across 5
66	66	geographic areas; 6
67	67	(ii) the negative physical and mental 7
68	68	health effects associated with loneliness; 8
69	69	and 9
70	70	(iii) the role of preventive measures 10
71	71	and services under this Act in addressing 11
72	72	the negative health effects associated with 12
73	73	loneliness among older individuals; and 13
74	74	(B) public awareness of and efforts to ad-14
75	75	dress the negative health effects associated with 15
76	76	loneliness. 16
77	77	(3) T
78	78	YPES OF PROGRAMS .—Such report shall 17
79	79	identify whether programs described in paragraph 18
80	80	(1)(A)— 19
81	81	(A) support projects in local communities 20
82	82	and involve diverse sectors associated with such 21
83	83	communities to decrease the negative health ef-22
84	84	fects associated with loneliness among older in-23
85	85	dividuals and caregivers; 24
86	86	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S473.IS S473
87	87	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
88	88	•S 473 IS
89	89	(B) support outreach activities to screen 1
90	90	older individuals for negative health effects as-2
91	91	sociated with loneliness; and 3
92	92	(C) include a focus on decreasing the nega-4
93	93	tive health effects associated with loneliness. 5
94	94	(4) R
95	95	ECOMMENDATIONS .—Such report shall, as 6
96	96	appropriate, include— 7
97	97	(A) recommendations for reducing the neg-8
98	98	ative health effects associated with loneliness 9
99	99	and to address any negative health effects iden-10
100	100	tified under clauses (ii) and (iii) of subpara-11
101	101	graph (A), and subparagraph (B), of paragraph 12
102	102	(2); and 13
103	103	(B) recommendations for policies or pro-14
104	104	grams that foster strong and stable connections 15
105	105	across different generations in a family. 16
106	106	(b) S
107	107	UBMISSION OFREPORT.— 17
108	108	(1) I
109	109	NTERIM STATUS REPORT .—Not later than 18
110	110	2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 19
111	111	Secretary shall submit an interim report, to the com-20
112	112	mittees of the Senate and of the House of Rep-21
113	113	resentatives with jurisdiction over the Older Ameri-22
114	114	cans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), and the 23
115	115	Special Committee on Aging of the Senate, on the 24
116	116	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S473.IS S473
117	117	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
118	118	•S 473 IS
119	119	status of the evaluation underway to develop the 1
120	120	final report required under this section. 2
121	121	(2) F
122	122	INAL REPORT.—Not later than 5 years 3
123	123	after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-4
124	124	retary shall submit a final report that meets the re-5
125	125	quirements of this section to the committees of the 6
126	126	Senate and of the House of Representatives with ju-7
127	127	risdiction over the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 8
128	128	U.S.C. 3001 et seq.) and the Special Committee on 9
129	129	Aging of the Senate. 10
130	130	(c) D
131	131	EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 11
132	132	terms ‘‘greatest social need’’, ‘‘older individual’’, and 12
133	133	‘‘Secretary’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec-13
134	134	tion 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 14
135	135	3002). 15
136	136	Æ
137	137	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S473.IS S473
138	138	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS