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A bipartisan proposal to fight elder financial abuse is getting attention in Congress.
The invoice — the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act — would give the financial business new methods to handle suspected financial abuse of seniors or bodily or mentally disabled people.
Older adults over age 60 lose an estimated $28.3 billion per 12 months from felony theft, in accordance to a 2023 AARP report. Most of these losses — 72% — are perpetrated by somebody they know, similar to a member of the family, pal or caregiver, in accordance to the report.
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On Wednesday, Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., reintroduced the invoice to the Senate for the second time. The invoice was beforehand launched in the Senate in 2023.
A House model of the invoice put ahead in March, which was sponsored by Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., was unanimously authorised by the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.
Both variations of the invoice would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to report to Congress on methods to stop financial exploitation of aged and weak adults via laws and regulation.
The laws would additionally permit sure financial establishments to delay transactions that increase suspicions of financial exploitation. Registered open-end funding corporations or switch brokers for these corporations, together with mutual funds, would have the opportunity to delay the redemption interval for any redeemable safety transaction that raises suspicions of financial exploitation.
The House model of the invoice handed the Financial Services Committee with a 50 to 0 vote. In a statement, Wagner mentioned she seems ahead to the entire House taking on the invoice.
