SERINO WORKS TO ADVANCE PROTECTIONS FOR SENIORS

ALBANY, NY—State Senator Sue Serino (R, C, I—Hyde Park) today announced that a bill she co-sponsors aimed at protecting seniors from abusive caregivers passed in the Senate.

Currently, New York’s law does not include unpaid caregivers in the state’s ‘endangering the welfare of an elderly person law’ leaving law enforcement and prosecutors without the legal resources they need to truly hold these individuals accountable. The bill, S. 641, aims to deter elder abuse by expanding the definition of a caregiver to include those who take on that role voluntarily and will impose stiff criminal penalties for inflicting harm on vulnerable seniors.

“Too many of our seniors are being abused by those who claim to care for them,” said Senator Serino, who Chairs the Senate’s Aging Committee. “We know that elder abuse is one of our nation’s most underreported crimes and too often that is because our seniors are being mistreated by those they know and trust. It is absolutely critical that we give law enforcement the tools they need to identify, stop and prosecute abuse caused by any caregivers to deter these atrocious crimes.”

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Senator David Valesky, passed unanimously in the Senate last year, but failed to move from the Assembly’s Codes Committee. The bill has once again been sent to the Assembly where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Morelle.

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