STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1019

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 432

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 432, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ELDERLY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make financial exploitation of an elder by a caregiver a felony.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Police Department, Maui County Office on Aging, AARP Hawaii, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, Hawaii Family Forum, and three individuals.

     Your Committees find that financial exploitation is a fast-growing form of elder abuse.  Financial exploitation occurs when a person misuses or takes the assets of an elderly victim for that person's own personal benefit.  While state laws and various services protect vulnerable adults, including the elderly, providing an additional deterrent against financial exploitation will further protect the elderly and ensure that they are financially safe.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an amount of $50,000 as the minimum total value of the money or property taken or used by a caregiver that would constitute the offense of financial exploitation of an elder;

     (2)  Specifying that financial exploitation of an elder is a class A felony;

     (3)  Clarifying the definition of "elder" to mean a person who is sixty years of age or older; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 432, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 432, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair