[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 169 (Thursday, October 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6818-S6821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mrs. McCaskill, and Ms. Klobuchar):
S. 3594. A bill to provide for the issuance of a Stamp Out Elder
Abuse Semipostal Stamp; to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President. Along with my colleague and friend,
Senator Claire McCaskill, I am introducing the Stamp Out Elder Abuse
Act of 2018, a bill that seeks to help combat the abuse and financial
exploitation of our nation's seniors. Our bill would create a
semipostal, or fundraising, stamp that would allow Postal Service
customers to make a voluntary contribution to help raise awareness and
combat elder abuse with a stamp purchase. The proceeds from this stamp
would go to the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS)
Administration on Community Living (ACL) and the Department of Justice
(DOJ). This additional funding for the ACL would be used to further
support the development and advancement of emerging practices to
prevent and respond to the abuse of older adults. Funding for the DOJ
would go toward improving prosecution, data collection, litigation
support, and prevention of elder abuse initiatives. Notably, this bill
would help to provide needed additional revenue to tackle elder abuse
without costing the federal government a single penny.
Abuse can happen to anyone--no matter the person's age, gender, race,
religion, or ethnic or cultural background. Each year, hundreds of
thousands of adults over the age of 60 are abused, neglected, or
financially exploited. Abuse can happen in many places, including a
person's home, a family member's house, an assisted living facility, or
a nursing home. Just as abuse can occur in various settings, there are
many types of elder abuse, including physical abuse, emotional abuse,
sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, and financial exploitation.
Although there are different types of
[[Page S6819]]
abuse, it is common for a victim to experience more than one type of
mistreatment.
According to the National Council on Aging, approximately one in ten
Americans aged 60 years old or older have experienced some form of
elder abuse, and according to the GAO, financial fraud targeting older
Americans is a growing epidemic that costs seniors an estimated $2.9
billion annually. We know, however, that the true number is probably
much higher since many of these cases are never reported because the
victim is too often ashamed to report abuse, particularly when it
involves a family member. As a consequence, the true incidence of abuse
is not known. In fact, the National Center on Elder Abuse reports that
only one in 14 cases are reported to the authorities.
In my home State of Maine--the State with the oldest population by
median age--an estimated 33,000 seniors each year are the victims of
some kind of abuse or financial fraud. Moreover, in as many as 90
percent of financial cases, the senior is victimized by someone he or
she knows well. In a 2017 report of financial exploitation of Maine's
older adults, in most cases financial exploitation is perpetrated by a
family members and for those perpetrators who were family members, the
majority were the victim's child.
In a recent case in Maine, police charged a pastor in York County,
Maine, with exploiting an incapacitated elderly woman. They say the man
befriended the woman while he was volunteering at the assisted-living
community where she lived. According to police, the State determined
the woman to be incapacitated and assigned her a guardian and
conservator. The pastor allegedly took the woman to her bank, withdrew
money to have the locks changed on her former home, which had been on
the market, and he took down the ``for sale'' sign.
Police say the pastor told the woman he would help her return to her
house, even though it was not equipped for the wheelchair access she
required. He suggested his daughter could live with the woman to care
for her. Police say his goal was to ingratiate himself and have access
to this woman's financial accounts and property. Fortunately, in this
case, the conservator, who was legally responsible for protecting the
woman's assets, identified and reported the suspected criminal activity
to the police.
Combatting elder abuse of seniors is primarily the responsibility of
state and local agencies, particularly Adult Protective Services
agencies. Prevention and response to cases of abuse require coordinated
efforts, including state and local agencies, law enforcement, the
social work and medical community, and financial institutions.
The Federal government also plays an important role in providing
leadership to combat this problem. The Elder Justice Coordinating
Council, which is led by HHS and DOJ, has brought other federal
agencies to the table to coordinate efforts to protect older
individuals from abuse. In January, the DOJ took another step forward
by directing all 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices to each designate an elder
justice coordinator, who will develop strategies to protect seniors in
their districts. This will promote greater cooperation between the DOJ
and its law enforcement partners. While the best way to intervene in
the problem of elder abuse is to prevent it from happening in the first
place, when abuse does occur, it is crucial that the perpetrators of
the crimes not go unpunished.
I worked closely on the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018 with Philip
C. Marshall, founder of Beyond Brooke, a cause-based campaign named to
honor Philip's late grandmother, Brooke Astor, who was a well-known
philanthropist, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a
victim of elder abuse and elder financial exploitation. In 2015, Mr.
Marshall testified before the Senate Aging Committee about how his
father mistreated his grandmother and mismanaged her assets while she
suffered from Alzheimer's disease. In addition, I am pleased that the
nonpartisan Elder Justice Coalition, which represents more than 3,000
members, along with the National Center for Victims of Crime, the
National Sheriff's Association, and the National Association on Area
Agencies on Aging support the bill.
Preventing and combating elder abuse require law enforcement and
social service agencies at all levels of government to work
collaboratively with the private sector. The Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act
would assist the Federal government's role to help make that happen. I
urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. President--I ask that letters from these organizations appear in
the Record immediately following my remarks.
There being no objection so ordered.
____
National Sheriffs' Association,
Alexandria, VA, October 10, 2018.
Hon. Susan Collins,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Collins: On behalf of the National Sheriffs'
Association (NSA) and the more than 3,000 elected sheriffs
nationwide, I write to endorse the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act
of 2018 proposed by yourself and cosponsored by Senator
Claire McCaskill. This Act initiates a semi postal stamp that
not only raises elder abuse awareness, but also dedicates the
proceeds to elder justice programs within DOJ and HHS.
As you may know, the NSA was one of the founding groups in
the National Association of Triads, Inc. National Triads
serves as a clearinghouse of information, best practices and
early alert system for local Triads. Triad is a national
community policing concept that partners law enforcement
agencies with older adult volunteer groups and older adult
related community services to educate older adults on crime
and fraud, to reduce crime against the elderly, and eliminate
the unwarranted fear of crime.
After twenty-two years in existence, there are Triads in
more than 680 counties in 36 states. Triad serves 16 million
seniors nationwide--nearly half of America's senior
population. The National Sheriffs' Association and local
sheriffs have long recognized the need to ensure the safety
and quality of life for the growing number of senior citizens
by supporting the formation of community partnerships under
the auspice of Triad. Triad has a clear vision and a simple
mission--to keep seniors safe from crime.
The Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018 makes a clear effort
to increase awareness and support for the elderly community.
We applaud your efforts to support prevention and education,
investigation and prosecution, and victims' services in an
effort in combat elder abuse.
Sincerely,
Jonathan F. Thompson,
Executive Director and CEO.
____
The Elder Justice Coalition, A National Advocacy Voice
for Elder Justice in America,
Washington, DC, September 25, 2018.
Hon. Susan Collins,
Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Collins: As the National Coordinator of the
nonpartisan Elder Justice Coalition which represents more
than 3,000 members, I write to congratulate you on the
introduction of the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018, which
will create a semi-postal stamp to provide additional funding
to the federal government for programs to address elder
abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The EJC is proud to have
worked closely on this legislation with you and Philip C.
Marshall, founder of Beyond Brooke, a cause-based campaign
named to honor Philip's late grandmother, Brooke Astor, who
was a well-known philanthropist, recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a victim of elder abuse
and elder financial exploitation.
We are pleased that the bill will direct the United States
Postal Service to develop the semi-postal stamp and use the
proceeds from its sales to provide funding to augment the
elder justice initiatives at both the Administration on Aging
in the Department of Health and Human Services and at the
Department of Justice. These programs include prevention,
education, data collection, services to protect and support
victims, and demonstration projects, in addition to
initiatives to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of
elder abuse and financial exploitation. Further, the
departments will be able to use their resources to support
dissemination of the stamp.
Thank you again for your leadership on this and other elder
justice issues. Please let us know if we can be of assistance
in securing passage of the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Blancato,
National Coordinator.
____
The National Center for
Victims of Crime,
Washington, DC, October 2, 2018.
Hon. Susan Collins,
Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Collins: As the Executive Director of the
National Center for Victims of Crime which advocates for
stronger rights, protections, and services for all crime
victims and the advocates who serve them, I write to
congratulate you on the introduction of the Stamp Out Elder
Abuse Act of 2018, which will create a semi-postal stamp to
provide additional funding to the federal government for
programs to address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
[[Page S6820]]
We are pleased that the bill will direct the United States
Postal Service to develop the semi-postal stamp and use the
proceeds from its sales to provide funding to augment the
elder justice initiatives at both the Administration on Aging
in the Department of Health and Human Services and at the
Department of Justice. These programs include prevention,
education, data collection, services to protect and support
victims, and demonstration projects, in addition to
initiatives to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of
elder abuse and financial exploitation. Further, the
departments will be able to use their resources to support
dissemination of the stamp.
Thank you again for your leadership on this and other elder
justice issues. Please let us know if we can be of assistance
in securing passage of the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018.
Sincerely,
Mai Fernandez,
Executive Director.
______
By Mr. CORNYN:
S. 3598. A bill to limit private antitrust damages against
occupational licensing boards, to promote beneficial reforms of State
occupational licensing, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3598
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Occupational Licensing Board
Antitrust Damages Relief and Reform Act of 2018''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Certification.--The term ``certification'' means a
voluntary program under which--
(A) a private organization (in the case of private
certification) or the government of a State (in the case of
government certification) authorizes an individual who meets
certain personal qualifications to use ``certified'' as a
designated title with respect to the performance of a lawful
occupation; and
(B) a noncertified individual may perform the lawful
occupation for compensation but may not use the title
``certified''.
(2) Member, officer, employee, or agent.--The term
``member, officer, employee, or agent'', with respect to an
occupational licensing board, means an individual appointed
by, to, or employed by the occupational licensing board.
(3) Occupational license.--The term ``occupational
license'' means a nontransferable authorization under law for
an individual to perform a lawful occupation for compensation
based on meeting personal qualifications established by the
State government.
(4) Occupational licensing board.--The term ``occupational
licensing board'' or ``board'' means an entity established
under State law--
(A) the express purpose of which is to regulate the
personal qualifications required to engage in or practice a
particular lawful occupation; and
(B) that has authority conferred by State law to interpret
or enforce the occupational regulations of the State.
(5) Occupational regulation.--The term ``occupational
regulation''--
(A) means a statute, rule, regulation, practice, policy, or
law that sets educational, examination, training and/or
experience requirements to authorize an individual to work in
a lawful occupation;
(B) includes any statute, rule, regulation, practice,
policy, or law requiring certification or an occupational
license; and
(C) does not include a business license, facility license,
building permit, or zoning and land use regulation except to
the extent that such a requirement or restriction
substantially burdens an individual's ability to work in a
lawful occupation.
(6) Widely regulated occupation.--The term ``widely
regulated occupation'' means an occupation in which forty
(40) or more States require an occupational license to engage
in such occupation.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, and any territory or
possession of the United States.
SEC. 3. PRIVATE ANTITRUST DAMAGES.
(a) In General.--No damages, or interest on damages, may be
recovered under section 4, 4A or 4C of the Clayton Act (15
U.S.C. 15, 15a, or 15c) by any person, except for any State,
instrumentality of a State, or employee of a State or
instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official
capacity, from an occupational licensing board, or any
member, officer, employee, or agent of a board, acting in
their official capacity, if--
(1) the State--
(A) has enacted a law requiring an occupational license to
practice the lawful occupation regulated by the occupational
licensing board;
(B) has set forth criteria outlining any personal
qualifications necessary to obtain an occupational license
and has required that licensees adhere to standards of
practice and ethical standards in the performance of
regulated lawful occupations; and
(C) has found that--
(i) the public needs, and can be reasonably expected to
benefit from, occupational licensing of the lawful
occupation; and
(ii) the unlicensed conduct of the lawful occupation would
harm or endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the
public;
(2) an occupation licensed by an occupational licensing
board--
(A) is a widely regulated occupation; or
(B)(i) is not a widely regulated occupation and the State
has implemented a periodic sunset review process of the
occupational licensing board with regard to that occupation;
and (ii) if previously unregulated by the State, the State
has implemented a sunrise review process of the occupational
licensing board with regard to its regulation of that newly-
licensed occupation;
(3) the chief executive, legislature, or other elected
officer of the State--
(A) has appointed all members of the occupational licensing
board; and
(B) has required public representation on the occupational
licensing board; and
(4) the State or the occupational licensing board has
established a mechanism under which any person aggrieved by
an action of the occupational licensing board has the right
to--
(A) contest such action at a hearing before the
occupational licensing board at which the individual may
provide evidence, argument, and analysis;
(B) review, at a reasonable time before the hearing, all
evidence that the occupational licensing board has gathered
relating to the contested action;
(C) receive a final reasoned decision in writing from the
occupational licensing board within a reasonable period after
the hearing; and
(D) appeal an adverse decision of the occupational
licensing board to an independent adjudicator, including
judicial review.
(b) Applicability.--This section shall not apply to any
case commenced before the date of enactment of this Act,
unless it would be inequitable not to apply this section to a
pending action.
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to modify or impair the applicability or
availability of--
(1) relief pursuant to section 4A or 4C of the Clayton Act
(15 U.S.C. 15a, 15c);
(2) injunctive relief pursuant to section 16 of the Clayton
Act (15 U.S.C. 26);
(3) equitable monetary or injunctive relief pursuant to
section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
53(b)); or
(4) the ability of any person to recover the cost of the
suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, under section 4
of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 15).
(d) Savings Clause.--The immunity from damages, or interest
on damages, that is provided to members, officers, employees,
or agents of an occupational licensing board of a State under
subsection (a) shall not apply to any action unrelated to
their official capacity, such as implementing rules governing
minimum prices or fees.
SEC. 4. STATE LICENSING STUDIES TO BE CONDUCTED.
Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
submit to Congress a report on--
(1) how States can best address occupational licensing
reform, particularly for those occupations that are not
directly related to protecting the health, safety, or welfare
of the public, including recommendations on how States can
weigh the costs and benefits of occupational licensing
against those of less restrictive alternatives, such as
certification and other approaches;
(2) how States can conduct comprehensive cost-benefit
assessments of occupational regulations and occupational
licensing boards through sunrise reviews and periodic sunset
reviews;
(3) how States can implement policies to support
occupational licensing uniformity and occupational license
portability, including streamlined licensing portability
programs for veterans and military service members and
spouses; and
(4) how occupational licensing requirements affect low-
income workers, the unemployed, immigrants with work
authorizations, and individuals with criminal records.
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Except as provided in section 3, nothing in this Act shall
be construed to modify or impair the applicability or the
enforcement of the antitrust laws, as defined in the first
section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12).
______
By Mr. WYDEN:
S. 3605. A bill to support wildlife conservation, improve anti-
trafficking enforcement, provide dedicated funding for wildlife
conservation at no expense to taxpayers, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Wildlife
Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act which will work to protect
threatened or endangered species, reduce human rights violations, and
limit the illegal operations of international criminal organizations.
[[Page S6821]]
This bill is a bipartisan and bicameral effort, sponsored in the
House of Representatives by Representative Madeleine Bordallo and
Representative Don Young, and I look forward to growing its support in
the Senate.
Conservation violations and wildlife trafficking offenses are a
global problem threatening biodiversity and animal welfare and
facilitating significant criminal operations. Tackling this broad
problem is complicated and compounded by insufficient penalties for
offenders and the difficulty of maintaining U.S.-oversight on the
global level.
This bill proposes to address these concerns by criminalizing
elements of wildlife-trafficking operations under Federal racketeering
and organized crime statutes. Classifying wildlife-trafficking crimes
as ``predicate offenses'' under the Money Laundering Statute, Travel
Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act enables
prosecutors to administer substantial fines and prison-time for
violations.
The bill recognizes the value of whistleblowers' information to
direct investigations into wildlife-trafficking violations. It
establishes a procedure to secure valuable, useful information from
informants and provide sufficient compensation for the risks these
individuals make to blow the whistle on illegal operations. To do so,
the bill redirects penalty payments from wildlife-trafficking
violations to fund whistleblower compensation programs. Monetary
rewards to wildlife-crime whistleblowers come from partial share of
penalty paid to the U.S. Government, providing no additional expense to
American taxpayers.
The bill empowers Federal wildlife agents to operate abroad and
provides them with direction to collaborate with local authorities. It
instructs the Secretary of the Interior to adopt an International
Wildlife Conservation Program consisting of four components: a regional
component providing for protection of natural range habitats; a species
component focusing conservation on most vulnerable species; an anti-
trafficking component to curtail demand and limit poaching; and a
convention component to implement the Convention on International Trade
in the Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, CITES.
The legislation seeks to expand the Marine Turtle Act of 2004 by
extending the legislation's coverage to include U.S. territories, and
increasing the Act's scope to cover marine and freshwater turtles as
well as tortoises.
Additionally, the bill proposes to strengthen the Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972 and the Shark-Finning Measure under the
Magnuson-Stevens Act by establishing that fines associated with
violating these acts are to be used to benefit the same species that
were affected.
Of particular concern to fishermen and women up and down the coasts,
the bill addresses illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
violations by considering serious abuses as violations of Federal money
laundering laws and therefore subjecting violators to substantial
penalties.
Protecting wildlife requires a unified and strategic approach to end
poaching worldwide. Congress must aggressively counter the relentless
activities of poachers, traffickers, and transnational criminal
organizations. The Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act is a
strong response to crimes against wildlife; it will provide the
necessary tools to curtail these illicit activities.
____________________