Bill Text: FL S1540 | 2023 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Fatality Review Teams
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-20 - Chapter No. 2023-260, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/SB 1542 (Ch. 2023-261) [S1540 Detail]
Download: Florida-2023-S1540-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Fatality Review Teams
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-20 - Chapter No. 2023-260, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/SB 1542 (Ch. 2023-261) [S1540 Detail]
Download: Florida-2023-S1540-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2023 CS for SB 1540 By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senator Garcia 586-03510-23 20231540c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to elder abuse and vulnerable adult 3 abuse fatality review teams; amending s. 415.1103, 4 F.S.; authorizing the establishment of elder abuse and 5 vulnerable adult abuse fatality review teams in 6 certain areas and for certain purposes; authorizing 7 certain persons and entities to initiate a review 8 team; defining the term “vulnerable adult”; requiring 9 certain representatives to be active participants on a 10 review team; revising review team membership; removing 11 provisions relating to state attorney requirements; 12 authorizing a review team to determine the number and 13 types of incidents to review; requiring members of a 14 review team to sign a confidentiality agreement; 15 creating a criminal penalty; requiring confidentiality 16 agreements to reference such criminal penalty; 17 authorizing continuance for review teams in existence 18 on a certain date; revising review team requirements 19 to conform to changes made by the act; modifying a 20 prohibition against contacting, interviewing, or 21 obtaining information from the family of a victim; 22 expanding immunity from monetary liability to certain 23 persons; providing construction; providing that oral 24 and written communications, information, and records 25 acquired by a review team are not subject to 26 disclosure, discovery, or introduction into evidence 27 in certain proceedings under certain circumstances; 28 specifying that provisions of law relating to a waiver 29 of sovereign immunity still apply; providing that a 30 person who attends a meeting or other authorized 31 activities of a review team may not testify in certain 32 proceedings; providing exceptions and construction; 33 providing an effective date. 34 35 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 36 37 Section 1. Section 415.1103, Florida Statutes, is amended 38 to read: 39 415.1103 Elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse fatality 40 review teams.— 41 (1)(a) An elder abuse or a vulnerable adultA state42attorney, or his or her designee, may initiate an elderabuse 43 fatality review team may be established at a local, regional, or 44 state levelin his or her judicial circuitto review incidents 45 of abuse, exploitation, or neglect of elderly persons and 46 vulnerable adults which are believed to have caused or 47 contributed to a fatal or near-fatal incidentdeaths of elderly48persons caused by, or related to, abuse or neglect. 49 (b)1. An elder abuse or vulnerable adult abuse fatality 50 review team may be initiated by any of the following persons or 51 entities: 52 a. A state attorney, or his or her designee. 53 b. A law enforcement agency. 54 c. The Department of Children and Families. 55 d. The Office of the Attorney General. 56 e. The Agency for Persons with Disabilities. 57 2. The person or entity who initiates a review team under 58 this paragraph must specify the geographic area in which the 59 team shall serve. 60 (c) The purpose of a review team is to learn how to prevent 61 elder and vulnerable adult abuse and abuse-related deaths by 62 intervening early and improving the system response to elder and 63 vulnerable adult abuse, exploitation, or neglect. 64 (2) For purposes of this section, the term “vulnerable 65 adult” includes a disabled adult and elderly person as those 66 terms are defined in s. 825.101(3) and (4), respectively. 67 (3)(a)(b)AAn elder abuse fatalityreview team mustmay68 include a representative from the person or entity initiating 69 the team, who must be an active participant on the team. 70 (b) A review team may include, but is not limited to,71 representatives fromany ofthe persons or entities that may 72 initiate a team under paragraph (1)(b) and any of the following 73 persons or entitiesor persons located in the review team’s74judicial circuit: 75 1.Law enforcement agencies.762. The state attorney.773.The medical examiner. 78 2.4.A county court judge. 795. Adult protective services.80 3.6.The area agency on aging. 81 4.7.The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. 82 5.8.The Agency for Health Care Administration. 839. The Office of the Attorney General.84 6.10.The Office of the State Courts Administrator. 85 7.11.The clerk of the court. 86 8.12.A victim services program. 87 9.13.An elder law or disability rights attorney. 88 10.14.Emergency services personnel. 89 11.15.A certified domestic violence center. 90 12.16.An advocacy organization for victims of sexual 91 violence. 92 13.17.A funeral home director. 93 14.18.A forensic pathologist. 94 15.19.A geriatrician. 95 16.20.A geriatric nurse. 96 17.21.A geriatric psychiatrist or other individual 97 licensed to offer behavioral health services. 98 18.22.A hospital discharge planner. 99 19.23.A public guardian. 100 20.24.Any other persons who are identified and invited by 101 the team, and who have knowledge regarding fatal or near-fatal 102 incidents of elder abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, domestic 103 violence,orsexual violence, or suicide, including knowledge of 104 research, policy, law, and other matters connected with such 105 incidents involving vulnerable adults or elderly personselders,106or who are recommended for inclusion by the review team. 107 (4)(a)(c)Participation in a review team is voluntary. 108 Members of a review team shall serve without compensation and 109 may not be reimbursed for per diem or travel expenses.Members110shall serve for terms of 2 years, to be staggered as determined111by the co-chairs.112(d) The state attorney may call the first organizational113meeting of the team. At the initial meeting, members of a review114team shall choose two members to serve as co-chairs. Chairs may115be reelected by a majority vote of a review team for not more116than two consecutive terms. At the initial meeting, members of a117review team shall establish a schedule for future meetings. Each118review team shall meet at least once each fiscal year.119(e) Each review team shall determine its local operations,120including, but not limited to, the process for case selection.121The state attorney shall refer cases to be reviewed by each122team. Reviews must be limited to closed cases in which an123elderly person’s death was caused by, or related to, abuse or124neglect. All identifying information concerning the elderly125person must be redacted by the state attorney in documents126received for review. As used in this paragraph, the term “closed127case” means a case that does not involve information considered128active as defined in s. 119.011(3)(d).129 (b) Except as provided in subparagraph (1)(b)2., a review 130 team may determine its structure, local operations, and 131 activities, including the number and type of incidents it 132 chooses to review. 133 (c)(f)Administrative costs of operating the review team 134 must be borne by the team members or entities they represent. 135 (d) Each member of a review team must sign a 136 confidentiality agreement acknowledging the requirement to 137 protect confidential and exempt oral or written communications, 138 information, or records produced or acquired by the review team 139 from unauthorized disclosure. A review team member who knowingly 140 and willfully discloses confidential and exempt oral or written 141 communications, information, or records produced or acquired by 142 the review team commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, 143 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. The 144 confidentiality agreement must reference such penalties. 145 (5)(2)AAn elder abuse fatalityreview team in existence 146 on July 1, 2023July 1, 2020, may continue to exist and must 147 comply with the requirements of this section. 148 (6)(3)AAn elder abuse fatalityreview team mustshalldo 149 all of the following: 150 (a) Review incidentsdeathsof abuse, exploitation, or 151 neglect of elderly persons and vulnerable adults in the team’s 152 jurisdictionin its judicial circuitwhich are believedfoundto 153 havebeencaused or contributed to a fatal or near-fatal 154 incidentby, or related to, abuse or neglect. 155 (b) Take into consideration the events leading up to a 156 fatal or near-fatal incident, available community resources, 157 current law and policies,andthe actions taken by systems or 158 individuals related to the fatal or near-fatal incident, and any 159 information considered relevant by the team, including a review 160 of public records and records for which a public records 161 exemption is granted. 162 (c) Identify potential gaps, deficiencies, or problems in 163 the delivery of services to elderly persons or vulnerable adults 164 by public and private agencies which may be related to incidents 165deathsreviewed by the team. 166 (d) Whenever possible, develop communitywide approaches to 167 address the causes of, and contributing factors to, incidents 168deathsreviewed by the team. 169 (e) Develop recommendations and potential changes in law, 170 rules, and policies to support the care of elderly persons and 171 vulnerable adults and to prevent abuse-related incidentselder172abuse deaths. 173 (7)(a)(4)(a)A review team may share with other review 174 teams in this state any relevant information that pertains to 175 incidents identified or reviewed by the teamthe review of the176death of an elderly person. 177 (b)1.(b)A review team member may not contact, interview, 178 or obtain information by request directly from a member of the 179 elder or vulnerable adult’sdeceased elder’sfamily as part of 180 the review unless: 181 a. A team member is authorized to do so in the course of 182 his or her employment duties; or 183 b. Such contact, interview, or request is necessary for the 184 review team to complete its review and determine findings and 185 such information is not obtainable through any other means. 186 2. A member of the elder or vulnerable adult’sdeceased187elder’sfamily may voluntarily provide information or any record 188 to a review team but must be informed that such information or 189 any record is subject to public disclosure unless a public 190 records exemption applies. 191 (8)(a)(5)(a)Annually by September 1, eachelder abuse192fatalityreview team shall submit a summary report to the 193 Department of Elderly Affairs which includes, but is not limited 194 to: 195 1. Descriptive statistics regarding cases reviewed by the 196 team, including demographic information on victims and the 197 causes and nature of their fatal or near-fatal incidents of 198 abuse, exploitation, or neglect.deaths;199 2. Current policies, procedures, rules, or statutes the 200 review team has identified as contributing to the incidence of 201 elder or vulnerable adult abuse and abuse-relatedelderdeaths, 202 and recommendations for system improvements and needed 203 resources, training, or information dissemination to address 204 such identified issues.; and205 3. Any other recommendations to prevent fatal or near-fatal 206 incidentsdeathsfromelderabuse, exploitation, or neglect, 207 based on an analysis of the data and information presented in 208 the report. 209 (b) Annually by November 1, the Department of Elderly 210 Affairs shall prepare a summary report of the review team 211 information submitted under paragraph (a). The department shall 212 submit its summary report to the Governor, the President of the 213 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the 214 Department of Children and Families. 215 (9)(a)(6)There is no monetary liability on the part of, 216 and a cause of action for damages may not arise against, any 217 member of aan elder abuse fatalityreview team, or any person 218 acting as a witness to, incident reporter to, or investigator 219 for a review team, for any act or proceeding taken or performed 220 within the scope and functions of the team,due to the221performance of his or her duties as a review team member in222regard to any discussions by, or deliberations or223recommendations of, the team or the memberunless such person 224memberacted in bad faith, with wanton and willful disregard of 225 human rights, safety, or property. 226 (b) This subsection does not affect the requirements of s. 227 768.28. 228 (10)(a) Oral or written communications, information, and 229 records produced or acquired by the review team are not subject 230 to disclosure, discovery, or introduction into evidence in any 231 civil, criminal, administrative, or disciplinary proceeding if 232 the communications, information, or records arose out of matters 233 that are the subject of an evaluation and review by the review 234 team. However, information, documents, and records otherwise 235 available from other sources are not immune from discovery or 236 introduction into evidence solely because the information, 237 documents, or records were presented to or reviewed by a review 238 team. 239 (b) A person who attends a meeting or other authorized 240 activity of a review team may not testify in any civil, 241 criminal, administrative, or disciplinary proceedings as to any 242 records or information produced or presented to the review team 243 during its meetings or other activities authorized by this 244 section. 245 (c) This subsection does not prohibit: 246 1. A person who testifies before a review team or is a 247 member of a review team from testifying in a civil, criminal, 248 administrative, or disciplinary proceeding to matters otherwise 249 within his or her knowledge; or 250 2. A member of a review team from testifying in a policy 251 related hearing or matter, as long as the member of the review 252 team does not disclose records or information that would 253 identify the victim or victim’s family or any other confidential 254 or exempt records or information pertaining to a matter reviewed 255 by the review team. 256 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.