II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 905 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize a national network 

of Statewide senior legal hotlines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2019 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize 

a national network of Statewide senior legal hotlines, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Legal Hotline 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 

7 Subtitle B of title VII of the Older Americans Act 

8 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3058aa et seq.) is amended by adding 

9 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 753. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible en5 tity’ means a nonprofit organization or a part6 nership described in subparagraph (B) that— 

7 ‘‘(i) provides legal assistance to older 

8 individuals at no cost to such individuals; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(ii)(I) operates a senior legal hotline 

11 in existence on the date on which the enti12 ty submits an application under subsection 

13 (c); or 

14 ‘‘(II) demonstrates the capacity to 

15 provide legal assistance to older individuals 

16 through a Statewide senior legal hotline. 

17 ‘‘(B) PARTNERSHIP.—A partnership de18 scribed in this subparagraph is a partnership 

19 between— 

20 ‘‘(i) multiple nonprofit organizations; 

21 or 

22 ‘‘(ii) one or more nonprofit organiza23 tions with one or more State or local gov24 ernments. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.—The term ‘sen2 ior legal hotline’ means a program or partnership of 

3 programs that— 

4 ‘‘(A) provides legal services, such as coun5 seling, advice, advocacy, information, referrals, 

6 and other services, as appropriate, to older indi7 viduals on a broad range of civil legal issues; 

8 ‘‘(B) provides such services by telephone 

9 and by other forms of communication; 

10 ‘‘(C) provides such services at no cost to 

11 the older individuals receiving such services; 

12 ‘‘(D) serves older individuals with the 

13 greatest social need and greatest economic need 

14 as a target population for such services; and 

15 ‘‘(E) develops partnerships with other pro16 grams and legal assistance providers to ensure 

17 that older individuals who need more extensive 

18 services, including representation, have access 

19 to such services. 

20 ‘‘(3) STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.— 

21 The term ‘Statewide senior legal hotline’ means a 

22 senior legal hotline that serves older individuals 

23 throughout a State. 

24 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Assistant Secretary may 

25 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 


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1 that submit an application under subsection (c) to estab2 lish or operate a Statewide senior legal hotline in accord3 ance with the requirements under subsection (d). 

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 

6 grant under this section shall submit to the Assist7 ant Secretary an application at such time, in such 

8 manner, and containing such information as the As9 sistant Secretary may reasonably require, including 

10 the contents described in paragraph (2). 

11 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

12 under paragraph (1) shall contain, at a minimum, 

13 each of the following: 

14 ‘‘(A) An identification of the State to be 

15 served by the Statewide senior legal hotline. 

16 ‘‘(B) A plan indicating how the eligible en17 tity will satisfy each requirement under sub18 section (d) with respect to establishing or oper19 ating a Statewide senior legal hotline. 

20 ‘‘(C) An assurance that the eligible entity 

21 will be able to provide, from non-Federal funds, 

22 an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of 

23 the estimated amount awarded through the 

24 grant under this section. An eligible entity may 


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1 use in-kind contributions to meet the matching 

2 requirement under this subparagraph. 

3 ‘‘(D) A description of the certification 

4 process the eligible entity has in place to ensure 

5 that staff members of and volunteers serving 

6 the Statewide senior legal hotline will have no 

7 conflict of interest (including any financial or 

8 substantive conflict of interest) in providing 

9 services through the hotline. 

10 ‘‘(3) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary 

11 shall, in selecting eligible entities to receive a grant 

12 under this section— 

13 ‘‘(A) consider— 

14 ‘‘(i) the extent to which the applica15 tion submitted by the eligible entity under 

16 paragraph (2) meets the requirements of 

17 such paragraph; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the demonstrated capacity of the 

19 eligible entity to administer a Statewide 

20 senior legal hotline, including the experi21 ence and history of the eligible entity in 

22 delivering high quality advice, assistance, 

23 and other legal services, to older individ24 uals through low-cost and innovative meth25 ods; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) ensure that no 2 eligible entities re2 ceiving a grant under this section for a fiscal 

3 year are planning to establish or operate a 

4 Statewide senior legal hotline that serves the 

5 same State for such fiscal year. 

6 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—Each eligible entity receiving 

7 a grant under this section shall, in establishing or oper8 ating a Statewide senior legal hotline supported by such 

9 grant— 

10 ‘‘(1) provide for a sufficient number of appro11 priately trained attorneys, paralegals, other staff 

12 members, and volunteers to ensure effective delivery 

13 of the services described in subsection (a)(2)(A); 

14 ‘‘(2) collaborate with the appropriate State unit 

15 on aging, including any legal assistance developer, 

16 and free or low-cost legal service providers through17 out the State, including those who provide free legal 

18 assistance to older individuals, to maximize coordi19 nation and cost-effective delivery of legal assistance 

20 to older individuals; 

21 ‘‘(3) strive to maximize coordination in the de22 livery of legal assistance to older individuals in the 

23 State, including legal assistance funded by the Legal 

24 Services Corporation under the Legal Services Cor25 poration Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.), legal assistVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S905.IS S905

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1 ance supported by a grant under part B of title III 

2 of this Act, legal assistance provided by a law school 

3 clinic, and any other legal assistance provided at no4 cost to the persons receiving the assistance; 

5 ‘‘(4) build effective communication within the 

6 aging network operating in the State to provide co7 ordinated assistance and referrals as appropriate; 

8 ‘‘(5) establish mechanisms to make referrals for 

9 representation and other assistance beyond the scope 

10 of the hotline to— 

11 ‘‘(A) other divisions or projects of the 

12 same legal aid agency of which the hotline is a 

13 division or project; 

14 ‘‘(B) other legal aid agencies; 

15 ‘‘(C) private attorneys, including those pro16 viding pro bono legal services; 

17 ‘‘(D) providers included in the aging net18 work operating in the State; 

19 ‘‘(E) advocacy and assistance programs for 

20 older individuals; or 

21 ‘‘(F) any other individuals or entities, as 

22 appropriate; and 

23 ‘‘(6) conduct outreach through the aging net24 work operating in the State, and by other means, to 

25 inform older individuals about the availability of the 


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1 services provided by the hotline, specifically tar2 geting older individuals with the greatest economic 

3 need and greatest social need. 

4 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

6 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 

Æ 


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