I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4538 

To provide immunity from suit for certain individuals who disclose potential 

examples of financial exploitation of senior citizens, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2016 

Ms. SINEMA (for herself, Mr. POLIQUIN, Mr. MULVANEY, and Mr. MURPHY

of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide immunity from suit for certain individuals who 

disclose potential examples of financial exploitation of 

senior citizens, 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$afe Act of 

5 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMMUNITY. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘bank’’ has the meaning given the 

2 term in section 202(a) of the Investment Advisers 

3 Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–2(a)); 

4 (2) the term ‘‘broker-dealer’’ means— 

5 (A) a broker, as defined in section 3(a) of 

6 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

7 U.S.C. 78c(a)); or 

8 (B) a dealer, as defined in section 3(a) of 

9 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

10 U.S.C. 78c(a)); 

11 (3) the term ‘‘covered agency’’ means— 

12 (A) a State financial regulatory agency; 

13 (B) each of the Federal financial institu14 tions regulatory agencies; 

15 (C) a law enforcement agency; and 

16 (D) the adult protective services agency of 

17 a State; 

18 (4) the term ‘‘covered financial institution’’ 

19 means— 

20 (A) a bank; 

21 (B) a credit union; 

22 (C) an investment adviser; and 

23 (D) a broker-dealer; 

24 (5) the term ‘‘credit union’’ has the meaning 

25 given the term in section 2 of the Dodd-Frank Wall 


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1 Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (12 

2 U.S.C. 5301); 

3 (6) the term ‘‘exploitation’’ has the meaning 

4 given the term in section 2011 of the Social Security 

5 Act (42 U.S.C. 1397j); 

6 (7) the term ‘‘Federal financial institutions reg7 ulatory agencies’’ has the meaning given the term in 

8 section 1003 of the Federal Financial Institutions 

9 Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3302); 

10 (8) the term ‘‘investment adviser’’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in section 202 of the Invest12 ment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–2); and 

13 (9) the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an indi14 vidual who is not less than 65 years of age. 

15 (b) IMMUNITY FROM SUIT.— 

16 (1) IMMUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS.—Notwith17 standing section 502 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act 

18 (15 U.S.C. 6802), including any regulations adopted 

19 thereunder, an individual who has received the train20 ing described in section 3 shall not be liable, includ21 ing in any civil or administrative proceeding, for dis22 closing the possible exploitation of a senior citizen to 

23 a covered agency if the individual, at the time of the 

24 disclosure— 


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1 (A) served as a supervisor, compliance offi2 cer, or legal advisor for a covered financial in3 stitution; and 

4 (B) made the disclosure— 

5 (i) in good faith; and 

6 (ii) with reasonable care. 

7 (2) IMMUNITY FOR COVERED FINANCIAL INSTI8 TUTIONS.—Notwithstanding section 502 of the 

9 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6802), includ10 ing any regulations adopted thereunder, a covered fi11 nancial institution shall not be liable, including in 

12 any civil or administrative proceeding, for a disclo13 sure made by an individual described in paragraph 

14 (1) if— 

15 (A) the individual was employed by the 

16 covered financial institution at the time of the 

17 disclosure; and 

18 (B) before the time of the disclosure, the 

19 covered financial institution provided the train20 ing described in section 3 to each officer or em21 ployee of the covered financial institution de22 scribed in section 3(a). 

23 SEC. 3. TRAINING REQUIRED. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A covered financial institution 

25 may provide training regarding the identification and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:15 Feb 12, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4538.IH H4538

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1 porting of the suspected exploitation of a senior citizen 

2 to each officer or employee of the covered financial institu3 tion who— 

4 (1) is described in section 2(b)(1)(A); 

5 (2) may come into contact with a senior citizen 

6 as a regular part of the duties of the officer or em7 ployee; or 

8 (3) may review or approve the financial docu9 ments, records, or transactions of a senior citizen in 

10 connection with providing financial services to a sen11 ior citizen. 

12 (b) TRAINING.—The training required under sub13 section (a) shall be provided as soon as reasonably prac14 ticable but not more than 12 months after the date on 

15 which an officer or employee begins employment with the 

16 covered financial institution. 

17 SEC. 4. PREEMPTION. 

18 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt or 

19 limit any provision of State law, to the extent that any 

20 provision of State law provides a similar or greater level 

21 of protection against liability to an individual described 

22 in section 2(b)(1) or a covered financial institution de23 scribed in section 2(b)(2) than is provided under those sec24 tions. 

Æ 


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