II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4371 

To amend the Investor Protection and Securities Reform Act of 2010 to 

provide grants to States for enhanced protection of senior investors 

and senior policyholders, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2024 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 

Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Investor Protection and Securities Reform 

Act of 2010 to provide grants to States for enhanced 

protection of senior investors and senior policyholders, 

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 ‘‘Empowering States 

5 to Protect Seniors from Bad Actors Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Data from the Federal Trade Commission 

2 shows that consumers reported losing— 

3 (A) more than $10,000,000,000 to fraud 

4 in 2023, marking— 

5 (i) the first time that fraud losses 

6 have exceeded that amount; and 

7 (ii) a 14 percent increase over those 

8 reported losses in 2022; and 

9 (B) more money to investment scams (spe10 cifically, more than $4,600,000,000) than any 

11 other category in 2023, which represents a 21 

12 percent increase over those reported losses in 

13 2022. 

14 (2) Data from AARP, published in 2023, shows 

15 that 9 out of 10 adults in the United States encoun16 tered a fraud attempt in the past year. 

17 (3) In 2021, AARP found that servicemembers 

18 are nearly 40 percent more likely to lose money to 

19 scams and fraud than civilians. 

20 (4) For decades, State securities and insurance 

21 regulators have been leaders in the effort to protect 

22 older and sometimes vulnerable adults, including vet23 erans, from financial exploitation. 


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1 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE ENTITIES FOR ENHANCED 

2 PROTECTION OF SENIOR INVESTORS AND 

3 SENIOR POLICYHOLDERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 989A of the Investor Pro5 tection and Securities Reform Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 

6 5537) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 989A. GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE ENTITIES FOR EN8 HANCED PROTECTION OF SENIOR INVES9 TORS AND SENIOR POLICYHOLDERS. 

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

11 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en12 tity’ means— 

13 ‘‘(A) the securities commission (or any 

14 agency or office performing like functions) of 

15 any State; and 

16 ‘‘(B) the insurance department (or any 

17 agency or office performing like functions) of 

18 any State. 

19 ‘‘(2) SENIOR.—The term ‘senior’ means any in20 dividual who has attained the age of 62 years or 

21 older. 

22 ‘‘(3) SENIOR FINANCIAL FRAUD.—The term 

23 ‘senior financial fraud’ means a fraudulent or other24 wise illegal, unauthorized, or improper act or process 

25 of an individual, including a caregiver or a fiduciary, 

26 that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) uses the resources of a senior for 

2 monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain; 

3 ‘‘(B) results in depriving a senior of right4 ful access to or use of benefits, resources, be5 longings, or assets; or 

6 ‘‘(C) is an action described in section 1348 

7 of title 18, United States Code, that is taken 

8 against a senior. 

9 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

11 carry out a program under which the Commission 

12 shall make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 

13 entities, which— 

14 ‘‘(A) may use the grant funds— 

15 ‘‘(i) to hire staff to identify, inves16 tigate, and prosecute (through civil, admin17 istrative, or criminal enforcement actions) 

18 cases involving senior financial fraud; 

19 ‘‘(ii) to fund technology, equipment, 

20 and training for regulators, prosecutors, 

21 and law enforcement officers, in order to 

22 identify, investigate, and prosecute cases 

23 involving senior financial fraud; 

24 ‘‘(iii) to provide educational materials 

25 and training to seniors to increase awareVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jul 01, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4371.IS S4371

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1 ness and understanding of senior financial 

2 fraud; 

3 ‘‘(iv) to develop comprehensive plans 

4 to combat senior financial fraud; and 

5 ‘‘(v) to enhance provisions of State 

6 law to provide protection from senior fi7 nancial fraud; and 

8 ‘‘(B) may not use the grant funds for any 

9 indirect expense, such as rent, utilities, or any 

10 other general administrative cost that is not di11 rectly related to the purpose of the grant pro12 gram. 

13 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION.— 

14 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC INFORMATION.—In carrying 

15 out paragraph (1), the Commission shall make 

16 public relevant actions of the Commission relat17 ing to carrying out that paragraph. 

18 ‘‘(B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the 

19 sense of Congress that, in carrying out para20 graph (1), the Commission should use the au21 thority of the Commission under section 4A of 

22 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

23 U.S.C. 78d–1) to delegate the functions of the 

24 Commission under paragraph (1) to an em25 ployee or employee board that has experience 


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1 working with or for State regulators on issues 

2 relating to the protection of senior investors, in3 cluding such investors who are vulnerable. 

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity desiring a 

5 grant under this section shall submit an application to the 

6 Commission, in such form and in such a manner as the 

7 Commission may determine, that includes— 

8 ‘‘(1) a proposal for activities to protect seniors 

9 from senior financial fraud that are proposed to be 

10 funded using a grant under this section, including— 

11 ‘‘(A) an identification of the scope of the 

12 problem of senior financial fraud in the applica13 ble State; 

14 ‘‘(B) a description of how the proposed ac15 tivities would— 

16 ‘‘(i) protect seniors from senior finan17 cial fraud, including by proactively identi18 fying victims of senior financial fraud; 

19 ‘‘(ii) assist in the investigation and 

20 prosecution of those committing senior fi21 nancial fraud; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) discourage and reduce cases of 

23 senior financial fraud; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) a description of how the proposed ac2 tivities would be coordinated with other State 

3 efforts; and 

4 ‘‘(2) any other information that the Commis5 sion determines appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(d) PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES; REPORTING RE7 QUIREMENTS; AUDITS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission— 

9 ‘‘(A) may establish such performance ob10 jectives and reporting requirements for eligible 

11 entities receiving a grant under this section as 

12 the Commission determines are necessary to 

13 carry out and assess the effectiveness of the 

14 program under this section; and 

15 ‘‘(B) shall require each eligible entity that 

16 receives a grant under this section to submit to 

17 the Commission a detailed accounting of the 

18 use of grant funds, which shall be submitted at 

19 such time, in such form, and containing such 

20 information as the Commission may require. 

21 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years, and 

22 again not later than 5 years, after the date of enact23 ment of the Empowering States to Protect Seniors 

24 from Bad Actors Act, the Commission shall submit 

25 to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 


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1 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Finan2 cial Services of the House of Representatives a re3 port that— 

4 ‘‘(A) specifies each recipient of a grant 

5 under this section; 

6 ‘‘(B) includes a description of the pro7 grams that are supported by each such grant; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(C) includes an evaluation by the Com10 mission of the effectiveness of such grants. 

11 ‘‘(3) AUDITS.—The Commission shall annually 

12 conduct an audit of the program under this section 

13 to ensure that eligible entities to which grants are 

14 made under that program are, for the year covered 

15 by the audit, using grant funds for the intended pur16 poses of those funds. 

17 ‘‘(e) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The amount of a grant 

18 to an eligible entity under this section may not exceed 

19 $500,000 each year, unless the eligible entity serves as 

20 both the securities commission (or any agency or office 

21 performing like functions), or the insurance department 

22 (or any agency or office performing like functions), of a 

23 State, in which case the maximum amount of the grant 

24 may not exceed $1,000,000 each year. 


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1 ‘‘(f) SUBGRANTS.—An eligible entity that receives a 

2 grant under this section may, in consultation with the 

3 Commission, make a subgrant, as the eligible entity deter4 mines is necessary or appropriate— 

5 ‘‘(1) to carry out the activities described in sub6 section (b)(1)(A); and 

7 ‘‘(2) which may not be used for any activity de8 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(B). 

9 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

11 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2030.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con13 tents in section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Re14 form and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111–203) 

15 is amended by striking the item relating to section 989A 

16 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 989A. Grants to eligible entities for enhanced protection of senior investors and senior policyholders.’’. 

Æ 


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