I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8588 

To amend title XX of the Social Security Act to provide grants to States 

to support linkages to legal services and medical legal partnerships. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 31, 2024 

Ms. SPANBERGER (for herself and Mr. MOLINARO) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title XX of the Social Security Act to provide 

grants to States to support linkages to legal services 

and medical legal partnerships. 

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 ‘‘Linking Seniors to 

5 Needed Legal Services Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCENTIVES FOR DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING 

2 STRUCTURAL COMPETENCY IN PROVIDING 

3 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of subtitle B of title XX 

5 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397m–5) is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 2047. INCENTIVES FOR DEVELOPING AND SUS8 TAINING STRUCTURAL COMPETENCY IN PRO9 VIDING HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. 

10 ‘‘(a) GRANTS TO STATES TO SUPPORT LINKAGES TO

11 LEGAL SERVICES AND MEDICAL LEGAL PARTNER12 SHIPS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 2 years after the 

14 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 

15 shall establish and administer a program of grants 

16 to States to support the adoption of evidence-based 

17 approaches to establishing or improving and main18 taining real-time linkages between health and social 

19 services and supports for vulnerable elders or in con20 junction with authorized representatives of vulner21 able elders, including through the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIPS.— 

23 The establishment and support of medical-legal 

24 partnerships, the incorporation of the partner25 ships in the elder justice framework and health 

26 and human services safety net, and the impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jul 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8588.IH H8588

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1 mentation and operation of such a partnership 

2 by an eligible grantee— 

3 ‘‘(i) at the option of a State, in con4 junction with an area agency on aging; 

5 ‘‘(ii) in a solo provider practice in a 

6 health professional shortage area (as de7 fined in section 332(a) of the Public 

8 Health Service Act), a medically under9 served community (as defined in section 

10 399V of such Act), or a rural area (as de11 fined in section 330J of such Act); 

12 ‘‘(iii) in a minority-serving institution 

13 of higher learning with health, law, and so14 cial services professional programs; 

15 ‘‘(iv) in a federally qualified health 

16 center, as described in section 330 of the 

17 Public Health Service Act, or look-alike, as 

18 described in section 1905(l)(2)(B) of this 

19 Act; or 

20 ‘‘(v) in certain hospitals that are crit21 ical access hospitals, Medicare-dependent 

22 hospitals, sole community hospitals, rural 

23 emergency hospitals, or that serve a high 

24 proportion of Medicare or Medicaid pa25 tients. 


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1 ‘‘(B) LEGAL HOTLINES DEVELOPMENT OR

2 EXPANSION.—The provision of incentives to de3 velop, enhance, and integrate platforms, such as 

4 legal assistance hotlines, that help to facilitate 

5 the identification of older adults who could ben6 efit from linkages to available legal services 

7 such as those described in subparagraph (A). 

8 ‘‘(2) STATE REPORTS.—Each State to which a 

9 grant is made under this subsection shall submit to 

10 the Secretary biannual reports on the activities car11 ried out by the State pursuant to this subsection, 

12 which shall include assessments of the effectiveness 

13 of the activities with respect to— 

14 ‘‘(A) the number of unique individuals 

15 identified through the mechanism outlined in 

16 paragraph (1)(B) who are referred to services 

17 described in paragraph (1)(A), and the average 

18 time period associated with resolving issues; 

19 ‘‘(B) the success rate for referrals to com20 munity-based resources; and 

21 ‘‘(C) other factors determined relevant by 

22 the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall, by 

24 grant, contract, or interagency agreement, evaluate 


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1 the activities conducted pursuant to this subsection, 

2 which shall include a comparison among the States. 

3 ‘‘(4) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Every 4 

4 years, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a 

5 written report on the activities conducted under this 

6 subsection. 

7 ‘‘(5) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in 

8 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are 

9 appropriated to the Secretary $125,000,000 for each 

10 of fiscal years 2025 through 2028 to carry out this 

11 subsection. 

12 ‘‘(6) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Support 

13 provided to area agencies on aging, State units on 

14 aging, eligible entities, or other community-based or15 ganizations pursuant to this subsection shall be used 

16 to supplement and not supplant any other Federal, 

17 State, or local funds expended to provide the same 

18 or comparable services described in this subsection. 

19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 ‘‘(1) AREA AGENCY ON AGING.—The term ‘area 

21 agency on aging’ means an area agency on aging 

22 designated under section 305 of the Older Ameri23 cans Act of 1965. 

24 ‘‘(2) COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION.—The 

25 term ‘community-based organization’ includes, exVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jul 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8588.IH H8588

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1 cept as otherwise provided by the Secretary, a non2 profit community-based organization, a consortium 

3 of nonprofit community-based organizations, a na4 tional nonprofit organization acting as an inter5 mediary for a community-based organization, or a 

6 community-based organization that has a fiscal 

7 sponsor that allows the organization to function as 

8 an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the 

9 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from 

10 taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.’’. 

11 (b) CLARIFICATION THAT MEDICAL-LEGAL PART12 NERSHIPS ARE AUTHORIZED ADULT PROTECTIVE SERV13 ICES ACTIVITIES.—Section 2011 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 1397j) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (2)(D), by inserting ‘‘, includ16 ing through a medical-legal partnership’’ before the 

17 period; and 

18 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (16) through 

19 (22) as paragraphs (17) through (23), respectively, 

20 and inserting after paragraph (15) the following: 

21 ‘‘(16) MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP.—The 

22 term ‘medical-legal partnership’ means an arrange23 ment in a health care or social services setting which 

24 integrates lawyers and social workers to address the 

25 needs of an individual patient related to social deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jul 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8588.IH H8588

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1 minants of health, and to help clinicians, case man2 agers, and social workers address structural prob3 lems at the root of many health inequities, including 

4 a multidisciplinary team integrated into such a set5 ting to address the needs and establish and maintain 

6 structural competence within clinicians, case man7 agers, and social workers to best address structural 

8 problems at the root of many health inequities.’’. 

Æ 


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