II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 223 

To provide immunity from suit for certain individuals who disclose potential 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. CASEY, Mr. 

TILLIS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WICKER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mrs. CAPITO, 

Mr. TESTER, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. HELLER, Mr. KING, 

and Mr. KAINE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

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 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMMUNITY. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘Bank Secrecy Act officer’’ means 

2 an individual responsible for ensuring compliance 

3 with the requirements mandated by subchapter II of 

4 chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code (com5 monly known as the ‘‘Bank Secrecy Act’’); 

6 (2) the term ‘‘broker-dealer’’ means a broker 

7 and a dealer, as those terms are defined in section 

8 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

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

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

11 (A) a State financial regulatory agency, in12 cluding a State securities or law enforcement 

13 authority and a State insurance regulator; 

14 (B) each of the entities represented in the 

15 membership of the Federal Financial Institu16 tions Examination Council established under 

17 section 1004 of the Federal Financial Institu18 tions Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 

19 U.S.C. 3303); 

20 (C) the Securities and Exchange Commis21 sion; 

22 (D) a law enforcement agency; and 

23 (E) a State or local agency responsible for 

24 administering adult protective service laws; 


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

2 means— 

3 (A) a credit union; 

4 (B) a depository institution; 

5 (C) an investment adviser; 

6 (D) a broker-dealer; 

7 (E) an insurance company; and 

8 (F) an insurance agency; 

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

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

11 Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (12 

12 U.S.C. 5301); 

13 (6) the term ‘‘depository institution’’ has the 

14 meaning given the term in section 3(c) of the Fed15 eral Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)); 

16 (7) the term ‘‘exploitation’’ means the fraudu17 lent or otherwise illegal, unauthorized, or improper 

18 act or process of an individual, including a caregiver 

19 or a fiduciary, that— 

20 (A) uses the resources of a senior citizen 

21 for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or 

22 gain; or 

23 (B) results in depriving a senior citizen of 

24 rightful access to or use of benefits, resources, 

25 belongings, or assets; 


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1 (8) the term ‘‘insurance agency’’ means any 

2 business entity that sells, solicits, or negotiates in3 surance coverage; 

4 (9) the term ‘‘insurance company’’ has the 

5 meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Invest6 ment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–2(a)); 

7 (10) the term ‘‘insurance producer’’ means an 

8 individual who is required under State law to be li9 censed in order to sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance 

10 coverage; 

11 (11) the term ‘‘investment adviser’’ has the 

12 meaning given the term in section 202(a) of the In13 vestment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b– 

14 2(a)); 

15 (12) the term ‘‘investment adviser representa16 tive’’ means an individual who— 

17 (A) is employed by or associated with an 

18 investment adviser; and 

19 (B) does not perform solely clerical or min20 isterial acts; 

21 (13) the term ‘‘registered representative’’ 

22 means an individual who represents a broker-dealer 

23 in effecting or attempting to effect a purchase or 

24 sale of securities; 


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1 (14) the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an indi2 vidual who is not younger than 65 years of age; 

3 (15) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the sev4 eral States, the District of Columbia, and any terri5 tory or possession of the United States; 

6 (16) the term ‘‘State insurance regulator’’ has 

7 the meaning given the term in section 315 of the 

8 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6735); and 

9 (17) the term ‘‘State securities or law enforce10 ment authority’’ has the meaning given the term in 

11 section 24(f)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 

12 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78x(f)(4)). 

13 (b) IMMUNITY FROM SUIT.— 

14 (1) IMMUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS.—An indi15 vidual who has received the training described in 

16 section 3 shall not be liable, including in any civil or 

17 administrative proceeding, for disclosing the sus18 pected exploitation of a senior citizen to a covered 

19 agency if the individual, at the time of the disclo20 sure— 

21 (A) served as a supervisor or compliance 

22 officer (including as a Bank Secrecy Act offi23 cer) for, or, in the case of a registered rep24 resentative, investment adviser representative, 


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1 or insurance producer, was affiliated or associ2 ated with, a covered financial institution; and 

3 (B) made the disclosure— 

4 (i) in good faith; and 

5 (ii) with reasonable care. 

6 (2) IMMUNITY FOR COVERED FINANCIAL INSTI7 TUTIONS.—A covered financial institution shall not 

8 be liable, including in any civil or administrative pro9 ceeding, for a disclosure made by an individual de10 scribed in paragraph (1) if— 

11 (A) the individual was employed by, or, in 

12 the case of a registered representative, insur13 ance producer, or investment adviser represent14 ative, affiliated or associated with, the covered 

15 financial institution at the time of the disclo16 sure; and 

17 (B) before the time of the disclosure, each 

18 individual described in section 3(a) received the 

19 training described in section 3. 

20 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

21 paragraph (1) or (2) shall be construed to limit the 

22 liability of an individual or a covered financial insti23 tution in a civil action for any act, omission, or 

24 fraud that is not a disclosure described in paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 SEC. 3. TRAINING. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—A covered financial institution or 

3 a third party selected by a covered financial institution 

4 may provide the training described in subsection (b)(1) to 

5 each officer or employee of, or registered representative, 

6 insurance producer, or investment adviser representative 

7 affiliated or associated with, the covered financial institu8 tion who— 

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

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

11 as a regular part of the professional duties of the in12 dividual; or 

13 (3) may review or approve the financial docu14 ments, records, or transactions of a senior citizen in 

15 connection with providing financial services to a sen16 ior citizen. 

17 (b) CONTENT.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The content of the training 

19 that a covered financial institution or a third party 

20 selected by the covered financial institution may pro21 vide under subsection (a) shall— 

22 (A) be maintained by the covered financial 

23 institution and made available to a covered 

24 agency with examination authority over the cov25 ered financial institution, upon request, except 

26 that a covered financial institution shall not be 


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1 required to maintain or make available such 

2 content with respect to any individual who is no 

3 longer employed by or affiliated or associated 

4 with the covered financial institution; 

5 (B) instruct any individual attending the 

6 training on how to identify and report the sus7 pected exploitation of a senior citizen internally 

8 and, as appropriate, to government officials or 

9 law enforcement authorities, including common 

10 signs that indicate the financial exploitation of 

11 a senior citizen; 

12 (C) discuss the need to protect the privacy 

13 and respect the integrity of each individual cus14 tomer of the covered financial institution; and 

15 (D) be appropriate to the job responsibil16 ities of the individual attending the training. 

17 (2) TIMING.—The training under subsection (a) 

18 shall be provided— 

19 (A) as soon as reasonably practicable; and 

20 (B) with respect to an individual who be21 gins employment with or becomes affiliated or 

22 associated with a covered financial institution 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, not 

24 later than 1 year after the individual becomes 

25 employed by or affiliated or associated with the 


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1 covered financial institution in a position de2 scribed in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of sub3 section (a). 

4 (3) RECORDS.—A covered financial institution 

5 shall— 

6 (A) maintain a record of each individual 

7 who— 

8 (i) is employed by or affiliated or as9 sociated with the covered financial institu10 tion in a position described in paragraph 

11 (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a); and 

12 (ii) has completed the training under 

13 subsection (a), regardless of whether the 

14 training was— 

15 (I) provided by the covered finan16 cial institution or a third party se17 lected by the covered financial institu18 tion; 

19 (II) completed before the indi20 vidual was employed by or affiliated 

21 or associated with the covered finan22 cial institution; and 

23 (III) completed before, on, or 

24 after the date of enactment of this 

25 Act; and 


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1 (B) upon request, provide a record de2 scribed in subparagraph (A) to a covered agen3 cy with examination authority over the covered 

4 financial institution. 

5 SEC. 4. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW. 

6 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt or 

7 limit any provision of State law, except only to the extent 

8 that section 2 provides a greater level of protection against 

9 liability to an individual described in section 2(b)(1) or 

10 to a covered financial institution described in section 

11 2(b)(2) than is provided under State law. 

Æ 


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