II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2106 

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 

JUNE 17, 2021 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) 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 2021’’. 

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 may provide such services by additional 

10 forms of communication), regardless of whether 

11 such services are provided 24 hours a day and 

12 7 days a week; 

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

14 the older individuals receiving such services; 

15 ‘‘(D) serves older individuals with the 

16 greatest social need and greatest economic need 

17 as a target population for such services; and 

18 ‘‘(E) develops partnerships with other pro19 grams and legal assistance providers to ensure 

20 that older individuals who need more extensive 

21 services, including representation, have access 

22 to such services. 

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

24 The term ‘statewide senior legal hotline’ means a 


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1 senior legal hotline that serves older individuals 

2 throughout a State. 

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

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

5 that submit an application under subsection (c) to estab6 lish or operate a statewide senior legal hotline in accord7 ance with the requirements under subsection (d). 

8 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 

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

10 grant under this section shall submit to the Assist11 ant Secretary an application at such time, in such 

12 manner, and containing such information as the As13 sistant Secretary may reasonably require, including 

14 the contents described in paragraph (2). 

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

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

17 each of the following: 

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

19 served by the statewide senior legal hotline. 

20 ‘‘(B) A plan indicating how the eligible en21 tity will satisfy each requirement under sub22 section (d) with respect to establishing or oper23 ating a statewide senior legal hotline. 

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

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


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1 an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of 

2 the estimated amount awarded through the 

3 grant under this section. An eligible entity may 

4 use in-kind contributions to meet the matching 

5 requirement under this subparagraph. 

6 ‘‘(D) A description of the certification 

7 process the eligible entity has in place to ensure 

8 that staff members of and volunteers serving 

9 the statewide senior legal hotline will have no 

10 conflict of interest (including any financial or 

11 substantive conflict of interest) in providing 

12 services through the hotline. 

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

14 shall, in selecting eligible entities to receive a grant 

15 under this section— 

16 ‘‘(A) consider— 

17 ‘‘(i) the extent to which the applica18 tion submitted by the eligible entity under 

19 paragraph (2) meets the requirements of 

20 such paragraph; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the demonstrated capacity of the 

22 eligible entity to administer a statewide 

23 senior legal hotline, including the experi24 ence and history of the eligible entity in 

25 delivering high quality advice, assistance, 


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1 and other legal services, to older individ2 uals through low-cost and innovative meth3 ods; and 

4 ‘‘(B) ensure that no 2 eligible entities re5 ceiving a grant under this section for a fiscal 

6 year are planning to establish or operate a 

7 statewide senior legal hotline that serves the 

8 same State for such fiscal year. 

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

10 a grant under this section shall, in establishing or oper11 ating a statewide senior legal hotline supported by such 

12 grant— 

13 ‘‘(1) provide for a sufficient number of appro14 priately trained attorneys, paralegals, other staff 

15 members, and volunteers to ensure effective delivery 

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

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

18 on aging, including any legal assistance developer, 

19 and free or low-cost legal service providers through20 out the State, including those who provide free legal 

21 assistance to older individuals, to maximize coordi22 nation and cost-effective delivery of legal assistance 

23 to older individuals; 

24 ‘‘(3) strive to maximize coordination in the de25 livery of legal assistance to older individuals in the 


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1 State, including legal assistance funded by the Legal 

2 Services Corporation under the Legal Services Cor3 poration Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.), legal assist4 ance supported by a grant under part B of title III 

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

6 clinic, and any other legal assistance provided at no7 cost to the persons receiving the assistance; 

8 ‘‘(4) build effective communication within the 

9 aging network operating in the State to provide co10 ordinated assistance and referrals as appropriate; 

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

12 representation and other assistance beyond the scope 

13 of the hotline to— 

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

15 same legal aid agency of which the hotline is a 

16 division or project; 

17 ‘‘(B) other legal aid agencies; 

18 ‘‘(C) private attorneys, including those pro19 viding pro bono legal services; 

20 ‘‘(D) providers included in the aging net21 work operating in the State; 

22 ‘‘(E) advocacy and assistance programs for 

23 older individuals; or 

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

25 appropriate; and 


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1 ‘‘(6) conduct outreach through the aging net2 work operating in the State, and by other means, to 

3 inform older individuals about the availability of the 

4 services provided by the hotline, specifically tar5 geting older individuals with the greatest economic 

6 need and greatest social need. 

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

8 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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