IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1876 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 1, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and 

Exchange Commission for senior investors. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Senior Inves3 tor Initiative Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Senior Security Act 

4 of 2019’’. 

5 SEC. 2. SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE. 

6 Section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

7 U.S.C. 78d) is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(k) SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

11 within the Commission the Senior Investor 

12 Taskforce (in this subsection referred to as the 

13 ‘Taskforce’). 

14 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 

15 head of the Taskforce shall be the Director, who 

16 shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) report directly to the Chairman; and 

18 ‘‘(B) be appointed by the Chairman, in 

19 consultation with the Commission, from among 

20 individuals— 

21 ‘‘(i) currently employed by the Com22 mission or from outside of the Commis23 sion; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) having experience in advocating 

25 for the interests of senior investors. 


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1 ‘‘(3) STAFFING.—The Chairman shall ensure 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(A) the Taskforce is staffed sufficiently to 

4 carry out fully the requirements of this sub5 section; and 

6 ‘‘(B) such staff shall include individuals 

7 from the Division of Enforcement, Office of 

8 Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and 

9 Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. 

10 ‘‘(4) MINIMIZING DUPLICATION OF EFFORTS.— 

11 In organizing and staffing the Taskforce, the Chair12 man shall take such actions as may be necessary to 

13 minimize the duplication of efforts within the divi14 sions and offices described under paragraph (3)(B) 

15 and any other divisions, offices, or taskforces of the 

16 Commission. 

17 ‘‘(5) FUNCTIONS OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 

18 Taskforce shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) identify challenges that senior inves20 tors encounter, including problems associated 

21 with financial exploitation and cognitive decline; 

22 ‘‘(B) identify areas in which senior inves23 tors would benefit from changes in the regula24 tions of the Commission or the rules of self-reg25 ulatory organizations; 


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1 ‘‘(C) coordinate, as appropriate, with other 

2 offices within the Commission, other taskforces 

3 that may be established within the Commission, 

4 self-regulatory organizations, and the Elder 

5 Justice Coordinating Council; and 

6 ‘‘(D) consult, as appropriate, with State 

7 securities and law enforcement authorities, 

8 State insurance regulators, and other Federal 

9 agencies. 

10 ‘‘(6) REPORT.—The Taskforce, in coordination, 

11 as appropriate, with the Office of the Investor Advo12 cate and self-regulatory organizations, and in con13 sultation, as appropriate, with State securities and 

14 law enforcement authorities, State insurance regu15 lators, and Federal agencies, shall issue a report 

16 every 2 years to the Committee on Banking, Hous17 ing, and Urban Affairs and the Special Committee 

18 on Aging of the Senate and the Committee on Fi19 nancial Services of the House of Representatives, the 

20 first of which shall not be issued until after the re21 port described in section 3 of the National Senior 

22 Investor Initiative Act of 2019 has been issued and 

23 considered by the Taskforce, containing— 

24 ‘‘(A) appropriate statistical information 

25 and full and substantive analysis; 


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1 ‘‘(B) a summary of recent trends and inno2 vations that have impacted the investment land3 scape for senior investors; 

4 ‘‘(C) a summary of regulatory initiatives 

5 that have concentrated on senior investors and 

6 industry practices related to senior investors; 

7 ‘‘(D) key observations, best practices, and 

8 areas needing improvement, involving senior in9 vestors identified during examinations, enforce10 ment actions, and investor education outreach; 

11 ‘‘(E) a summary of the most serious issues 

12 encountered by senior investors, including 

13 issues involving financial products and services; 

14 ‘‘(F) an analysis with regard to existing 

15 policies and procedures of brokers, dealers, in16 vestment advisers, and other market partici17 pants related to senior investors and senior in18 vestor-related topics and whether these policies 

19 and procedures need to be further developed or 

20 refined; 

21 ‘‘(G) recommendations for such changes to 

22 the regulations, guidance, and orders of the 

23 Commission and self-regulatory organizations 

24 and such legislative actions as may be approVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1876.RFS H1876

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1 priate to resolve problems encountered by senior 

2 investors; and 

3 ‘‘(H) any other information, as determined 

4 appropriate by the Director of the Taskforce. 

5 ‘‘(7) SUNSET.—The Taskforce shall terminate 

6 after the end of the 10-year period beginning on the 

7 date of the enactment of this subsection, but may be 

8 reestablished by the Chairman. 

9 ‘‘(8) SENIOR INVESTOR DEFINED.—For pur10 poses of this subsection, the term ‘senior investor’ 

11 means an investor over the age of 65.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

15 of the United States shall submit to Congress and the 

16 Senior Investor Taskforce the results of a study of finan17 cial exploitation of senior citizens. 

18 (b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub19 section (a) shall include information with respect to— 

20 (1) economic costs of the financial exploitation 

21 of senior citizens— 

22 (A) associated with losses by victims that 

23 were incurred as a result of the financial exploi24 tation of senior citizens; 


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1 (B) incurred by State and Federal agen2 cies, law enforcement and investigatory agen3 cies, public benefit programs, public health pro4 grams, and other public programs as a result of 

5 the financial exploitation of senior citizens; 

6 (C) incurred by the private sector as a re7 sult of the financial exploitation of senior citi8 zens; and 

9 (D) any other relevant costs that— 

10 (i) result from the financial exploi11 tation of senior citizens; and 

12 (ii) the Comptroller General deter13 mines are necessary and appropriate to in14 clude in order to provide Congress and the 

15 public with a full and accurate under16 standing of the economic costs resulting 

17 from the financial exploitation of senior 

18 citizens in the United States; 

19 (2) frequency of senior financial exploitation 

20 and correlated or contributing factors— 

21 (A) information about percentage of senior 

22 citizens financially exploited each year; and 

23 (B) information about factors contributing 

24 to increased risk of exploitation, including such 

25 factors as race, social isolation, income, net 


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1 worth, religion, region, occupation, education, 

2 home-ownership, illness, and loss of spouse; and 

3 (3) policy responses and reporting of senior fi4 nancial exploitation— 

5 (A) the degree to which financial exploi6 tation of senior citizens unreported to authori7 ties; 

8 (B) the reasons that financial exploitation 

9 may be unreported to authorities; 

10 (C) to the extent that suspected elder fi11 nancial exploitation is currently being re12 ported— 

13 (i) information regarding which Fed14 eral, State, and local agencies are receiving 

15 reports, including adult protective services, 

16 law enforcement, industry, regulators, and 

17 professional licensing boards; 

18 (ii) information regarding what infor19 mation is being collected by such agencies; 

20 and 

21 (iii) information regarding the actions 

22 that are taken by such agencies upon re23 ceipt of the report and any limits on the 

24 agencies’ ability to prevent exploitation, 

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1 pertise, resource challenges, or limiting cri2 teria with regard to the types of victims 

3 they are permitted to serve; 

4 (D) an analysis of gaps that may exist in 

5 empowering Federal, State, and local agencies 

6 to prevent senior exploitation or respond effec7 tively to suspected senior financial exploitation; 

8 and 

9 (E) an analysis of the legal hurdles that 

10 prevent Federal, State, and local agencies from 

11 effectively partnering with each other and pri12 vate professionals to effectively respond to sen13 ior financial exploitation. 

14 (c) SENIOR CITIZEN DEFINED.—For purposes of this 

15 section, the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an individual over 

16 the age of 65. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 30, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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