II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1719 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to create an interdivisional 

taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 5, 2019 

Ms. SINEMA (for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to create 

an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors, 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 ‘‘National Senior Inves5 tor Initiative Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Senior Security Act 

6 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE. 

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

3 U.S.C. 78d) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(k) SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

7 ‘‘(A) the term ‘appropriate committees of 

8 Congress’ means— 

9 ‘‘(i) the Committee on Banking, 

10 Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the Special Committee on Aging 

12 of the Senate; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) the Committee on Financial 

14 Services of the House of Representatives; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) the term ‘senior investor’ means an 

17 investor who is older than 65 years of age. 

18 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

19 within the Commission the Senior Investor 

20 Taskforce (referred to in this subsection as the 

21 ‘Taskforce’). 

22 ‘‘(3) DIRECTOR OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 

23 head of the Taskforce shall be the Director, who 

24 shall— 

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


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

2 consultation with the Commission, from among 

3 individuals— 

4 ‘‘(i) currently employed by the Com5 mission or from outside of the Commis6 sion; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) having experience in advocating 

8 for the interests of senior investors. 

9 ‘‘(4) STAFFING.—The Chairman shall ensure 

10 that— 

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

12 carry out fully the requirements of this sub13 section; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the staff described in subparagraph 

15 (A) includes individuals from the Division of 

16 Enforcement, the Office of Compliance Inspec17 tions and Examinations, and the Office of In18 vestor Education and Advocacy. 

19 ‘‘(5) MINIMIZING DUPLICATION OF EFFORTS.— 

20 In organizing and staffing the Taskforce, the Chair21 man shall take such actions as may be necessary to 

22 minimize the duplication of efforts within the divi23 sions and offices described in paragraph (4)(B) and 

24 any other divisions, offices, or taskforces of the 

25 Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(6) FUNCTIONS OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 

2 Taskforce shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) identify challenges that senior inves4 tors encounter, including problems associated 

5 with financial exploitation and cognitive decline; 

6 ‘‘(B) identify areas in which senior inves7 tors would benefit from changes in the regula8 tions of the Commission or the rules of self-reg9 ulatory organizations; 

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

11 offices within the Commission, other taskforces 

12 that may be established within the Commission, 

13 self-regulatory organizations, and the Elder 

14 Justice Coordinating Council; and 

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

16 securities and law enforcement authorities, 

17 State insurance regulators, and other Federal 

18 agencies. 

19 ‘‘(7) REPORT.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara21 graph (B), the Taskforce, in coordination, as 

22 appropriate, with the Office of the Investor Ad23 vocate and self-regulatory organizations, and in 

24 consultation, as appropriate, with State securi25 ties and law enforcement authorities, State inVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:04 Jun 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1719.IS S1719

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1 surance regulators, and Federal agencies, shall 

2 submit to the appropriate committees of Con3 gress a biennial report containing— 

4 ‘‘(i) appropriate statistical information 

5 and full and substantive analysis; 

6 ‘‘(ii) a summary of recent trends and 

7 innovations that have impacted the invest8 ment landscape for senior investors; 

9 ‘‘(iii) a summary of regulatory initia10 tives that have concentrated on senior in11 vestors and industry practices relating to 

12 senior investors; 

13 ‘‘(iv) key observations, best practices, 

14 and areas needing improvement involving 

15 senior investors identified during examina16 tions, enforcement actions, and investor 

17 education outreach; 

18 ‘‘(v) a summary of the most serious 

19 issues encountered by senior investors, in20 cluding issues involving financial products 

21 and services; 

22 ‘‘(vi) an analysis with respect to— 

23 ‘‘(I) existing policies and proce24 dures of brokers, dealers, investment 

25 advisers, and other market particiVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:04 Jun 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1719.IS S1719

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1 pants relating to senior investors and 

2 topics involving senior investors; and 

3 ‘‘(II) whether the policies and 

4 procedures described in subclause (I) 

5 need to be further developed or re6 fined; 

7 ‘‘(vii) recommendations for any legis8 lative action, and any changes to the regu9 lations, guidance, and orders of the Com10 mission and self-regulatory organizations, 

11 as may be appropriate to resolve problems 

12 encountered by senior investors; and 

13 ‘‘(viii) any other information, as de14 termined appropriate by the Director of 

15 the Taskforce. 

16 ‘‘(B) FIRST REPORT.—The first report re17 quired under this paragraph may not be sub18 mitted until after the Comptroller General of 

19 the United States has submitted, and the 

20 Taskforce has considered, the report required 

21 under section 3 of the National Senior Investor 

22 Initiative Act of 2019. 

23 ‘‘(8) SUNSET.—The Taskforce— 


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1 ‘‘(A) shall terminate on the date that is 10 

2 years after the date of enactment of this sub3 section; and 

4 ‘‘(B) may be reestablished by the Chair5 man.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an indi9 vidual who is older than 65 years of age; and 

10 (2) the term ‘‘Taskforce’’ means the Senior In11 vestor Taskforce established under subsection (k) of 

12 section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

13 (15 U.S.C. 78d), as added by section 2 of this Act. 

14 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

15 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

16 United States shall submit to Congress and the Taskforce 

17 the results of a study of financial exploitation of senior 

18 citizens. 

19 (c) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub20 section (b) shall include information with respect to— 

21 (1) the economic costs of the financial exploi22 tation of senior citizens, including— 

23 (A) costs associated with losses by victims 

24 that were incurred as a result of the financial 

25 exploitation of senior citizens; 


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1 (B) costs incurred by State and Federal 

2 agencies, law enforcement and investigatory 

3 agencies, public benefit programs, public health 

4 programs, and other public programs as a re5 sult of the financial exploitation of senior citi6 zens; 

7 (C) costs incurred by the private sector as 

8 a result of the financial exploitation of senior 

9 citizens; and 

10 (D) any other relevant costs that— 

11 (i) result from the financial exploi12 tation of senior citizens; and 

13 (ii) the Comptroller General of the 

14 United States determines are necessary 

15 and appropriate to include in order to pro16 vide Congress and the public with a full 

17 and accurate understanding of the eco18 nomic costs resulting from the financial ex19 ploitation of senior citizens in the United 

20 States; 

21 (2) the frequency of the financial exploitation of 

22 senior citizens and correlated or contributing factors 

23 with respect to that exploitation, including informa24 tion regarding— 


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1 (A) the percentage of senior citizens finan2 cially exploited each year; and 

3 (B) factors that may contribute to an in4 creased risk of exploitation of senior citizens, 

5 including race, social isolation, income, net 

6 worth, religion, geographic location, occupation, 

7 education, home-ownership, illness, and loss of 

8 spouse; and 

9 (3) policy responses to, and the reporting of, 

10 the financial exploitation of senior citizens, includ11 ing— 

12 (A) the degree to which financial exploi13 tation of senior citizens is not reported to the 

14 appropriate authorities; 

15 (B) the reasons that financial exploitation 

16 of senior citizens may not be reported to the ap17 propriate authorities; 

18 (C) to the extent that suspected financial 

19 exploitation of senior citizens is reported, infor20 mation regarding— 

21 (i) which entities receive those re22 ports, including— 

23 (I) Federal, State, and local 

24 agencies, including adult protective 


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1 services agencies and law enforcement 

2 agencies; and 

3 (II) private sector entities, pro4 fessional licensing boards, and other 

5 regulators; 

6 (ii) the specific types of information 

7 the entities described in clause (i) collect; 

8 (iii) the actions that the entities de9 scribed in clause (i) take upon the receipt 

10 of such a report; and 

11 (iv) any limits on the ability of the en12 tities described in clause (i) to prevent that 

13 exploitation, such as jurisdictional limits, a 

14 lack of expertise, resource challenges, or 

15 limiting criteria with respect to the types 

16 of victims the agencies are permitted to 

17 serve; 

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

19 empowering Federal, State, and local agencies 

20 to— 

21 (i) prevent the financial exploitation 

22 of senior citizens; or 

23 (ii) respond effectively to the sus24 pected financial exploitation of senior citi25 zens; and 


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1 (E) an analysis of the legal hurdles that 

2 prevent Federal, State, and local agencies from 

3 effectively partnering with each other and pri4 vate professionals to effectively respond to the 

5 financial exploitation of senior citizens. 

Æ 


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