Title: Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior Protection Act
Policy area: Law

Summary:
Court-Appointed Guardian Accountability and Senior Protection Act
This bill amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services and Elder Justice) of the Social Security Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to the highest courts of states to conduct demonstration programs that: (1) assess adult guardianship and conservatorship proceedings, including the appointment and the monitoring of the performance of court-appointed guardians and conservators; and (2) implement changes deemed necessary as a result of the assessments, such as requiring background checks for all potential guardians and conservators, and establishing systems that enable electronic filing and review of the annual accountings and other required conservatorship and guardianship filings.
The highest court of a state awarded such a grant shall collaborate with the state's own Unit on Aging and its Adult Protective Services agency in conducting the demonstration program.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 182 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 182

     To provide for the inclusion of court-appointed guardianship 
  improvement and oversight activities under the Elder Justice Act of 
                                 2009.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 20, 2017

  Ms. Klobuchar (for herself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following 
    bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide for the inclusion of court-appointed guardianship 
  improvement and oversight activities under the Elder Justice Act of 
                                 2009.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Court-Appointed Guardian 
Accountability and Senior Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. COURT-APPOINTED GUARDIANSHIP OVERSIGHT ACTIVITIES UNDER THE 
              ELDER JUSTICE ACT OF 2009.

    Section 2042(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397m-1(c)) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``(and, in the case of 
        demonstration programs described in paragraph (2)(E), to the 
        highest courts of States)'' after ``States'';
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
                inserting ``(and the highest courts of States, in the 
                case of demonstration programs described in 
                subparagraph (E))'' after ``local units of 
                government'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``or'' after 
                the semicolon;
                    (C) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as 
                subparagraph (F); and
                    (D) by inserting after subparagraph (E), the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(E) subject to paragraph (3), programs to assess 
                the fairness, effectiveness, timeliness, safety, 
                integrity, and accessibility of adult guardianship and 
                conservatorship proceedings, including the appointment 
                and the monitoring of the performance of court-
                appointed guardians and conservators, and to implement 
                changes deemed necessary as a result of the assessments 
                such as mandating background checks for all potential 
                guardians and conservators, and implementing systems to 
                enable the annual accountings and other required 
                conservatorship and guardianship filings to be 
                completed, filed, and reviewed electronically in order 
                to simplify the filing process for conservators and 
                guardians and better enable courts to identify 
                discrepancies and detect fraud and the exploitation of 
                protected persons; or'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) as 
        paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respectively;
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (2), the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(3) Requirements for court-appointed guardianship 
        oversight demonstration programs.--
                    ``(A) Award of grants.--In awarding grants to the 
                highest courts of States for demonstration programs 
                described in paragraph (2)(E), the Secretary shall 
                consider the recommendations of the Attorney General 
                and the State Justice Institute, as established by 
                section 203 of the State Justice Institute Act of 1984 
                (42 U.S.C. 10702).
                    ``(B) Collaboration.--The highest court of a State 
                awarded a grant to conduct a demonstration program 
                described in paragraph (2)(E) shall collaborate with 
                the State Unit on Aging for the State and the Adult 
                Protective Services agency for the State in conducting 
                the demonstration program.'';
            (5) in paragraph (4) (as redesignated by paragraph (3) of 
        this section), by inserting ``(and, in the case of 
        demonstration programs described in paragraph (2)(E), the 
        highest court of a State)'' after ``a State''; and
            (6) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated), by inserting 
        ``(or, in the case of demonstration programs described in 
        paragraph (2)(E), the highest court of a State)'' after 
        ``State'' each place it appears.
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