By: Menéndez  S.B. No. 576
         (In the Senate - Filed January 24, 2023; February 17, 2023,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human
  Services; April 3, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable
  Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0;
  April 3, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 576 By:  Hancock
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of the
  criminal offense of financial abuse of an elderly individual.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 48.1522(a), Human Resources Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), if during the
  course of the department's or another state agency's investigation
  of reported abuse, neglect, or exploitation, including an
  investigation of reported abuse, neglect, or exploitation under
  Subchapter F, a caseworker of the department or other state agency,
  as applicable, or the caseworker's supervisor has cause to believe
  that the elderly person or person with a disability has been abused,
  neglected, or exploited by another person in a manner that
  constitutes a criminal offense under any law, including Sections
  [Section] 22.04 and 32.55, Penal Code, the caseworker or supervisor
  shall:
               (1)  immediately notify an appropriate law enforcement
  agency, unless the law enforcement agency reported the alleged
  abuse, neglect, or exploitation to the department; and
               (2)  provide the law enforcement agency with a copy of
  the investigation report of the department or other state agency,
  as applicable, in a timely manner.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter F, Chapter 48, Human Resources Code,
  is amended by adding Section 48.2535 to read as follows:
         Sec. 48.2535.  FORWARDING CERTAIN REPORTS OF CRIMINAL
  CONDUCT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT. On receipt by the department of a
  report of alleged abuse or exploitation under this subchapter that
  the department believes constitutes an offense under Section 32.55,
  Penal Code, the department shall immediately notify an appropriate
  law enforcement agency, regardless of whether the report alleges
  conduct that constitutes abuse or exploitation for purposes of this
  subchapter.
         SECTION 3.  Section 32.55, Penal Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (f) to read as follows:
         (f)  There is a rebuttable presumption that any transfer,
  appropriation, or use of an elderly individual's money or other
  property by a person described by Subsection (b)(5) constitutes
  conduct in violation of this section if it is shown on the trial of
  the offense that the actor knew or should have known that, at the
  time of the offense, the elderly individual had been diagnosed with
  dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or a related disorder.
         SECTION 4.  Section 48.2535, Human Resources Code, as added
  by this Act, applies only to a report received by the Department of
  Family and Protective Services on or after the effective date of
  this Act.
         SECTION 5.  Section 32.55(f), Penal Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective
  date of this Act. An offense committed before the effective date of
  this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was
  committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
  purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
  before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
  occurred before that date.
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
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