Senior Legal Hotline Act of 2021

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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Legal Hotline 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 6 Subtitle B of title VII of the Older Americans Act 7 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3058aa et seq.) is amended by adding 8 at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2106 IS ‘‘SEC. 753. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 2 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible en- 4 tity’ means a nonprofit organization or a part- 5 nership described in subparagraph (B) that— 6 ‘‘(i) provides legal assistance to older 7 individuals at no cost to such individuals; 8 and 9 ‘‘(ii)(I) operates a senior legal hotline 10 in existence on the date on which the enti- 11 ty submits an application under subsection 12 (c); or 13 ‘‘(II) demonstrates the capacity to 14 provide legal assistance to older individuals 15 through a statewide senior legal hotline. 16 ‘‘(B) PARTNERSHIP.—A partnership de- 17 scribed in this subparagraph is a partnership 18 between— 19 ‘‘(i) multiple nonprofit organizations; 20 or 21 ‘‘(ii) one or more nonprofit organiza- 22 tions with one or more State or local gov- 23 ernments. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2106 IS ‘‘(2) SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.—The term ‘sen- 1 ior legal hotline’ means a program or partnership of 2 programs that— 3 ‘‘(A) provides legal services, such as coun- 4 seling, advice, advocacy, information, referrals, 5 and other services, as appropriate, to older indi- 6 viduals on a broad range of civil legal issues; 7 ‘‘(B) provides such services by telephone 8 (and may provide such services by additional 9 forms of communication), regardless of whether 10 such services are provided 24 hours a day and 11 7 days a week; 12 ‘‘(C) provides such services at no cost to 13 the older individuals receiving such services; 14 ‘‘(D) serves older individuals with the 15 greatest social need and greatest economic need 16 as a target population for such services; and 17 ‘‘(E) develops partnerships with other pro- 18 grams and legal assistance providers to ensure 19 that older individuals who need more extensive 20 services, including representation, have access 21 to such services. 22 ‘‘(3) STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.— 23 The term ‘statewide senior legal hotline’ means a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2106 IS senior legal hotline that serves older individuals 1 throughout a State. 2 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Assistant Secretary may 3 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 4 that submit an application under subsection (c) to estab- 5 lish or operate a statewide senior legal hotline in accord- 6 ance with the requirements under subsection (d). 7 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 9 grant under this section shall submit to the Assist- 10 ant Secretary an application at such time, in such 11 manner, and containing such information as the As- 12 sistant Secretary may reasonably require, including 13 the contents described in paragraph (2). 14 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 15 under paragraph (1) shall contain, at a minimum, 16 each of the following: 17 ‘‘(A) An identification of the State to be 18 served by the statewide senior legal hotline. 19 ‘‘(B) A plan indicating how the eligible en- 20 tity will satisfy each requirement under sub- 21 section (d) with respect to establishing or oper- 22 ating a statewide senior legal hotline. 23 ‘‘(C) An assurance that the eligible entity 24 will be able to provide, from non-Federal funds, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2106 IS an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of 1 the estimated amount awarded through the 2 grant under this section. An eligible entity may 3 use in-kind contributions to meet the matching 4 requirement under this subparagraph. 5 ‘‘(D) A description of the certification 6 process the eligible entity has in place to ensure 7 that staff members of and volunteers serving 8 the statewide senior legal hotline will have no 9 conflict of interest (including any financial or 10 substantive conflict of interest) in providing 11 services through the hotline. 12 ‘‘(3) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary 13 shall, in selecting eligible entities to receive a grant 14 under this section— 15 ‘‘(A) consider— 16 ‘‘(i) the extent to which the applica- 17 tion submitted by the eligible entity under 18 paragraph (2) meets the requirements of 19 such paragraph; and 20 ‘‘(ii) the demonstrated capacity of the 21 eligible entity to administer a statewide 22 senior legal hotline, including the experi- 23 ence and history of the eligible entity in 24 delivering high quality advice, assistance, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2106 IS and other legal services, to older individ- 1 uals through low-cost and innovative meth- 2 ods; and 3 ‘‘(B) ensure that no 2 eligible entities re- 4 ceiving a grant under this section for a fiscal 5 year are planning to establish or operate a 6 statewide senior legal hotline that serves the 7 same State for such fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—Each eligible entity receiving 9 a grant under this section shall, in establishing or oper- 10 ating a statewide senior legal hotline supported by such 11 grant— 12 ‘‘(1) provide for a sufficient number of appro- 13 priately trained attorneys, paralegals, other staff 14 members, and volunteers to ensure effective delivery 15 of the services described in subsection (a)(2)(A); 16 ‘‘(2) collaborate with the appropriate State unit 17 on aging, including any legal assistance developer, 18 and free or low-cost legal service providers through- 19 out the State, including those who provide free legal 20 assistance to older individuals, to maximize coordi- 21 nation and cost-effective delivery of legal assistance 22 to older individuals; 23 ‘‘(3) strive to maximize coordination in the de- 24 livery of legal assistance to older individuals in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2106 IS State, including legal assistance funded by the Legal 1 Services Corporation under the Legal Services Cor- 2 poration Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.), legal assist- 3 ance supported by a grant under part B of title III 4 of this Act, legal assistance provided by a law school 5 clinic, and any other legal assistance provided at no- 6 cost to the persons receiving the assistance; 7 ‘‘(4) build effective communication within the 8 aging network operating in the State to provide co- 9 ordinated assistance and referrals as appropriate; 10 ‘‘(5) establish mechanisms to make referrals for 11 representation and other assistance beyond the scope 12 of the hotline to— 13 ‘‘(A) other divisions or projects of the 14 same legal aid agency of which the hotline is a 15 division or project; 16 ‘‘(B) other legal aid agencies; 17 ‘‘(C) private attorneys, including those pro- 18 viding pro bono legal services; 19 ‘‘(D) providers included in the aging net- 20 work operating in the State; 21 ‘‘(E) advocacy and assistance programs for 22 older individuals; or 23 ‘‘(F) any other individuals or entities, as 24 appropriate; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2106 IS ‘‘(6) conduct outreach through the aging net- 1 work operating in the State, and by other means, to 2 inform older individuals about the availability of the 3 services provided by the hotline, specifically tar- 4 geting older individuals with the greatest economic 5 need and greatest social need. 6 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 7 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 8 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2106.IS S2106 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS