Senior Legal Hotline Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6419 To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize a national network of statewide senior legal hotlines, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 31, 2020 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. NOR- TON, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 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 2020’’. 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 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6419 IH ‘‘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 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6419 IH ‘‘(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 by other forms of communication; 9 ‘‘(C) provides such services at no cost to 10 the older individuals receiving such services; 11 ‘‘(D) serves older individuals with the 12 greatest social need and greatest economic need 13 as a target population for such services; and 14 ‘‘(E) develops partnerships with other pro- 15 grams and legal assistance providers to ensure 16 that older individuals who need more extensive 17 services, including representation, have access 18 to such services. 19 ‘‘(3) STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.— 20 The term ‘statewide senior legal hotline’ means a 21 senior legal hotline that serves older individuals 22 throughout a State. 23 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Assistant Secretary may 24 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6419 IH that submit an application under subsection (c) to estab- 1 lish or operate a statewide senior legal hotline in accord- 2 ance with the requirements under subsection (d). 3 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 5 grant under this section shall submit to the Assist- 6 ant Secretary an application at such time, in such 7 manner, and containing such information as the As- 8 sistant Secretary may reasonably require, including 9 the contents described in paragraph (2). 10 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 11 under paragraph (1) shall contain, at a minimum, 12 each of the following: 13 ‘‘(A) An identification of the State to be 14 served by the statewide senior legal hotline. 15 ‘‘(B) A plan indicating how the eligible en- 16 tity will satisfy each requirement under sub- 17 section (d) with respect to establishing or oper- 18 ating a statewide senior legal hotline. 19 ‘‘(C) An assurance that the eligible entity 20 will be able to provide, from non-Federal funds, 21 an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of 22 the estimated amount awarded through the 23 grant under this section. An eligible entity may 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6419 IH use in-kind contributions to meet the matching 1 requirement under this subparagraph. 2 ‘‘(D) A description of the certification 3 process the eligible entity has in place to ensure 4 that staff members of and volunteers serving 5 the statewide senior legal hotline will have no 6 conflict of interest (including any financial or 7 substantive conflict of interest) in providing 8 services through the hotline. 9 ‘‘(3) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary 10 shall, in selecting eligible entities to receive a grant 11 under this section— 12 ‘‘(A) consider— 13 ‘‘(i) the extent to which the applica- 14 tion submitted by the eligible entity under 15 paragraph (2) meets the requirements of 16 such paragraph; and 17 ‘‘(ii) the demonstrated capacity of the 18 eligible entity to administer a statewide 19 senior legal hotline, including the experi- 20 ence and history of the eligible entity in 21 delivering high quality advice, assistance, 22 and other legal services, to older individ- 23 uals through low-cost and innovative meth- 24 ods; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6419 IH ‘‘(B) ensure that no 2 eligible entities re- 1 ceiving a grant under this section for a fiscal 2 year are planning to establish or operate a 3 statewide senior legal hotline that serves the 4 same State for such fiscal year. 5 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—Each eligible entity receiving 6 a grant under this section shall, in establishing or oper- 7 ating a statewide senior legal hotline supported by such 8 grant— 9 ‘‘(1) provide for a sufficient number of appro- 10 priately trained attorneys, paralegals, other staff 11 members, and volunteers to ensure effective delivery 12 of the services described in subsection (a)(2)(A); 13 ‘‘(2) collaborate with the appropriate State unit 14 on aging, including any legal assistance developer, 15 and free or low-cost legal service providers through- 16 out the State, including those who provide free legal 17 assistance to older individuals, to maximize coordi- 18 nation and cost-effective delivery of legal assistance 19 to older individuals; 20 ‘‘(3) strive to maximize coordination in the de- 21 livery of legal assistance to older individuals in the 22 State, including legal assistance funded by the Legal 23 Services Corporation under the Legal Services Cor- 24 poration Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.), legal assist- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6419 IH ance supported by a grant under part B of title III 1 of this Act, legal assistance provided by a law school 2 clinic, and any other legal assistance provided at no 3 cost to the persons receiving the assistance; 4 ‘‘(4) build effective communication within the 5 aging network operating in the State to provide co- 6 ordinated assistance and referrals as appropriate; 7 ‘‘(5) establish mechanisms to make referrals for 8 representation and other assistance beyond the scope 9 of the hotline to— 10 ‘‘(A) other divisions or projects of the 11 same legal aid agency of which the hotline is a 12 division or project; 13 ‘‘(B) other legal aid agencies; 14 ‘‘(C) private attorneys, including those pro- 15 viding pro bono legal services; 16 ‘‘(D) providers included in the aging net- 17 work operating in the State; 18 ‘‘(E) advocacy and assistance programs for 19 older individuals; or 20 ‘‘(F) any other individuals or entities, as 21 appropriate; and 22 ‘‘(6) conduct outreach through the aging net- 23 work operating in the State, and by other means, to 24 inform older individuals about the availability of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6419 IH services provided by the hotline, specifically tar- 1 geting older individuals with the greatest economic 2 need and greatest social need. 3 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 5 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6419.IH H6419 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS