National Senior Investor Initiative Act of 2023

IIB 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2593 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 6, 2023 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs AN ACT To create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 2593 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Senior Inves- 2 tor Initiative Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Senior Security Act 3 of 2023’’. 4 SEC. 2. SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE. 5 Section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 6 U.S.C. 78d) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(l) SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE.— 9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 10 within the Commission the Senior Investor 11 Taskforce (in this subsection referred to as the 12 ‘Taskforce’). 13 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 14 head of the Taskforce shall be the Director, who 15 shall— 16 ‘‘(A) report directly to the Chairman; and 17 ‘‘(B) be appointed by the Chairman, in 18 consultation with the Commission, from among 19 individuals— 20 ‘‘(i) currently employed by the Com- 21 mission or from outside of the Commis- 22 sion; and 23 ‘‘(ii) having experience in advocating 24 for the interests of senior investors. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 2593 RFS ‘‘(3) STAFFING.—The Chairman shall ensure 1 that— 2 ‘‘(A) the Taskforce is staffed sufficiently to 3 carry out fully the requirements of this sub- 4 section; and 5 ‘‘(B) such staff shall include individuals 6 from the Division of Enforcement, Office of 7 Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and 8 Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. 9 ‘‘(4) NO COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS OF 10 TASKFORCE.—All members of the Taskforce ap- 11 pointed under paragraph (2) or (3) shall serve with- 12 out compensation in addition to that received for 13 their services as officers or employees of the United 14 States. 15 ‘‘(5) MINIMIZING DUPLICATION OF EFFORTS.— 16 In organizing and staffing the Taskforce, the Chair- 17 man shall take such actions as may be necessary to 18 minimize the duplication of efforts within the divi- 19 sions and offices described under paragraph (3)(B) 20 and any other divisions, offices, or taskforces of the 21 Commission. 22 ‘‘(6) FUNCTIONS OF THE TASKFORCE.—The 23 Taskforce shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 2593 RFS ‘‘(A) identify challenges that senior inves- 1 tors encounter, including problems associated 2 with financial exploitation and cognitive decline; 3 ‘‘(B) identify areas in which senior inves- 4 tors would benefit from changes in the regula- 5 tions of the Commission or the rules of self-reg- 6 ulatory organizations; 7 ‘‘(C) coordinate, as appropriate, with other 8 offices within the Commission, other taskforces 9 that may be established within the Commission, 10 self-regulatory organizations, and the Elder 11 Justice Coordinating Council; and 12 ‘‘(D) consult, as appropriate, with State 13 securities and law enforcement authorities, 14 State insurance regulators, and other Federal 15 agencies. 16 ‘‘(7) REPORT.—The Taskforce, in coordination, 17 as appropriate, with the Office of the Investor Advo- 18 cate and self-regulatory organizations, and in con- 19 sultation, as appropriate, with State securities and 20 law enforcement authorities, State insurance regu- 21 lators, and Federal agencies, shall issue a report 22 every 2 years to the Committee on Banking, Hous- 23 ing, and Urban Affairs and the Special Committee 24 on Aging of the Senate and the Committee on Fi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 2593 RFS nancial Services of the House of Representatives, the 1 first of which shall not be issued until after the re- 2 port described in section 3 of the National Senior 3 Investor Initiative Act of 2023 has been issued and 4 considered by the Taskforce, containing— 5 ‘‘(A) appropriate statistical information 6 and full and substantive analysis; 7 ‘‘(B) a summary of recent trends and inno- 8 vations that have impacted the investment land- 9 scape for senior investors; 10 ‘‘(C) a summary of regulatory initiatives 11 that have concentrated on senior investors and 12 industry practices related to senior investors; 13 ‘‘(D) key observations, best practices, and 14 areas needing improvement, involving senior in- 15 vestors identified during examinations, enforce- 16 ment actions, and investor education outreach; 17 ‘‘(E) a summary of the most serious issues 18 encountered by senior investors, including 19 issues involving financial products and services; 20 ‘‘(F) an analysis with regard to existing 21 policies and procedures of brokers, dealers, in- 22 vestment advisers, and other market partici- 23 pants related to senior investors and senior in- 24 vestor-related topics and whether these policies 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 2593 RFS and procedures need to be further developed or 1 refined; 2 ‘‘(G) recommendations for such changes to 3 the regulations, guidance, and orders of the 4 Commission and self-regulatory organizations 5 and such legislative actions as may be appro- 6 priate to resolve problems encountered by senior 7 investors; and 8 ‘‘(H) any other information, as determined 9 appropriate by the Director of the Taskforce. 10 ‘‘(8) REQUEST FOR REPORTS.—The Taskforce 11 shall make any report issued under paragraph (7) 12 available to a Member of Congress who requests 13 such a report. 14 ‘‘(9) SUNSET.—The Taskforce shall terminate 15 after the end of the 10-year period beginning on the 16 date of the enactment of this subsection. 17 ‘‘(10) SENIOR INVESTOR DEFINED.—For pur- 18 poses of this subsection, the term ‘senior investor’ 19 means an investor over the age of 65. 20 ‘‘(11) USE OF EXISTING FUNDS.—The Commis- 21 sion shall use existing funds to carry out this sub- 22 section.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 2593 RFS SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 1 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 2 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 3 United States shall submit to Congress and the Senior In- 4 vestor Taskforce the results of a study of financial exploi- 5 tation of senior citizens. 6 (b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub- 7 section (a) shall include information with respect to— 8 (1) economic costs of the financial exploitation 9 of senior citizens— 10 (A) associated with losses by victims that 11 were incurred as a result of the financial exploi- 12 tation of senior citizens; 13 (B) incurred by State and Federal agen- 14 cies, law enforcement and investigatory agen- 15 cies, public benefit programs, public health pro- 16 grams, and other public programs as a result of 17 the financial exploitation of senior citizens; 18 (C) incurred by the private sector as a re- 19 sult of the financial exploitation of senior citi- 20 zens; and 21 (D) any other relevant costs that— 22 (i) result from the financial exploi- 23 tation of senior citizens; and 24 (ii) the Comptroller General deter- 25 mines are necessary and appropriate to in- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 HR 2593 RFS clude in order to provide Congress and the 1 public with a full and accurate under- 2 standing of the economic costs resulting 3 from the financial exploitation of senior 4 citizens in the United States; 5 (2) frequency of senior financial exploitation 6 and correlated or contributing factors— 7 (A) information about percentage of senior 8 citizens financially exploited each year; and 9 (B) information about factors contributing 10 to increased risk of exploitation, including such 11 factors as race, social isolation, income, net 12 worth, religion, region, occupation, education, 13 home-ownership, illness, and loss of spouse; and 14 (3) policy responses and reporting of senior fi- 15 nancial exploitation— 16 (A) the degree to which financial exploi- 17 tation of senior citizens unreported to authori- 18 ties; 19 (B) the reasons that financial exploitation 20 may be unreported to authorities; 21 (C) to the extent that suspected elder fi- 22 nancial exploitation is currently being re- 23 ported— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 HR 2593 RFS (i) information regarding which Fed- 1 eral, State, and local agencies are receiving 2 reports, including adult protective services, 3 law enforcement, industry, regulators, and 4 professional licensing boards; 5 (ii) information regarding what infor- 6 mation is being collected by such agencies; 7 and 8 (iii) information regarding the actions 9 that are taken by such agencies upon re- 10 ceipt of the report and any limits on the 11 agencies’ ability to prevent exploitation, 12 such as jurisdictional limits, a lack of ex- 13 pertise, resource challenges, or limiting cri- 14 teria with regard to the types of victims 15 they are permitted to serve; 16 (D) an analysis of gaps that may exist in 17 empowering Federal, State, and local agencies 18 to prevent senior exploitation or respond effec- 19 tively to suspected senior financial exploitation; 20 and 21 (E) an analysis of the legal hurdles that 22 prevent Federal, State, and local agencies from 23 effectively partnering with each other and pri- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 HR 2593 RFS vate professionals to effectively respond to sen- 1 ior financial exploitation. 2 (c) SENIOR CITIZEN DEFINED.—For purposes of this 3 section, the term ‘‘senior citizen’’ means an individual over 4 the age of 65. 5 Passed the House of Representatives June 5, 2023. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2593.RFS H2593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS