Senior Legal Hotline Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4153 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 JUNE 15, 2023 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KILMER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CARSON, Ms. WILD, Ms. TITUS, Mr. BACON, Mr. HARDER of California, Ms. TOKUDA, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 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 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4153 IH SEC. 2. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 1 Subtitle B of title VII of the Older Americans Act 2 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3058aa et seq.) is amended by adding 3 at the end the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 753. STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINES. 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible en- 8 tity’ means a nonprofit organization or a part- 9 nership described in subparagraph (B) that— 10 ‘‘(i) provides legal assistance to older 11 individuals at no cost to such individuals; 12 and 13 ‘‘(ii)(I) operates a senior legal hotline 14 in existence on the date on which the enti- 15 ty submits an application under subsection 16 (c); or 17 ‘‘(II) demonstrates the capacity to 18 provide legal assistance to older individuals 19 through a statewide senior legal hotline. 20 ‘‘(B) PARTNERSHIP.—A partnership de- 21 scribed in this subparagraph is a partnership 22 between— 23 ‘‘(i) multiple nonprofit organizations; 24 or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4153 IH ‘‘(ii) one or more nonprofit organiza- 1 tions with one or more State or local gov- 2 ernments. 3 ‘‘(2) SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.—The term ‘sen- 4 ior legal hotline’ means a program or partnership of 5 programs that— 6 ‘‘(A) provides legal services, such as coun- 7 seling, advice, advocacy, information, referrals, 8 and other services, as appropriate, to older indi- 9 viduals on a broad range of civil legal issues; 10 ‘‘(B) provides such services by telephone 11 (and may provide such services by additional 12 forms of communication), regardless of whether 13 such services are provided 24 hours a day and 14 7 days a week; 15 ‘‘(C) provides such services at no cost to 16 the older individuals receiving such services; 17 ‘‘(D) serves older individuals with the 18 greatest social need and greatest economic need 19 as a target population for such services; and 20 ‘‘(E) develops partnerships with other pro- 21 grams and legal assistance providers to ensure 22 that older individuals who need more extensive 23 services, including representation, have access 24 to such services. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4153 IH ‘‘(3) STATEWIDE SENIOR LEGAL HOTLINE.— 1 The term ‘statewide senior legal hotline’ means a 2 senior legal hotline that serves older individuals 3 throughout a State. 4 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Assistant Secretary may 5 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 6 that submit an application under subsection (c) to estab- 7 lish or operate a statewide senior legal hotline in accord- 8 ance with the requirements under subsection (d). 9 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 11 grant under this section shall submit to the Assist- 12 ant Secretary an application at such time, in such 13 manner, and containing such information as the As- 14 sistant Secretary may reasonably require, including 15 the contents described in paragraph (2). 16 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 17 under paragraph (1) shall contain, at a minimum, 18 each of the following: 19 ‘‘(A) An identification of the State to be 20 served by the statewide senior legal hotline. 21 ‘‘(B) A plan indicating how the eligible en- 22 tity will satisfy each requirement under sub- 23 section (d) with respect to establishing or oper- 24 ating a statewide senior legal hotline. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4153 IH ‘‘(C) An assurance that the eligible entity 1 will be able to provide, from non-Federal funds, 2 an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of 3 the estimated amount awarded through the 4 grant under this section. An eligible entity may 5 use in-kind contributions to meet the matching 6 requirement under this subparagraph. 7 ‘‘(D) A description of the certification 8 process the eligible entity has in place to ensure 9 that staff members of and volunteers serving 10 the statewide senior legal hotline will have no 11 conflict of interest (including any financial or 12 substantive conflict of interest) in providing 13 services through the hotline. 14 ‘‘(3) SELECTION.—The Assistant Secretary 15 shall, in selecting eligible entities to receive a grant 16 under this section— 17 ‘‘(A) consider— 18 ‘‘(i) the extent to which the applica- 19 tion submitted by the eligible entity under 20 paragraph (2) meets the requirements of 21 such paragraph; and 22 ‘‘(ii) the demonstrated capacity of the 23 eligible entity to administer a statewide 24 senior legal hotline, including the experi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4153 IH ence and history of the eligible entity in 1 delivering high-quality advice, assistance, 2 and other legal services, to older individ- 3 uals through low-cost and innovative meth- 4 ods; and 5 ‘‘(B) ensure that no 2 eligible entities re- 6 ceiving a grant under this section for a fiscal 7 year are planning to establish or operate a 8 statewide senior legal hotline that serves the 9 same State for such fiscal year. 10 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—Each eligible entity receiving 11 a grant under this section shall, in establishing or oper- 12 ating a statewide senior legal hotline supported by such 13 grant— 14 ‘‘(1) provide for a sufficient number of appro- 15 priately trained attorneys, paralegals, other staff 16 members, and volunteers to ensure effective delivery 17 of the services described in subsection (a)(2)(A); 18 ‘‘(2) collaborate with the appropriate State 19 agency, including any legal assistance developer of 20 the State agency, and free or low-cost legal service 21 providers throughout the State, including those who 22 provide free legal assistance to older individuals, to 23 maximize coordination and cost-effective delivery of 24 legal assistance to older individuals; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4153 IH ‘‘(3) strive to maximize coordination in the de- 1 livery of legal assistance to older individuals in the 2 State, including legal assistance funded by the Legal 3 Services Corporation under the Legal Services Cor- 4 poration Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.), legal assist- 5 ance supported by a grant under part B of title III 6 of this Act, legal assistance provided by a law school 7 clinic, and any other legal assistance provided at no 8 cost to the persons receiving the assistance; 9 ‘‘(4) build effective communication within the 10 aging network operating in the State to provide co- 11 ordinated assistance and referrals as appropriate; 12 ‘‘(5) establish mechanisms to make referrals for 13 representation and other assistance beyond the scope 14 of the hotline to— 15 ‘‘(A) other divisions or projects of the 16 same legal aid agency of which the hotline is a 17 division or project; 18 ‘‘(B) other legal aid agencies; 19 ‘‘(C) private attorneys, including those pro- 20 viding pro bono legal services; 21 ‘‘(D) providers included in the aging net- 22 work operating in the State; 23 ‘‘(E) advocacy and assistance programs for 24 older individuals; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4153 IH ‘‘(F) any other individuals or entities, as 1 appropriate; and 2 ‘‘(6) conduct outreach through the aging net- 3 work operating in the State, and by other means, to 4 inform older individuals about the availability of the 5 services provided by the hotline, specifically tar- 6 geting older individuals with the greatest economic 7 need and greatest social need. 8 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 10 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4153.IH H4153 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB