Dependent Adult Abuse Investigations

Governor Signs Bill Ensuring Integrity of Voting

Council on Homelessness Passes House

Child Restraint Requirements

Two Identity Theft Bills Pass House

The Iowa House unanimously passed two bills this week to protect Iowans from identity theft.

Notice of Security Breach
Senate File 2308 requires noti-fication of consumers if there is a
security breach involving their computerized personal information. This
applies to the entity that owns or licenses the information.
If the breach occurs at another entity that maintains or otherwise
possesses the information, that en-tity must notify the owner or
licen-see. The owner or licensee must then notify consumers.

Notice must include the date and description of the breach, type of data obtained, how to contact reporting agencies, and how to re-port suspected identity theft inci-dents to the Attorney General or to local law enforcement. The notice may be provided in writing or elec-tronically if a business usually communicates with the consumer by electronic means. If regular notice would cost over $250,000, the number of affected consumers exceeds 350,000, or the business lacks contact information, then substitute notice is allowed by:
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Email when the business has the consumers’ email addresses.
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Conspicuous posting of the notice or a link to the notice on the businesses internet web site.
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Use of major statewide media.
Senate File 2308 must return to the Senate for consideration of a House amendment making it a crime for a state or local public official or employee to sell pro-tected information to another per-son. The punishment would be up to five years in prison and a fine of from $750 to $7,500.

Credit Security Freeze
Senate File 2277 passed with-out amendment, so it will go to Governor Culver for his signature.

The bill lets a consumer re-quest that credit reporting agencies freeze future release of their credit information. The request must be sent by certified mail, with proper identification and an application fee, if applicable.
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The reporting agency must start the freeze within five business days after receiving the request.
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Within 10 business days after starting the freeze, the reporting agency must send the consumer written confirmation and a personal ID number or password to use when authorizing suspension or removal of the freeze.

The freeze remains in effect until the consumer requests that it be removed. The reporting agency must remove the freeze within three business days after receiving a request that includes proper iden-tification, ID number or password, and payment of the applicable fee.

Temporary Suspension: The consumer may request a temporar-ily suspension of the freeze to al-low the reporting agency to release their credit report for a specific time period. This gives the con-sumer the ability to open new lines of credit.
The reporting agency must comply within three business days after receipt of a written request, or 15 minutes after receipt of a request by phone during regular business hours or through facsimile, the internet, or other electronic means chosen by the reporting agency.

Exemption from Fees: A re-porting agency cannot charge any fee to a consumer who is the victim of identity theft if, with the initial freeze request, the consumer sub-mits a valid copy of a police report of the unlawful use of identification information by another person.

Dependent Adult Abuse Investigations

This week, the Iowa Senate passed two bills that work to pro-tect Iowa’s elderly and allow for more access to investigative infor-mation. House File 2591 and House File 2609 both passed the Iowa Senate 49-0 and the Iowa House 100-0.
House File 2591 clarifies many of the definitions relating to de-pendent adult abuse regarding what constitutes dependent adult abuse and, who is a dependent adult, and who can be charged with abuse. A dependent adult is a person eight-een years of age or older whose ability to perform the normal ac-tivities of daily living or to provide for the person's own care or protec-tion is impaired, either temporarily or permanently. Dependent adult abuse is a physical injury, a sexual offense, exploitation, or neglect as a result of the willful misconduct or gross negligence or reckless acts or omissions of a caretaker.

Reporting Abuse

A staff member or employee of a facility or program, who in the course of employment examines, attends, counsels, or treats a de-pendent adult in a facility or pro-gram is required to report abuse to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA). The staff member or employee may immedi-ately notify the person in charge or the designated agent who must then notify DIA within 24 hours. An employee of a financial institution may report suspected financial ex-ploitation to the DIA. Any other person who suspects abuse may report to the DIA.

A person participating in good faith in reporting or cooperating with or assisting DIA has immunity from liability, civil or criminal, based upon the act of making the report or giving the assistance. It is illegal for a person or employer to fire, suspend, or discipline a person required to report or voluntarily reporting an instance of suspected abuse, or cooperating with, or assisting DIA in evaluating a case. A mandatory reporter who fails to file a report, interferes with a filing, or applies a requirement that results in a failure to file is civilly liable for the dam-ages caused by the failure.

The bill requires that DIA ob-tain and evaluate reports of de-pendent adult abuse in facilities and programs. The DIA is required to inform the Department of Human Services (DHS) of such evaluations and dispositions so DHS can list any abusers on the central registry for dependent adult abuse informa-tion.
A report of dependent adult abuse which DIA determines to be minor, isolated, and unlikely to reoccur is to be collected and main-tained by DHS, as an assessment only, for a five-year period and will not be included in the registry, and will not be considered to be founded dependent adult abuse.
The local DHS office is re-quired to inform the appropriate county attorney of any abuse re-ports. If necessary, a police report must be filed regarding the abuse report. Upon completion of the investigation, if in the best interest of the dependent adult, DIA must notify DHS of the potential need for a guardian or a conservator or for admission or commitment to an appropriate institution or facility.

Notification of Rights

If a police officer has reason to believe that abuse, which is criminal in nature, has occurred in a facility or pro-gram, the officer must use all rea-sonable means to prevent further abuse. This includes remaining on the scene, assisting the dependent adult in leaving, securing support services or emergency shelter ser-vices, assisting the dependent adult in obtaining medical treatment be-cause of the abuse, and providing the dependent adult with immediate and adequate notice of the person’s rights.

Public Access

Currently, the findings of fact in a monitoring evaluation or com-plaint investigation for elder group homes, assisted living facilities, or adult day services are not made public until the conclusion of all administrative appeals processes.
House File 2609 amends cur-rent law stating that upon comple-tion of the informal review, the findings of fact in a monitoring evaluation or complaint investiga-tion for elder group homes, assisted living facilities, or adult day ser-vices, will be made public. This is already the case for nursing homes.
Both bills will be sent to Gov-ernor Culver to sign into law.

Governor Signs Bill Ensuring Integrity of Voting

Governor Chet Culver signed into law Senate File 2347, a bill that will ensure the integrity of Iowa’s voting systems, on Tuesday, April 1.

As enacted, the bill provides $4.6 million for optical scan voting systems in all counties in Iowa. An optical scan voting system is a sys-tem that uses a paper ballot. Twenty-one counties already use the optical scan voting systems, while 59 counties currently use both optical scan and touch-screen voting machines. Under Senate File 2347, counties will no longer use the touch screen voting ma-chines.

The new law requires that for elections held on or after Novem-ber 4, 2008, counties must use an optical scan voting system. The requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act relating to dis-abled voters must be met by a county through the use of elec-tronic ballot marking devices that are compatible with an optical scan voting system.

Touch-screen voting systems have been a concern to many indi-viduals and groups who felt that they do not provide an accurate voting record in the event of a recount.
Secretary of State Michael Mauro worked with the Governor and legislators to ensure voters that one statewide voting system using a paper ballot will ensure that all votes cast in Iowa will count in the November 2008 general election.

Council on Homelessness Passes House

The House has passed Senate File 2161 that would permanently establish a Council on Homeless-ness. The council would have spe-cific tasks and report to the Gover-nor and Legislature on homeless issues.

With the current housing crunch affecting the national econ-omy, supporters felt it is important to study why people become home-less in Iowa. The bill now goes back to the Senate for considera-tion.

Governor Vilsack originally created the Council by Executive Order in 2003. Senate File 2161 would create the council under law. It would consist of twenty-six members of the public appointed to two-year staggered terms by the governor. Five of the members will be individuals who are home-less, or formerly homeless, or fam-ily members of homeless people.

The Iowa State Association of Counties, the Iowa League of Cit-ies, along with twelve state agen-cies including the Iowa Finance Authority, Workforce Develop-ment, Department of Economic Development, Department of Pub-lic Health, and the Department of Veteran Affairs will be included.

A vacancy on the board will be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. Homeless-ness and associated problems affect every constituency of these agen-cies. It also meets proper Housing and Urban Development require-ments.

The council may establish other committees and subcommit-tees comprised of members of the council, but there are seven tasks assigned to the council including advising the Governor, state agen-cies and the Iowa Finance Author-ity on homeless issues. In addition, the council shall work to identify causes and effects of homelessness and increase awareness among policymakers and the public.

The House amended the bill to include specific items for the coun-cil to study including housing is-sues for low-income seniors, per-sons with disabilities that would include mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and AIDS. They would also look at transportation issues to and from work for low and moderate income people, af-fordable rental housing and issues related to affordable financing for a house.

Child Restraint Requirements

The House Transporta-Transportation Committee passed Senate File 34, which requires anyone riding in a motor vehicle under 18 years of age to be secured in an approved child restraint system or a seat belt no matter where the child or teenage is seated in the car. If a child riding in a motor vehicle is not in a child restraint system or seat belt, the vehicle operator can be charged with a simple misdemeanor and subject to a fine of $25.