Senators Collins, Sinema Introduce Bill to Protect Seniors from Financial Scams

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) today introduced the Senior Security Act, legislation to create a task force focused on protecting seniors from financial crimes and scammers.

“As Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, one of my top priorities is to fight fraud and financial exploitation targeted at older Americans,” said Senator Collins.  “Building on our efforts to thwart senior scams through the Senior$afe Act that became law last year, this bipartisan bill would create a task force to coordinate state authorities’ and regulators’ efforts to reduce senior investors’ risk of being defrauded.”

“Arizonans deserve to retire with dignity. We’re protecting Arizona seniors from scammers so they can have financial peace of mind in their retirement,” said Senator Sinema.

The Senior Security Act would create an interdivisional task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to examine and identify challenges facing senior investors. Every two years, in consultation with other SEC offices, state securities and law enforcement authorities, state insurance regulators, and federal agencies, the task force would report its findings to Congress and recommend any regulatory or statutory changes. Further, within two years of enactment, the U.S. Government Accountability Office would study and report on the economic costs of the financial exploitation of senior citizens.

Companion legislation of the Senior Security Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It passed on April 30, 2019, by a bipartisan vote of 392 to 20.

As the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, Senator Collins has long been committed to combatting fraud that targets seniors.  Last year, the Senior $afe Act, a bipartisan bill Senator Collins authored with then-Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), was signed into law.  This new law provides support to regulators, financial institutions, and legal organizations to educate their employees about how to identify, prevent, and report financial exploitation.  Then-Representative Sinema was the lead sponsor of the Senior $afe Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.