There’s a new, bipartisan congressional effort underway to support senior legal hotlines.

Led by Reps. Derek Tran, D-Orange, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, the bill establishes a competitive grant program to ensure hotlines are appropriately staffed with trained attorneys and paralegals, can provide older adults with support services, and are equipped with various technologies to provide assistance.

The idea, according to Tran’s office, is to ensure every state can offer 24/7 legal help with a hotline staffed by real people, rather than having seniors fill out a form and wait to hear back.

The bill would authorize $10 million — for each fiscal year through 2031 — to create the grant program, according to the effort first shared with the Southern California News Group.

Nonprofits or certain partnerships with state or local governments would be eligible for the grant program so long as they can “demonstrate the capacity to provide legal assistance to older individuals through a statewide senior legal hotline.” Services provided through the hotline would include counseling, referrals and other advice on a range of civil legal issues, the bill stipulates.

There are only 20 statewide senior legal hotlines across the country, Tran’s office said.

The California Department of Aging says it partners with local agencies to coordinate services for older adults and caregivers. Hotlines in northern and southern California are not available 24/7, Tran’s office noted, but the bill would allow them to apply for grants to be able to expand operations — and give other states help in starting them.

“Older Americans work their whole lives to care for their families and save for retirement,” said Tran, who is finishing up his first year in Congress. “Elder abuse, including financial scams and caregiver neglect, can wipe out the security that seniors have built for themselves over decades.”

“Senior legal hotlines,” he continued, “are a critical tool to prevent such abuses and provide support to older adults who need help when they are targeted by scammers and other dishonest actors.”

More than 10% of older Americans experience some form of elder abuse, according to stats from the U.S. Department of Justice, with more than 5% subjected to financial fraud, scams or other exploitations.

And a 2022 report from the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the U.S., 92% of older Americans considered to be lower-income do not get adequate or any professional legal help.

“In Orange County alone, nearly 63,000 seniors live at or below the federal poverty level, and thousands face multiple civil legal problems every year — issues that can threaten their housing, health and financial security,” Kate Marr, the executive director of Community Legal Aid SoCal, said in a statement.

Marr said her organization, which focuses on low-income people in Orange and southern Los Angeles counties, closed 3,600 cases for seniors last year. Still, she noted, that is only a small fraction of lower-income seniors who need assistance.

“A statewide hotline will fill this critical gap in the legal services infrastructure and promote dignity, autonomy and justice for every older Californian,” Marr said.

“Too many seniors are forced to navigate a confusing legal landscape without a dependable place to start,” Fitzpatrick, the Pennsylvania Republican, said in a statement. “This bipartisan bill replaces guesswork with accountability and ensures that when our seniors reach out for help, someone qualified is always on the other end of the line.”

The bill is also backed by representatives of the National Association of Senior Legal Hotlines and the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, according to statements shared by Tran’s office.

Find your local aging agency: www.aging.ca.gov/find_services_in_my_county or by calling 800-510-2020.

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