House Approves Senior Safe Act Legislation

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- The American Council of Life Insurers issued the following news release:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2255, which contains The Senior Safe Act, legislation to help protect America's seniors from financial exploitation.

"The Senior Safe Act is beneficial public policy," said American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) President & CEO Dirk Kempthorne. "It facilitates improved communication between insurance producers, life insurance companies and regulators in the event of suspected financial exploitation of senior citizens."

"By encouraging the reporting of suspected fraud, the Senior Safe Act improves the ability of companies to work with regulators to protect seniors from losing their retirement savings," said Governor Kempthorne. "ACLI thanks Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) for their strong leadership on the legislation to address a serious problem facing America's seniors."

This legislation is a companion bill to S. 223, which was authored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and approved by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill encourages financial services firms to provide appropriate training to front-line employees and producers, while granting immunity to those that report suspected abuse to regulators and law enforcement authorities. ACLI encourages the full Senate to pass this important legislation.