Senate Bill 21-118 Summary

• Creates an alternative response pilot program effective January 1, 2022, allowing up to 15 county departments to use a separate process for low-risk reports of mistreatment or self-neglect of at-risk adults.

• Participating counties in the pilot are not required to make formal findings or conduct unannounced in-person interviews for low-risk cases, but must follow standard investigation procedures if risk is later determined to be higher than low-risk.

• The state department must provide initial training and ongoing technical assistance to participating counties and must contract with a third-party evaluator to assess the pilot's effectiveness over a two-year period.

• State department shall report to the General Assembly in January 2025 and January 2026 with findings and recommendations on whether to repeal the pilot, continue it temporarily, or establish it statewide permanently.

• Appropriates $173,351 to the department of human services for the 2021-22 fiscal year to support implementation, based on an assumption of 0.9 additional FTE for adult protective services; pilot program automatically repeals July 1, 2027.