Bill O’Boyle: Baker, Haywood issue statement on legislation to strengthen guardianship laws

Jul. 2—State Sens. Lisa Baker, R-Dallas, and Art Haywood, D-Philadelphia, this week issued a joint statement in response to the Senate's passage of Senate Bill 506 — legislation to strengthen guardianship laws in Pennsylvania by requiring courts to automatically appoint counsel to individuals undergoing the guardianship process, consider other less restrictive alternatives before imposing a guardianship, and instituting training and screening of professional guardians.

The bill would also establish a more robust review process for those currently in a guardianship and requires the court to establish procedures to prevent individuals from staying in the system if their incapacity or circumstances change.

The statement follows:

"When age or medical conditions or serious injuries rob individuals of their independent judgment or coherent decision-making powers, we must have capable people to step in and protect their interests — whether it is to manage their general well-being, oversee financial affairs, ensure proper medical care or manage and protect personal property.

"Senate Bill 506 builds upon our prior work to add essential protections for vulnerable individuals, and incorporates professional and public input to strengthen its provisions, and to make our intent crystal clear.

"When an adult of any age is deemed incapacitated by a court, a guardian may be appointed to become responsible for making certain decisions on their behalf, including for financial, medical and personal matters. However, when full guardianship starts to become a first option rather than a last resort, the oversight power is exercised infrequently and there is no standard certification for a growing pool of guardians, the system can become subject to unhelpful rigidity and catastrophic abuse.

"Because guardianship may remove a broad spectrum of rights from an individual, we want to ensure adults requiring guardianship are properly represented and have their rights safeguarded. This measure helps to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of an alleged incapacitated person by ensuring adults requiring guardianship are properly represented and have their rights safeguarded.

"It is heartbreaking that so many are taken advantage of by their guardians. Cases where guardians have stolen or misused money belonging to the people they are legally charged with looking after are not an uncommon occurrence.

"We remain hopeful that the House of Representatives will pass this important legislation so we can get it to the Governor's desk."

Meuser introduces 'Supporting

Families Through Addiction Act'

As millions of Americans continue to struggle with addiction, U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, introduced legislation recently to better support individuals struggling with substance use disorder and their families.

Known formally as the Supporting Families through Addiction Act, the bill establishes a $5 million per year grant program for nonprofit family community organizations that provide guidance and resources to family members to help their loved ones battle a substance abuse disorder.

This bill would strengthen family and community-based approaches to addiction treatment.

Rep. Meuser said, "As drug overdose deaths tragically continue to rise, we must find ways to ensure that families can help their loved ones struggling with addiction. Our communities provide excellent treatment options and support services, but families are often lost on where to start looking. This bill would provide critical funding for nonprofits that help families identify and access appropriate services for their family members wrestling with substance abuse."

Meuser continued, "When individuals struggling with addiction are helped by their family members, they are more likely to pursue and receive evidence-based treatment, often resulting in better outcomes. Addressing the deep-seated effects of the addiction crisis on families and ensuring that families are equipped to support their loved ones is imperative for addressing the drug overdose crisis facing Pennsylvania. This legislation would do exactly that."

Labor & Industry releases status report

on unemployment compensation system

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) this week released a status report on the Unemployment Compensation (UC) system and the Department's support services for workers and employers experiencing economic challenges.

When he took office in January, Gov. Josh Shapiro promised to make overhauling the UC system a priority and is following through on his commitment to enhance the system's functionality to process claims in a timely manner, optimize customer service at all levels, and bolster the system's resilience during times of low or high unemployment.

"We are staffing up our UC Service Centers, answering emails within 24 hours and staying on track to meet our goal of resolving all pandemic-era UC claims in August," said L&I Secretary Nancy A. Walker. "The work to improve the UC system will never be done, but we have made real progress in just six months to move beyond the management of a crisis and into proactive planning for the future."

The Department's top priority is resolution of the pandemic backlog of claims, which includes any unresolved claims filed between March 2020 and November 2021. During this period of high unemployment, the Department received 3.7 million regular UC claims and 3.4 million Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims.

The outstanding backlog of unresolved pandemic claims totaled 10,017 at the end of May 2023 — down more than 2,800 since April.

There are no claims in the pandemic backlog that are waiting for an initial review; rather, each of these claims is pending for reasons of extenuating circumstance. For example, many of these claims lack required information for eligibility determination from the claimant, employer or both and can be resolved only through the manual process of collecting the needed information.

Separately, the Department continues to process new claims. In May 2023, L&I received 27,078 claims in its regular workload and distributed UC benefits totaling $122,927,760 to 63,821 eligible claimants.

L&I is also working aggressively to resolve the unprecedented number of fraud reports filed during the pandemic period of high unemployment. At the end of May, the number of outstanding fraud reports totaled 17,493 — down from 34,000 at the start of the Shapiro Administration in January.

Rep. Haddock co-hosting identity

theft protection shred event July 15

State Rep. Jim Haddock, D-Pittston Township, Sen. Marty Flynn, D-Scranton, the Duryea Police Department and Duryea Crime Watch invite residents to protect themselves from identity theft during a Community Shred Day.

The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on July 15, at Healey Playground, corner of Wright Street and Foote Avenue in Duryea.

"A company will be on hand to securely destroy the sensitive materials, giving people the peace of mind that their personal information cannot and will not end up in the wrong hands," Haddock said.

Haddock said items to shred include old bills, bank statements, medical records, canceled checks, old tax returns, or any documents that people would like to be permanently destroyed.

There is a limit of two boxes of documents per household. Staples or paperclips do not need to be removed, but documents should be taken out of binders and notebooks.

Anyone with questions can call Rep. Haddock's office at 570-655-4883.

Bills combating rising cost of flood

insurance passes Senate committee

Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-10) and Rep. Perry Warren (D-31) announced that Senate Bill 442 and House Bill 735, each of which would establish a task force to address rising flood insurance premiums, were voted unanimously out of the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee yesterday.

Reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program that Congress passed in 2012, called the Briggert-Waters Act, phased out the federal subsidy for flood insurance costs and directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to revise its flood plain maps. Those new maps included many more homes in the flood zones and requiring flood insurance.

SB 442 would establish the Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force to explore ways to lower flood insurance premiums and incentivize communities to invest in flood prevention measures.

The task force would have the power to review and analyze existing law, procedures, practices, processes, and rules related to the administration of flood insurance. In addition, the task force would hold public hearings and accept written comments from the public.

The task force would have six months to issue a final report

Members on both sides of the aisle echoed support for the bill noting that their constituents are also experiencing increasing premiums, devastating flooding, and the difficult financial decision of whether to buy insurance they may not be able to afford or risk financial ruin from a significant flooding event.

Either or both bills need to be passed by the Senate and sent to the House for passage before being presented to the Governor for his signature.

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Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.