Wyoming legislative task force offers bills designed to protect vulnerable adults

Nov. 7—CHEYENNE — The Mental Health and Vulnerable Adults Task Force, which was created by the Wyoming Legislature's Management Council coming out of the 2023 general session, proposed three bill drafts Tuesday designed to addressed underlying issues in the state's adult protective services.

One of the bill drafts was tabled until the next interim session for further study at the request of Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, who co-chairs the task force. The other two bill drafts were advanced by members of the Legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee to be considered during the 2024 budget session.

The two bill drafts that were advanced, Larsen said, aligned with the Legislature's commitment to prioritize vulnerable adults with high mental health needs.

"We adopted and defined a couple years ago that (these vulnerable adults) are priorities," Larsen said. "We are trying to make sure that they get ongoing help, not just temporary help."

Extending emergency services time period

Current state statute allows a 72-hour window for the Wyoming Department of Family Services to identify and connect vulnerable adults with emergency services. DFS Director Korin Schmidt said the time period created a "burden" on the department, in that it did not give nearly enough time to identify and connect vulnerable adults with the resources they needed.

The "Emergency protective services-effective period" bill proposes extending this time period up to 14 business days.

"It's helpful to recognize that a majority of the work we do with vulnerable adults is really around case management, which means connecting families and connecting vulnerable adults with local resources," Schmidt said. "Oftentimes, it takes a little bit longer (than 72 hours) to get those connections made."

The emergency services period begins with court action, not case management action, Schmidt told lawmakers. In other words, the 72-hour period begins when the court issues the order for emergency services.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, asked the DFS director if a two-week window was really necessary.

"What will we be able to do for them in 14 days that we can't do in 72 hours?" Case said.

A court declares emergency services once a person is determined to be a danger to themselves or others and requires assistance from emergency resources, Schmidt said. In that time period, department agents go in and clean the house, contact a local senior citizen center, and find a local hospital or physician for medical care.

"In 72 hours, to get all those things in place would be pretty tricky," Schmidt said. "If the 72 hours expires and the court decides not to continue on, then the department will step out."

Cross-reporting between law enforcement, DFS

The intent behind this bill aligned with the previous one, Schmidt said, to ensure vulnerable adults are properly cared for by the state, connecting them to resources they need in the event they are unable to do so for themselves.

The "DFS and law enforcement-cross reporting" bill, as written, requires law enforcement to notify DFS when it receives a report of a vulnerable adult who "is suspected of being or has been abused, neglected, exploited, intimidated or abandoned, or is committing self neglect."

"Law enforcement may be looking at adult protective services a little bit different, in terms of walking in and seeing there's no immediate harm," Schmidt said.

Allen Thompson, executive director of Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, said his organization had several conversations with the task force through the year related to the bill and had "no concern with the draft legislation at this time."

Letters of guardianship for vulnerable adults

The tabled bill draft, "Guardianships and conservatorships-letters and termination," addressed reporting issues of guardianship assigned to vulnerable adults. The bill was two-fold and came out of reports filed by the Elder and Vulnerable Adult Task Force to the Governor's office in 2017, said state court administrator Elisa Butler.

"One of the recommendations was to provide a time limitation to guardianship orders," Butler said. "This bill does not go that far; it only talks about the letters."

Guardianship reports provide the judge with framework to determine whether the ward is properly cared for, Butler said. However, new guardians assigned to vulnerable adults — often a relative, neighbor or church member — are often unfamiliar with the process of filing a report on a regular basis.

Usually, the court will send someone out to follow up with the guardian, which takes a considerable amount of time and effort and creates a burden on the court.

"There's a lot of times where those reports are just not received," Butler said.

Judges and judicial assistants "spend a fair amount of time" following up with guardians to see those reports are filed, she added, which is required under statute.

This bill attempts to resolve that issue, and another "much more important" issue of guardians continuing their guardianship after their duties expired. Sometimes, though not often, former guardians will continue to act on behalf of their ward based on an old court order, Butler said, even after their guardianship was terminated.

"That probably doesn't happen very often, but there's always that risk," she said.

To address this issue, the bill draft required the district clerk of the court to issue a one-year letter of guardianship or conservatorship, which had to be renewed on an annual basis. Larsen said task force members worried the bill's language did not properly address the issues at hand, and required further study.

"There are some concerns with the bill," said Butler, who agreed with Larsen to push it back until next year. "There are some things we definitely missed."

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.