Elder Abuse Reforms Advance

A reform package aimed at improving oversight of professional conservators cleared important hurdles Thursday as the state Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill to beef up court monitoring while the Assembly’s appropriations panel approved companion bills to license conservators and better investigate complaints.

Elder-rights advocates and other supporters of the legislative package had feared cost concerns would imperil some of the most far-reaching provisions for protecting incapacitated adults from abuse by the conservators who care for them.

But the only significant change came in the Senate, where the Appropriations Committee voted 11 to 1 in favor of Assemblyman Dave Jones’ bill, AB 1363, after he agreed to drop a provision establishing an ombudsman’s office to review complaints against conservators.

Jones (D-Sacramento) said it was cut to reduce financial concerns. His bill requires more intensive monitoring of conservators by the state’s courts, which have estimated it will cost them $9.9 million to $17.5 million a year.

“This is the place where many bills get held,” Jones said, “so it’s a major step toward our end goal, which is to adopt major conservatorship reform.”

Sen. Samuel Aanestad (R-Grass Valley) cast the sole dissenting vote.

In the Assembly, the appropriations panel approved a bill, SB 1550, by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), that would require the licensing of professional conservators, who are currently subject to less regulation than hairdressers.

The panel also approved SB 1716, written by Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), that would allow probate courts to investigate informal complaints made against conservators rather than wait for a formal legal filing.

A fourth conservatorship-related bill, SB 1116, by Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena), would make it more difficult for wards to be moved out of their homes by conservators. It was passed by the Assembly panel last week.

The push for reform followed a four-part series published by The Times in November that described how some professional conservators neglected their wards, isolated them from relatives and ran up fees.

Probate courts, charged with monitoring conservators’ work, overlooked incompetence, neglect and outright theft, the series reported.

All four bills require a majority of votes from the full Senate and Assembly by the end of the month, when this year’s legislative session ends. If they pass, they will go to the governor to sign or veto.

Each bill includes a provision that requires all of the others to pass for the package to be enacted. If even one is defeated, this year’s push for reform would end.

It remains unclear whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will support the entire reform package. In recent weeks, a state courts official reported that the governor’s office had made clear that it opposed the licensing of conservators. But the governor’s office responded by insisting that it had no official position yet and would continue to discuss any concerns about any of the bills with the bill’s author.