This article originally appeared on Oil City News. Used with permission.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Park County Sen. Hank Coe came to his colleagues who sit on the Senate’s Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Monday, Feb. 17 with one request: move his bill forward for a second reading.
SF 111, sponsored by Coe alone, relates to public health and safety, requiring a law enforcement officer or agency to notify the Department of Family Services in the event of a vulnerable adult being abused, neglected, exploited, intimidated or abandoned.
“It’s a very simple bill, but it’s one that will protect lives,” Coe told the five senators on the committee, which includes Natrona County Sen. Charles Scott (who also chairs the committee) and Laramie County Sen. Stephen Pappas.
Since DFS is required to contact law enforcement when a report of abuse or exploitation of an elderly person or other vulnerable adult is made, Coe told his senators that he believes it’s necessary to have both the department and law enforcement agencies contacting each other when reports are made.
Pappas questioned whether or not the bill would undermine a police officer’s judgment when investigating abuse cases, noting that the language might be too specific against LEOs.
Coe was happy to amend the language in the bill, adding that both officers or law enforcement agencies should contact DFS in the event of an abuse report.
Wyoming DFS director Korin Schmidt testified before the committee, letting the senators know that the department fully supported the bill and asked that they moved forward with it.
“The language change was suggested in 2017 as part of a task force recommendation,” she said. “This closes a loop for us. If the law enforcement agency or officer knows about potential abuse, it would require them to report this to us, since we currently have to report to them but they don’t have to reciprocate.”
The five senators agreed to the language amendment and all voted to send back to the Senate for a second reading, which will likely be scheduled this week.
The bill was introduced on Thursday, Feb. 13 into the Senate, which unanimously voted to send the bill to the Labor Committee. If signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, the bill would go into effect on July 1, 2020.
