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Elder abuse review teams get Senate nod

Proposal sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville

The Florida Senate remodeling includes this artwork on the fifth floor gallery photographed at the start of session on Tuesday Jan. 14, 2020, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon) (Steve Cannon)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday backed a bill that would establish in law elder-abuse fatality review teams.

The proposal (SB 400), sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, would allow the teams -- comprised of representatives of law-enforcement agencies, medical examiner’s offices, area agencies on aging and the state Agency for Health Care Administration, among others -- to be established in each judicial circuit to review deaths of seniors.

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Gibson’s bill is now ready to go to the full Senate.

The House of Representatives is advancing a similar measure (HB 253), with the House Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee approving the bill unanimously on Wednesday.

Florida has the highest percentage of senior residents in the nation.