Nevada Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, listens to discussion in a hearing Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at the Legislature in Carson City, Nev. McClain introduced a measure that would create a statewide registry to keep track of people who abuse and neglect the elderly. (AP Photo/Nevada Appeal, Cathleen Allison)
Nevada lawmakers were urged Wednesday to approve a registry tracking people who abuse and neglect the elderly " but were warned that the plan could violate due process rights of those in the registry and also compromise victims' privacy.
AB8 would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to maintain the statewide registry. Currently, police officers and adult protective services staffers must report suspected abuse, but those reports aren't kept in a central database.
Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, told the Assembly Judiciary Committee that tracking people accused of abuse would help reduce the likelihood that they would be hired by a nursing home.
McClain said more than 4,700 people age 60 or over were victims of abuse last year in Nevada, adding, "And you've got to understand that that's just the number that was reported." She said national statistics estimate that 1 in 15 cases of neglect aren't reported.
Under the bill, the database information would be made available to employers as long as a prospective employee provided written consent for the background investigation.
Lawmakers also said the bill might not go far enough, because people accused of abuse might not consent to a background investigation.
The state already keeps a database of people convicted of crimes, housed in the Department of Public Safety, but the proposed database also would include people who have been accused of abuse.
Julie Butler, the department's records and technology chief, said that in running background checks for state employers the agency passed along names of 469 jobseekers with records of assault, domestic violence or child or spousal abuse. The applicants were cleared to work either because their conviction or plea was not yet entered into the database, or because those crimes were committed out-of-state or were more than 10 years ago.
Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, warned that it may be tough to remove someone's name once it's entered into the database " even if it was included in error. Rebecca Gasca, public advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, voiced similar objections.
Gasca said the ACLU isn't opposed to creation of a registry, but added that the bill's passage could result in the state storing inaccurate information, which would violate the due process of the accused.