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Wlaf1450Powers touched on his Elder Financial Justice Bill he passed last year
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Members of the Lions Club meet every two weeks, and Monday was time for the latest gathering. Lions met in their usual location, the former West La Follette School, now La Follette Community Center, and hosted State Representative Dennis Powers.
WLAF’s Charlie Hutson shares his photo gallery HERE.
Powers shared some memories about growing up in La Follette including that his big brother was called to tryout for the Cincinnati Reds. “I could never figure out why they never called me,” said Powers as he laughed. He added that his brother was a really, really good baseball player.
He had a fun fact for the Lions, something most did not know, and that’s the meaning of Lions. “LIONS actually comes from Liberty, Intelligence, Our National Security,” said Powers.
Powers touched on his Elder Financial Justice Bill he passed last year. The bill: Authorizes a financial service provider, or an officer or employee of the provider, that has reasonable cause to suspect that an elderly or vulnerable adult is the victim or target of financial exploitation, to convey the suspicion to the TBI’s elder financial reporting mechanism; requires the TBI to create an elder financial exploitation reporting mechanism that accepts reports from financial institutions.
It is called the TBI Hotline Bill and went into effect on October 1, 2024. Powers told members of the Lions Club that he intends to file a bill next year, which will require investigators and research analysts to be hired to go into the field and investigate each case. Elder financial abuse, or scamming, is a reported 500-million dollar business now in Tennessee, and it is estimated to be double that amount because half of the cases go unreported.
The TBI Hotline is now receiving calls. Call 1.888.PAUSE TN or 1.888.728.7386. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-10/28/2025-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)