Earlier this month, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed the “Georgia Long-term Care Background Check Program” into law. The new law requires “comprehensive criminal background checks for owners, applicants for employment, and employees providing care or owning a personal care home, assisted living community, private home care provider, home health agency, hospice care, nursing home, skilled nursing facility, or an adult day care.” The bills primary author, Republican state senator Brian Strickland, was prompted by events like the 2014 death of World War II veteranย James Dempsey, whose pleas for help were ignored by caregivers. Advocates for the elderly hailed the law, but the requirement for fingerprint–based background checks has some agencies concerned about the cost of implementing the program for volunteers. The National Council on Aging estimates that 1 in 10 persons 60 and over have experienced some formย of elder abuse.