SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A San Diego family is disappointed the governor vetoed a bill to help elderly victims of financial scams.
ABC 10News has followed through with the family and the legislative process over the past couple of years.
“There was actually a two-year journey of the bill,” said Ave Williams, whose parents lost thousands in a financial scam. “Everybody wants to protect their parents and grandparents.”
With one decision, Gov. Gavin Newsom ended that journey for Williams and her father, William Bortz.
Williams said it was frustrating.
“The scammers, the hackers, they're getting better and better and better while we are defending the status quo,” Williams said.
Their family knows all too well the heartache senior scams can cause.
Bortz was scammed out of his life savings, wiring nearly $700,000 at his bank in a fake Amazon purchase scheme overseas. He did not realize his money was going to online thieves.
“I felt very violated,” Bortz told ABC 10News anchor Melissa Mecija in 2022.
He was a customer at his bank for decades, but he said instead of employees asking about the wire transfers made at the bank, he said they asked him if he “would consider being a client of their private banking because [he] had assets to invest.”
- PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Elderly couple loses nearly $700K online scam
Williams took an active role in the process to pass this bill, even testifying in Sacramento in June 2024.
“Their bank did nothing to protect my parents from what has been officially declared financial elder abuse,” Williams said in June in front of an assembly committee.
Despite their efforts, Gov. Newsom vetoed the legislation, saying it raised concerns, including the “mandatory three-day hold on transactions suspected of abuse.”
- RELATED: San Diego family at center of push to pass bill aimed at protecting seniors from financial scams
Newsom said that could lead to “unintended consequences” like delaying legitimate transactions.
Bortz, now 80 years old, wished there was a delay.
“I would like them to slow it down so I could see what I was doing,” Bortz said, adding that he thinks the governor missed an opportunity to stand behind seniors.
“I’m sorry. Your government failed you on this one,” said Bill Dodd, the now-retired state senator who authored the bill.
Dodd said the governor not signing the legislation was “absolutely bogus.”
“It was good policy. It should have been signed by the governor,” Dodd said. “He got bad advice.”
All the family said they could do now is move forward.
Since ABC 10News first met them at their Poway home in 2022, life has changed.
Bortz and his wife — also named Ave — moved into a senior living home. Williams also believes the stress of the scam accelerated her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease.
“Of all people, I expected Gov. Newsom to have my parents’ backs, our grandparents’ backs… My dad and I don't have a horse in this race. Their money was already taken by the scammers. We are standing up to help protect other people so their families don't go through this,” Williams said.
Williams is not throwing in the towel.
“You don't ever stop when you're fighting to give a voice to those without a voice. When you're fighting to give protection to our vulnerable people, you never stop,” Williams said.
Williams and Dodd hope another legislator will take up the cause and introduce another bill focused on online financial scams targeting seniors.
“If you're someone who is not a senior, then you probably think this bill has no reason to be, but if you're a senior, it does because you don't process things as quickly,” Bortz said.
