STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CHRISTOPHER P. DEPHILLIPS
District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
Assemblywoman MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Carter, Assemblymen Barranco, S.Kean, Clifton, Assemblywoman Dunn, Assemblymen Bergen, McGuckin, McClellan, Simonsen and Assemblywoman Flynn
SYNOPSIS
Requires certain group homes to install electronic monitoring devices in common areas, upon request and with uniform resident consent, and to permit consensual use of such devices in private rooms.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the installation and use of electronic monitoring devices at group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities, and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
a. Individuals with developmental disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation by caregivers, guardians, and other persons.
b. Group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities admirably enable these individuals to live more independently within a non-institutional setting; however, the lack of institutional controls and oversight at these homes ultimately makes it harder for the State, for individual group home operators, and for concerned family members to promptly identify and respond to wrongdoing that may be committed by caregivers, guardians, group home employees, and other persons at the home.
c. The safety and quality of life of individuals with developmental disabilities who receive care from group homes is of paramount concern, and the use of video monitoring is a reasonable means by which the State and concerned family members can better ensure the prevention of, and the institution of a more proactive response to, the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of group home residents.
d. The rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, including the right to privacy, should be respected and preserved at all times, to the greatest extent practicable; however, just as is true of all citizens, an individual with a developmental disability or the individuals authorized representative, as the case may be, may consent to the waiver or limitation of the individuals rights, particularly the individuals rights to privacy, by knowingly agreeing to video surveillance, as deemed by the individual or the authorized representative to be appropriate. The provisions of this act are consistent with federal regulations pertaining to community-based services, particularly regulations which protect an individual's right to privacy, dignity, respect, and freedom from coercion and restraint.
e. It is in the public interest for the State to provide for the enhanced protection of individuals with developmental disabilities who reside at group homes by enabling group home residents, or their authorized representatives, to cooperatively and collectively decide whether to allow for the installation and use of video monitoring devices in the common areas of the group homes, and to individually decide whether to allow for the installation and use of video monitoring devices in the private residential room of each such resident, so that the treatment of such residents can be recorded and instances of abuse, neglect, or exploitation documented with video evidence.
f. The use of video surveillance in group homes will enable consenting residents and their authorized representatives to more proactively and effectively review and ensure the propriety of care that is being provided to such residents and will further enable the State, licensed service providers, and whistleblowers to more easily verify, and obtain evidence to substantiate or refute, allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation occurring in group homes.
g. The State recognizes that each individual with developmental disabilities is unique and has differing needs and preferences, and that, while some group home residents and their authorized representatives may consent to the use of video surveillance to better ensure the residents safety, others may refuse to consent to such video surveillance.
h. Through the enactment of this act, it is the intent of the Legislature to make video monitoring technology more readily available in group home settings, while taking great care to strike the important and delicate balance between protecting the privacy rights and protecting the overall well-being of group home residents. By increasing the availability of video monitoring technology in group homes, the Legislature intends to: (1) make it easier for residents and their authorized representatives to monitor the residents care, if they so choose; (2) make it easier for concerned family members and whistleblowers to file and substantiate complaints of abuse, neglect, exploitation, or other improper care or treatment involving group home residents; and (3) improve the ability of the State and of individual licensees to verify and appropriately respond to such complaints.
i. This act is dedicated to William Billy Cray, a 33-year-old with developmental disabilities who, on a Sunday morning in August 2017, was inexplicably found dead on the floor of his bedroom closet in a Somers Point group home, operated by Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health New Jersey, where he resided. Billy Cray, who had suffered from institutional abuse since he was a child, was the son of Martha Cray, a dedicated and long-time advocate for persons with developmental disabilities. For many years, both preceding and following her sons death, Martha Cray has continued to work tirelessly to advance legislation protecting the rights and safety of individuals with developmental disabilities, particularly those residing in group homes. She was particularly instrumental in facilitating the passage of Stephen Komninos Law, P.L.2017, c.238 (C.30:6D-9.1), which provides for the heightened scrutiny of group homes by requiring more frequent, unannounced oversight visits, and which requires group homes to provide prompt notice of injury to the parent or guardian of an injured resident.
j. Billy Crays death is yet another reminder of why the State needs to continue its work both to strengthen oversight of group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities and to further facilitate and enhance the ability of group home residents and their family members or guardians, as the case may be, to take affirmative steps to protect the rights and safety of residents and promptly and appropriately respond to resident injuries and other concerning incidents occurring in the group homes. By enabling group home residents with developmental disabilities and their authorized representatives to use video-based electronic monitoring to protect against, provide documentary evidence of, and ensure a prompt and adequate response to, any abuse, neglect, and exploitation occurring in the group home, the Legislature can further preserve the rights and safety of group home residen