By Mr. Hill of Ipswich, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 101) of Bradford Hill and Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. for legislation to provide for independent investigations by the Disabled Persons Protection Commission of abuse and neglect of mentally retarded persons.  Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

——————

PETITION OF:

Bradford Hill

Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.

——————

In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

——————

An Act relative to independent investigations of abuse and neglect of mentally retarded persons.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

.

Whereas, a stronger system of investigations into cases of abuse, mistreatment, human rights violations and neglect is required on the State level for individuals with mental retardation.

                Whereas, The House Post Audit and Oversight Bureau’s Multi-year Review of DMR concluded that “DMR has failed to develop a system of oversight that is able to identify problem cases and move swiftly to remove clients from dangerous or abusive situations,” and the Bureau recommended that “dramatic changes in the investigations process should take place including such options as ceding substantial portions of the investigations unit to DPPC, complete abolition of the unit and transfer to an outside agency, or a complete restructuring of the oversight, monitoring and investigations process.”

                Whereas, at current staffing levels the Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC) is only able to investigate fifteen percent (15%) of the 1,500 cases of abuse that are currently screened in annually for investigation.

                Whereas, the vast majority of 19C and non-19C cases of abuse, mistreatment, human rights violations and neglect involving individuals with mental retardation that are substantiated are investigated by the Department of Mental Retardation resulting in the agency investigating itself.

                Whereas, the function of investigations should be independent of the agency providing the services.

                Effect the transfer of all current investigations staff, vacant positions and budget from the Department of Mental Retardation to the Disabled Persons Protection Commission hereinafter referred to as the Commission within 60 days of the enactment of this bill.  The current DMR Director of Investigations shall report directly to and work with the Executive Director of the DPPC to effect the staff and budget transfer.  No less than 30 full time equivalent positions shall comprise the transfer of staff from DMR to DPPC.  All transferred staff are limited to conducting investigations of cases affecting only persons with mental retardation.

                $3.5 million will be appropriated to the Disabled Persons Protection Commission to allow the Commission to investigate all 19C cases under their jurisdiction as well as non-19C (regulatory) cases involving individuals with mental retardation.

                Eight months after the transfer, the Executive Director of the DPPC will recommend and justify to the general court an amount of additional funds to be appropriated to successfully conduct all 19C investigations and all non-19C investigations of cases involving individuals with mental retardation.

                Three years after the incorporation of DMR’s investigations staff into DPPC, an independent evaluation, under contract with the State Auditor’s Office, shall be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the transfer and recommend appropriate actions such as continuance or other options as may be warranted to include but not be limited to a merging of investigative staff of other executive office of health and human services agencies to DPPC to accomplish objective and independent investigations for all Executive Office of Health and Human Services Agencies and the individuals they serve.