Legislation to improve NH disability system oversight heads for House vote after Senate approval

After the New Hampshire Senate passed a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening oversight of care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state, the House is preparing to vote on the legislation, which was introduced as a response to reports of abuse, neglect, and untimely deaths.

The bill targets the state’s developmental disability system. In New Hampshire, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are legally entitled to care services, including residential care and day programming. To administer that care, the state contracts with a network of private providers.

“The genesis of this bill came after a series of articles published by the New Hampshire Bulletin that came out detailing abuse and neglect within our disability system,” state Sen. David Rochefort, a Littleton Republican and sponsor of the bill, said during a legislative hearing Wednesday, “including highlighting some tragic deaths that could’ve been prevented and quite frankly never should’ve happened. We recognize the fact that the individuals in this system, the individuals affected by this, are some of our most vulnerable people in our communities.”

According to state records obtained by the Bulletin, there were 548 credible reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation (though the Department of Health and Human Services told the Bulletin earlier this month that it discovered its own data may include overcounts, but did not provide an updated number) from 2023 through 2025. Records also show 144 deaths in this system across the same time period. The Bulletin also learned the personal stories of some of the victims, including a man physically beaten by his caretakers, a violent rape, and a young man found dead in the woods behind his care home.

Senate Bill 670 seeks to establish the Developmental Services Oversight Commission to identify issues before they turn into tragedies. Made up of lawmakers, state officials, family members, and people with disabilities themselves (among others), the commission would be tasked with evaluating data on system performance and best practices and suggest ways to improve the system.

SB 670 would also strengthen the state’s Vulnerable Adult Review Fatality Committee, which is responsible for reviewing concerning deaths of people with disabilities and other vulnerable adults and providing recommendations to prevent future similar tragedies. In November, Bulletin reporting revealed the 2022 and 2019 deaths of Stephen Weidlich Jr. and Christine Marie Bill, respectively. At the time, the co-chairs of the Vulnerable Adult Review Fatality Committee said they were not alerted about either death until hearing from the Bulletin. This provision seeks to remedy that for future deaths.

Finally, SB 670 would beef up data sharing within this system, allowing officials from different parts of state government to share information that could help administrators identify issues. Several experts in the disability field have told the Bulletin about these so-called “silos of information” where disparate offices within state agencies responsible for overseeing this system are unable to share information and lack a big-picture view of the system’s performance.

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Carrie Duran, a Wolfeboro mother of a teenager with Down syndrome and a legislative liaison for the care coordination agency Lakes Region Community Services, urged lawmakers to support the bill Wednesday.

“I think it is a wonderful and important first step to make sure that we do not have gaps in the care system,” Duran said. “My daughter’s 15, going on 30. She already wants to live on her own. And I think I’ve spoken in front of this committee before about my daughter and her hopes and dreams, but those hopes and dreams are not going to include me someday. I’m not always going to be around to care for her, so giving the parent perspective to know that there’s going to be a commission that is going to ensure the safety and well-being of my daughter in the future, when I’m not around anymore, making sure that she is always safe, and her friends are always safe, no matter where she is living, I would feel a lot better.”

The House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee will vote on the bill in the coming weeks. Then, the bill will receive a floor vote of the entire House.

Rochefort characterized this bill — which was filed late and given special permission to be introduced after the filing deadline — as a first step in addressing this issue and signaled that more legislation on this topic could be coming in future years. He said the bill “may not be the last step, but a good first step.” He also encouraged representatives to amend the bill this year as they see fit if they believe there’s more good they can add.

“In response to some of these horror stories, we said rather than wait another year, let’s get something on the books now,” Rochefort said. “But this is your committee, this is your bill now, have at it.”

One representative pitched an area for lawmakers to examine.

“This is very dear to me,” Rep. Jessica LaMontagne, a Dover Democrat, said. “My stepdaughter lives in one of these housing arrangements under this waiver. And for me, I see the role of the case manager. … It seems to me that what we really want is to enhance that role so that it is more preventative, right?”

In addition to this legislation, there have been a number of other responses to the tragedies since the Bulletin’s reporting. The Disability Rights Center-NH, a federally funded watchdog that also advised Rochefort in writing the bill, has launched its own investigation into the system. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office told the Bulletin it’s working with the Department of Health and Human Services on strengthening oversight practices. And the state’s System Review Committee is holding a series of public meetings to question officials and inform the public about the system.