New protections for people with disabilities in state care signed into law

A bill aimed at protecting people with disabilities from abuse and neglect is now law.

Senate Bill 670 creates a developmental services oversight commission responsible for reviewing the state-regulated, taxpayer-funded care system for people with disabilities. The commission will be made up of lawmakers, state officials, private providers, advocates, parents of people with disabilities, and people with disabilities themselves. It will be responsible for reviewing performance measures, licensing and certification data, and best practices, and suggesting ways to improve the system.

The new law also speeds up the timeline in which caregivers are placed on the state’s registry of abusive and neglectful caregivers after an allegation. Currently, they’re not placed on the registry until after an investigation. This law ensures the registry notes that they’re under investigation and will remove or solidify their position on the registry after an investigation.

Additionally, it attempts to beef up data sharing within this system, allowing officials from disparate parts of state government to share information that might help administrators identify issues. Several experts and advocates in the field have raised alarms about so-called “silos of information” where various offices within the state agencies responsible for overseeing this system are unable to share information and lack a big-picture view of the system’s performance.

Finally, SB 670 will also require private providers to notify the Health and Human Services commissioner, the Bureau of Licensing and Certification, the attorney general, and the Disability Rights Center-NH of any deaths or serious injuries.

State Sen. David Rochefort, the Littleton Republican behind the new law, said during a hearing earlier this year that a November investigation by the Bulletin was “the genesis for this bill.”

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In “A System of Harm,” a three-part investigative series, the Bulletin reported on horrific abuse, neglect, and deaths occurring in the state’s disability care system. In New Hampshire, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are legally entitled to care services. To administer the care, the state contracts with a network of private providers.

The Bulletin found systemic failures in protecting vulnerable clients. State records obtained by the Bulletin show 548 credible reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation in this system from 2023 through 2025. (The Department of Health and Human Services told the Bulletin that it discovered its own data may include overcounts, but has refused to provide an updated number.) Additionally, there were 144 deaths in the system across the same time period, according to the records.

The Bulletin also told the stories of several 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.

Rochefort characterized this bill “a good first step” during the legislative session and suggested lawmakers may come back to the issue with more solutions next session.

An earlier version of SB 670 would’ve also revamped the state’s Vulnerable Adult Review Fatality Committee, but that provision was scrapped in a Senate amendment. The committee is tasked with reviewing concerning deaths of people with disabilities or otherwise vulnerable adults and providing recommendations to prevent future similar tragedies. Members of the committee told the Bulletin last year that they were never notified about two concerning deaths — a young man found dead in the snowy woods behind his care home and a woman who overheated in a hot car — that the Bulletin had discovered in its reporting. The deleted provisions would’ve compelled the state’s chief medical examiner to alert the committee of preventable deaths and altered the composition of the committee.