A decade after disabled man's death, Christie signs law to make group homes safer
TRENTON -- Nearly 10 years to the day after an unsupervised 22-year-old man with developmental disabilities choked to death, Gov. Chris Christie Friday signed a law designed to make group homes operators more accountable to the state.
The "Stephen Komninos Law" doubles annual unannounced inspections, requires employees to undergo drug tests and mandate group home operators more quickly disclose information to families after a loved one is hurt.
"It is always awful to experience the loss of any life, and so this does not remedy that," Christie said during a press conference and addressing Stephen's father Thomas Komninos of Saddle River.
"But hopefully what (the law) does is to prevent any other parents from having to go through the pain of that loss in the way that this family did.
"And if we do that, that won't ever justify the loss of Stephen's life, but what it will do, I think, is to give all of us a sense of pride that we were involved in the effort to make sure that another family didn't suffer the same way," Christie said.
Stephen Komninos died Oct. 8, 2007.
The bill (A2503) Christie signed into law requires:
- The state make two unannounced visits at group homes a year;
- Group home operators contact a parent or guardian within two hours following an injury or other critical incident, or eight hours if the extenuating services are explained in writing;
- Group home workers undergo drug testing before they are hired, and face random testing if employers have reason to suspect drug use;
- State officials invite parents to attend interviews of their children who are victims of assault or other injuries;
- State officials notify parents or guardians whether group home employees held responsible for injuries are placed on an offender registry.
The department will need to hire 200 employees at a cost of $24 million to comply with the law, according to a fiscal analysis by the Office of Legislative Services.
There are 6,173 people who are living in group homes and 1,563 people living in supervised apartments who would stand to benefit from the law.
Christie acknowledged the Department of Human Services will need to hire more investigators to perform what will be twice as many inspections. Acting Human Services Commissioner Elizabeth Connolly is authorized to do so right away "to make sure we follow the law," he said.
"If they need to make a request for supplemental funding to do that, I'm sure the Legislature will entertain that if we need to do that," Christie said.
Other provisions of the law take effect in May, according to the legislation. They include expanding parental involvement during ongoing investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect and accidental injuries involving their loved ones.
Martha Cray of Roselle Park is among those parents waiting for answers from state investigators. Her 33-year-old son, Billy, was found dead in the bedroom of his group home on Aug. 27. Cray wept as she sat in the front row at the bill-signing press conference listening to the governor's remarks.
"Listen, I believe the Department of Human Services wants as much family involvement as they possible can have. They are supportive of this bill. And the men and women who do this work every day, in the main...want the families to be involved," Christie said.
"Whatever the effective date of this bill is, they know now this is really the expectation of how people will be dealt with," he added.
Following the bill-signing, the three parents who led the seven-year effort to pass the law expressed their gratitude to everyone who helped make it a reality.
"We fought with endurance and overcame, and now we have a law that will protect every developmentally disabled person in New Jersey, for this generation & generations to come! We want to thank every Legislator, and every person who put their piece of the puzzle to complete this story," according to the statement from Komninos, Cray and Aileen Rivera of Wayne.
Sen. Jennifer Beck R-Monmouth, one of the prime sponsors of the bill, said in a statement that she "hoped this will bring some peace of mind to the countless loved ones of those who are being cared for in group homes around New Jersey. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep our most vulnerable residents safe from abuse and exploitation."
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook
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