House committee sends bill letting families install monitoring devices in care-facility rooms to House floor

Representative Healy, sponsor of House Bill 337, told the House Health and Welfare Committee the bill would allow residents or their authorized representatives to install electronic monitoring devices in care-facility rooms at the families’ expense and with safeguards intended to protect privacy and legal rights.

"It enhances residential safety, it empowers family and residents," Representative Healy said, describing the proposal as a tool for families who cannot be physically present to oversee care. She told the committee the measure is modeled on laws in other states, citing Esther’s Law and a list of more than a half-dozen states that already permit family-installed monitoring.

The bill’s core provisions discussed in the hearing would: allow a resident or the resident’s authorized representative to install electronic monitoring devices at the resident’s expense; require facilities to be notified and permit facilities to post notice at the entrance…