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Advocates urge committee to fund SB 463 right‑to‑counsel for children in residential placement; committee debated staffing and phased rollout
Summary
Advocates from the Disability Rights Center and the Children’s Law Center urged House Finance Division 3 to fund Senate Bill 463, which would grant children in residential placement a right to counsel; committee members questioned the size of the staff increase DCYF said the bill would require.
Public comment at the end of the Division 3 work session focused on Senate Bill 463 (SB 463), the bill establishing a right to counsel for children in residential placement.
Karen Rosenberg, policy director at the Disability Rights Center, and Lisa Wolford, executive director of the Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire, urged lawmakers to restore funding for the bill in the budget and noted the bill previously passed both chambers. Wolford summarized the committee’s prior deliberations and the amendment that phased in counsel to address committee concerns about sudden workload spikes. "This bill passed on a voice vote on both the senate side and the house side," Wolford said, and the committee had previously adopted a phased rollout to manage implementation.
Fiscal and operational questions: Department and committee members debated the agency’s fiscal note and the DCYF request for additional child protective service worker (CPSW) positions to implement the right‑to‑counsel responsibilities. Noonan had described an anticipated need for roughly 14 additional CPSWs (generally one additional CPSW per district office, with two for larger offices) to handle court work, motions and the additional meetings and filings that counsel could trigger. Some legislators and advocates questioned whether that level of new staff would be required; advocates said counsel can both protect children’s expressed interests and, in some cases, reduce expensive residential placements.
Cost context and examples: As part of public comment, Children’s Law Center counsel provided a price illustration for residential placements: an example daily rate of $789 at a level‑2 provider would equate to about $289,000 a year per child before offsets. Advocates argued that representing children could reduce unnecessary institutional placements or shorten episodes of care, producing budgetary savings that offset implementation costs.
Next steps: The governor’s draft HB 2 had deferred or not funded components of SB 463. Committee members asked for additional analysis and for the department to clarify workload, staff needs and any potential savings from avoided or shortened residential placements. No formal vote or appropriation was made during the work session; agency follow‑up was requested.
