Legislation Tracker

The Safe Passage for Youth Act expands California's regulation of transport escort services that accompany or transport minors to residential, behavioral, or treatment programs, whether the destination is in-state or out-of-state. It requires trustline registration and safety training for transporters, written parental consent, restricts use of restraint to imminent-harm situations, and gives the Attorney General enforcement authority against repeated or egregious violators.

Requires a county welfare agency, when it substantiates a report of abuse or neglect occurring in foster care, congregate care, or other out-of-home placement, to notify the attorneys for both the child and the parents in the dependency case within a set time frame. The notice must exclude the identity of the reporting party and other confidential details while ensuring attorneys are informed of substantiated incidents affecting their clients.

Omnibus human-services bill: tightens DHS authority to impose license conditions on residential and long-term care facilities after immediate-jeopardy findings, requires a model consent form for in-room electronic monitoring, creates a differentiated payment rate for developmental-disability direct support professionals who live with clients, adds narrow exceptions to out-of-state child-placement limits (with a required DHS escort), and bars finding abuse of a child in care based solely on a lapsed restraint/seclusion training certification.

Would have substantially rewritten Oregon's definition of abuse of a child in care to explicitly cover child-caring agencies, developmental disabilities residential facilities, proctor, certified, and adjudicated youth foster homes, and their staff, contractors, and volunteers, including restraint and seclusion violations, financial exploitation, and sexual abuse. Also would have reformed child-caring-agency licensing and out-of-state placement rules. Never reached a floor vote before the short session ended.

Establishes a Congregate Care Advisory Committee, creates a congregate care ombudsman, and creates the Licensed Provider Civil Money Penalty Fund. Imposes new requirements on congregate care programs, including adopting admissions criteria, maintaining a list of authorized contacts for children in crisis, notifying authorized contacts and parents when a child is in crisis, posting notice of the ombudsman, and providing a dedicated phone line to reach the ombudsman at any time.

HB 3835, requested by DHS and the System of Care Advisory Council, would have redefined what counts as abusive restraint/seclusion of a child in care, changed how DHS investigates and responds to abuse reports, modified DHS's regulatory and enforcement authority over child-caring agencies, allowed DHS to place children with out-of-state agencies under certain circumstances, and exempted secure medical transport from some licensing rules. Disability-rights advocates opposed it as weakening child-abuse protections and oversight.

SB 1113 would have tightened restrictions on the use of restraint and involuntary seclusion on children in care (including in public education programs and secure transportation), defined abusive restraint/seclusion, modified how DHS investigates and substantiates abuse and neglect, expanded DHS's authority to impose civil penalties and other regulatory actions against child-caring entities, and set new limits on out-of-state placements of children in care.

SB 1112 would have restricted when DHS can admit a child in its own care or custody to inpatient or residential treatment: only after an in-person medical-necessity evaluation by a licensed health professional, only at an OHA-licensed/certified facility, only with Medicaid authorization, and generally only when the child has an ongoing foster placement to return to. It set additional conditions for out-of-state hospital admissions and clarified that such admissions do not count as a placement or change the child's foster-care status.

SB 1069 would have created new application requirements for any provider seeking a license, certificate, endorsement, or authorization from DHS to serve children, older adults, or individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, including child-caring agencies. It required DHS to notify applicants of incomplete or noncompliant applications, barred reapplication for one year after a revocation or denial, and required DHS to report to the legislature on application processing times and costs.

SB 989 would have let a parent or guardian admit a minor child, with or without the child's consent, to an inpatient treatment facility licensed by the Oregon Health Authority or DHS for a mental, emotional, behavioral health, or substance use condition. It required an initial clinical assessment and periodic reviews to justify continued admission, barred facilities from refusing admission solely because a child withheld consent, and gave children age 14 and older a process to request review of the admission decision.

Would have repealed Oregon statutes that allowed a court to order a person into a facility against their will solely on the basis of having an intellectual or developmental disability, along with related habilitation-detention provisions. Also would have prohibited any public body from denying mental illness services to a person on the grounds that the person also has an intellectual disability. Died in committee without a vote.

Known as the Accountability in Children's Treatment Act, this bipartisan bill (sponsored by Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media Impact) requires California's short-term residential therapeutic programs (STRTPs) to notify a child's parent, guardian, or tribal representative whenever restraint or seclusion is used on them, and to provide written incident descriptions within seven days. It also directs the Department of Social Services to publish a public dashboard of restraint/seclusion incidents, investigations, and licensing actions starting January 1, 2026.

Defines and restricts prohibited restraint and seclusion practices (chemical, mechanical, prone, supine, and others) used on children in Oregon's care in foster homes, child-caring agencies, and developmental disabilities residential facilities. Requires programs to establish incident procedures whenever restraint or seclusion is used, and mandates reportable-injury and quarterly reporting to DHS.

Required Oregon DHS to notify, by October 1, 2021, every child or ward it had placed in an out-of-state residential facility between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2020 of their right to seek civil remedies, along with facility and parent-company identifying information. DHS was also required to proactively obtain and retain for 20 years each child's facility records, including incident, injury, abuse-allegation, and restraint/seclusion records, and report progress to the Legislature.

The bill S.B. 127 updates Utah’s laws governing human services programs—especially congregate care—by strengthening oversight, refining definitions, and increasing accountability. It expands and clarifies terms such as human services program, congregate care program, youth program, and direct access, ensuring clearer regulatory coverage. It requires programs to report restraints, seclusion, and other critical incidents within one business day and mandates the Office of Licensing to review policies, post complaint information, investigate concerns, and conduct quarterly inspections, including at least two unannounced visits each year. The bill restricts harmful practices by prohibiting pain‑inducing techniques, humiliating punishments, peer restraints, physical punishment, denial of basic needs, and forced exercise, while requiring programs to maintain written policies, use trained staff, continuously monitor any restraint or seclusion, and document and review each incident. It also requires suicide‑prevention policies, prohibits sex‑ or gender‑based discrimination, and significantly expands background‑check requirements for staff, contractors, and others with direct access to vulnerable populations, including fingerprinting and national registry checks. Finally, the bill updates licensing procedures, emergency planning, record‑keeping, and rulemaking authority, resulting in greater transparency, safety, and regulatory consistency across Utah’s human services system.

Would have authorized Wisconsin's Department of Children and Families to certify residential care centers, group homes, or shelter care facilities as Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTPs) eligible for federal Title IV-E funding, and directed DCF to promulgate implementing rules under an expedited process. The bill never passed; comparable authority was granted two years later via 2021 Wisconsin Act 42.

Enacted as Chapter 257, Oregon Laws 2017 (creating ORS 419A.240 and 419A.245). Prohibits instruments of physical restraint (handcuffs, chains, straitjackets, and similar) on youth during juvenile court proceedings unless the court makes written findings of an immediate and serious risk with no less restrictive alternative, and bars restraining a youth to a stationary object or another person. Also restricts restraints during DHS/OHA transportation of wards and children, requiring a documented transportation safety plan, trained staff, and prohibiting restraint use as punishment, for convenience, or as a substitute for supervision.

Would remove the discretionary authority of Ohio's behavioral health licensing agency over youth residential treatment facilities and instead mandate state intervention, requiring the agency to suspend admissions, deny license renewals, or shut down a facility once serious violations are documented. Introduced by Rep. Crystal Lett following a Marshall Project investigation into escalating violence and staff injuries at Mohican Young Star Academy (Empowering to Elevate Academy) in Perrysville, Ohio.

Bars private transportation companies from using handcuffs, chains, blindfolds, hoods, or other physical restraints while picking up and transporting minors to qualified residential treatment programs (QRTPs), except in narrow emergency circumstances involving imminent serious physical harm with no less-restrictive alternative available. Also prohibits nighttime pickups between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., with limited safety exceptions. Part of a Michigan legislative package targeting abusive transport practices in the troubled teen industry, publicly backed by Paris Hilton.

Authorizes Oregon DHS to revoke, suspend, or impose conditions on the license, certificate, or endorsement of an agency providing community-based services to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities if the agency is deemed unqualified. Specifies disqualifying conditions such as staff on the federal excluded-provider list, denying inspectors access to records or clients, tampering with records, repeated serious health and safety violations, financial fraud, or leadership with a history of license revocation or Medicaid fraud.

HB 4042 would have expanded the types of adverse licensing actions the Department of Human Services may take against child-caring agencies following certain findings, while also modifying restraint provisions for children in care and creating exceptions to placement limitations. It passed the House during Oregon's 2026 short session but died at the Senate President's desk when the session adjourned.