Update on law sought

WARREN - Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities could get official word if a sex offender moves into the home under new legislation introduced this month by State Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard.

Under current law, only nearby property owners - not necessarily residents of the same facility - are notified when a sex offender moves into the area. The law classifies the long-term care centers as one residence and only the manager or administrator is notified.

Operators of the facilities rarely pass on official notices to residents and their families, fearing the loss of residents and income, Cafaro said. In some cases, employees at the facilities are told of the criminal backgrounds as a precaution.

Trumbull County Probate Judge Thomas A. Swift, who gave input in the bill's design, is hyping the legislation as a more aggressive proposal for holding long-term care facilities accountable for notifying residents and their guardians of a potential threat.

House Bill 130, introduced by Cafaro into the Senate, would require nursing homes and similar facilities to inform residents and their ''sponsors'' when a sex offender or a person imprisoned on a felony in another state is admitted to the facility.

The bill also gives immunity to whistle-blowing employees of the facilities who report failure to comply with the law. The proposal also calls for a fine of $100 a day for each day any offender goes unreported.

''For me it's pretty straight forward. The same consideration should be given to residents and their sponsors that the law now provides to surrounding homeowners. It's just common sense,'' Cafaro said. ''They have seven days to comply with the notification, and any fine money is channeled to a fund for Adult Protective Services.''

Cafaro said the provision calling for the reporting of out-of-state felons helps prevent what's known as ''dumping,'' or when a care facility recruits residents from elsewhere to fill bed space to take full advantage of Medicaid subsidies.

Both Cafaro and Swift say they anticipate opposition to the legislation from powerful long-term health care lobbyists.

A spokesman from the Ohio Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, already reportedly questioned what a nursing home administrator is supposed to do to carry out full notification. Nursing home representatives point out that legally, they cannot turn away potential residents if they are in need and if they are able to provide payment.

Cafaro's bill, now in the Senate Judiciary and Criminal Justice Committee, includes a requirement that all nursing homes keep a log that would include identifying sex offenders. The log is available on request for any potential resident or guardian of a potential resident.

''This legislation really doesn't pose any problem to a reputable nursing home. Responsible nursing homes can ensure residents of proper notification,'' said Swift, who earlier this year called attention to a Warren nursing home that was housing more than a dozen of his wards of the court along with two sex offenders.

The judge contacted that nursing home and eventually all nursing homes in the county, asking them to notify his court of any sex offenders who were living as residents.

Both sex offenders living in the local nursing home since moved out. One of them, considered a Tier III predator, finished rehabilitation and moved to a Warren apartment complex. The second offender, with a Tier II classification, which requires no notification, since has moved to another nursing home in Orwell.

Swift also is tracking House Bill 98, which was introduced earlier by Ohio Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, and referred to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee in April. It also calls for notification to residents and their sponsors.

Combs' original bill was written after an 18-year-old mentally retarded daughter of a constituent was raped in a long-term care facility in Cincinnati without ever being told the ex-convict lived in the same building.

cbobby@tribtoday.com