National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs
Smyrna, GA

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House To Vote On
Cong. Miller's Legislation Next Week

HR 5876, Rep. George Miller's bill to federally regulate private residential schools and programs will be voted on by the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 17th or Wednesday, June 18th. This legislation, if it becomes law, could have a large impact on your program. While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of the bill--to prevent child abuse and neglect--NATSAP believes the bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient towards this effort.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW
Please contact your US Representative and express your extreme concern with the bill. You can contact your Representative by calling them in Washington DC, using the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202- 224-3121 or by looking them up on http://www.house.gov/house/MemStateSearch.shtml.

TALKING POINTS
HR 5876 could make liability insurance unattainable or prohibitively expensive for private residential programs. In turn, this could force programs to close their doors or increase prices resulting in fewer choices for parents and children in great need. (The bill allows for un-capped attorneys fees and costs as well as unlimited punitive damages.)

The bill would federally regulate private residential programs with an entirely new federal bureaucracy. These efforts would very likely duplicate existing state efforts and be extremely expensive and inefficient.

Congress SHOULD set minimum standards of care for residential programs and STATES should enforce these standards. This approach would complement existing state enforcement while efficiently utilizing tax dollars. Unfortunately, HR 5876 takes a different approach.

The bill excludes government/state-run programs and should be amended to afford protections to ALL children served in residential programs.


NATSAP has worked since our founding to establish ethical and operational principles for member programs.

To this end, NATSAP requires by January 1, 2009 that all member programs be state licensed or externally accredited by an approved accreditation organization. All 50 states have existing programs to investigate and enforce laws that prohibit child abuse and neglect.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
To access the current version of the bill please go to http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_hr5876.pdf

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT THE NATSAP OFFICE AT (928) 443-9505