The Developmental Disabilities Special Investigative Committee was created by LR283, which was passed during the second session of the 100th Legislature. The committee is responsible for studying the following subject areas:

• quality of care and related staffing issues at the Beatrice State Developmental Center
• placement and quality of care statewide for the developmentally disabled in Nebraska, including the determination of whether adequate funding and capacity exists for persons to be served in the community, options for service provisions for current residents of the Beatrice State Developmental Center at other twenty-four-hour care facilities in the state
• staffing practices at twenty-four-hour care facilities and the relationship of those practices to the quality of care provided to the developmentally disabled.
• Department of Health and Human Services with respect to twenty-four-hour care facilities, including how and why services to the developmentally disabled were permitted to decline to the current level as documented by a report released March 7, 2008, by the United States Department of Justice

A joint public hearing of the Special Investigative Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee will be held on December 9, 2013 at 9am in the Nebraska State Capitol. If you have any questions regarding the hearing please contact Senator Steve Lathrop’s office at 402-471-2623.

On December 15, 2008, the Committee issued a report with their findings and recommendations. One of their recommendations was to continue the work of the Committee. As a result, Legislative Resolutions have been passed in the following years so it could continue its’ work.

The Senators currently on the Committee include: Senator Steve Lathrop (Chair), Senator John Harms (Vice-Chair), and Senators Colby Coash, Kate Bolz, Russ Karpisek, Bob Krist, and Norm Wallman.