2. a. The commissioner, or the commissioner’s designee, shall designate employees of the Department of Human Services, who may be case managers employed by the department or an agency under contract with the department, to annually conduct not less than two site visits of every community-based residential program, in order to evaluate whether the individuals with developmental disabilities who are receiving services from each such program are at risk of, or are being subjected to, abuse, neglect, or exploitation by a caregiver, and report the results of each site visit pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2010, c.5 (C. 30:6D-75).

b. (1) In the case of a community-based residential program that is a group home, not less than two annual site visits that are conducted for each such group home shall be unannounced site visits conducted by a department employee who is assigned to a resident of the group home.

(2) In the case of a community-based residential program that is a supervised apartment, not less than two annual site visits that are conducted for each such supervised apartment shall be unannounced site visits of the apartment, which shall be conducted by a department employee who is unaffiliated and unfamiliar with the assigned case.

c. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to authorize a staff member or agent of a community-based residential program to perform the site visits required by this section.

L.2017, c.238, s.2.