Arizona Senator Revives Push to Save Group Home Watchdog Created After Hacienda HealthCare Sexual Abuse Scandal

Republican Sen. Tim Dunn plans to renew his effort next year to preserve Arizona’s independent watchdog for group homes serving residents with developmental disabilities after the state budget failed to continue the program’s funding.

The Compliance, Oversight, Monitoring, and Investigations Team, known as COMIT, is expected to close at the end of 2026 unless lawmakers or state officials identify another source the program’s $1.2 million state appropriation.

“There were a lot of different things that didn’t make the budget that were considered new money even though that’s been around for a while, and it’s a very important program,” Dunn told KJZZ. He said he intends to bring the proposal back during the next legislative session.

Dunn sponsored Senate Bill 1179, which would have removed the requirement that COMIT remain subject to available appropriations and extended the program’s statutory expiration through the end of 2032. The bill passed the Senate 16-13 and cleared the House Health and Human Services Committee 8-2 before stalling in the House Rules Committee.

Arizona established COMIT in 2022 following the Hacienda HealthCare sexual abuse case. An incapacitated resident of the Phoenix facility gave birth after being repeatedly raped by a nurse, prompting calls for independent oversight of facilities caring for people with developmental disabilities.

Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2865 on June 28, 2022, establishing a three-year independent monitoring pilot covering group homes, nursing-supported group homes, and behaviorally supported group homes. 

Under the program, the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Division of Developmental Disabilities contracts with Disability Rights Arizona, the state’s designated protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities. Disability Rights Arizona operates the program through COMIT and conducts in-person monitoring at group homes serving residents with complex needs. 

The program examines whether residents receive the services specified in their person-centered service plans, whether those services effectively address their needs, and whether group homes have compliant behavior treatment plans. 

Monitors also evaluate medical and behavioral care, dietary requirements, staff knowledge and skills, adaptive equipment, incident reporting, and the documentation of physical interventions, according to Arizona law. 

COMIT also conducts follow-up reviews when monitors identify significant quality-of-care concerns and submits monthly and annual reports documenting its findings and recommendations. DES is required to respond quarterly to issues identified by the program and publish the monitoring reports online. 

Disability Rights Arizona’s 2025 annual report said COMIT worked with state lawmakers to revise the statute so the monitoring effort could become a permanent program and receive funding for 2026. The current version of the law nevertheless makes the state’s contract “subject to available appropriations” and lists a Jan. 1, 2028, repeal date. 

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee’s June budget documents listed a $1.2 million reduction identified as “Remove One-Time DD Group Home Monitoring Pilot.” The documents define a removal as fiscal year 2026 funding that was not continued into fiscal year 2027, while leaving the original appropriation available through its authorized period. 

J.J. Rico, CEO of Disability Rights Arizona, told KJZZ that his organization would be unable to continue its work after the current funding expires.

“The oversight won’t happen by our office,” Rico said.

Rico said the organization had worked with Republican and Democratic lawmakers to secure continued funding and was surprised to learn that the final budget did not include it. Republican Reps. David Livingston of Peoria and Matt Gress of Phoenix, who participated in the budget process, told KJZZ that they did not know why the appropriation was omitted. 

Christian Slater, a spokesman for Hobbs, said the governor had secured funding for services provided through the Division of Developmental Disabilities and would work with DES to ensure continued oversight. His statement did not identify a replacement for COMIT’s funding or explain its omission from the budget. 

COMIT’s latest annual report said monitoring reviews were completed for 154 clients residing with 63 vendors in 22 cities across all five Division of Developmental Disabilities districts during 2025.

The program completed 447 monitoring reviews from May 2023 through December 2025. Another 44 assignments were closed because those members were no longer living in covered group-home settings, accounting for all 491 residents assigned to its three-year monitoring roster.

The report found that 81 percent of the residents reviewed did not receive all services identified in their person-centered service plans. Monitors were able to determine that services were effective in 19 percent of reviews.

In 75 percent of the reviews, COMIT was unable to determine whether concerning behaviors had decreased because behavior-tracking data was absent or inconsistent. Monitors also could not determine whether physical interventions had been properly reported or documented in 69 percent of reviews. 

COMIT reported documentation or compliance concerns involving 99 percent of the qualified vendors it reviewed. The report found missing goal-tracking records among 95 percent, missing incident reports among 80 percent, no approved behavior plan among 79 percent, and no current person-centered service plan in client files among 77 percent. 

The Division of Developmental Disabilities said it agreed with COMIT’s findings concerning documentation standards, behavior-plan accuracy, and staff knowledge of client records, goals, and behaviors. The division said COMIT applies criteria distinct from those used in the state’s internal compliance reviews, which can result in different findings.

The division said its internal oversight unit monitors more than 1,400 homes annually for compliance with state regulations and vendor agreements, while COMIT reviews approximately 165 homes using its separate evaluative criteria.

The Division of Developmental Disabilities conducts its own programmatic monitoring of vendor compliance. COMIT’s separate reviews focus on the quality of services provided to residents and their quality of life, according to Disability Rights Arizona. Absent another appropriation, that independent monitoring will end when COMIT closes at the end of 2026