Gov. Ned Lamont has signed a flurry of bills from the 2026 legislative session into law over the course of the last week including one that allows cameras in residential care facilities.
Video and audio monitoring with recording capability is already allowed in Connecticut’s nursing homes. The law, which Lamont signed May 20, expands where that kind of technology can be used to include assisted living facilities.
“You can check in, if it's 11 o'clock at night and I want to see what's going on with mom, is she OK?” said Rep. Jane Garibay, a Democrat representing Windsor.
Garibay co-chairs the Aging Committee, and said there are many good residential care homes in Connecticut. However, this change is in response to reports of mistreatment in some of the facilities, she said, to document an incident from a staff member or possibly even prevent future issues.
“For that small percentage of bad actors, if they know there's a camera, they're going to behave better,” Garibay said.
Residents, not care homes, are responsible for the cost and operation of the device. Any roommate must also give written consent to having a camera in the room at least a week before a resident or their family would like to put it to use.
The law, which passed the House and Senate unanimously, will go into effect Oct. 1.
Connecticut’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Mairead Painter supported the bill this session.
“Residents have the right to use technology of their choice, yet our office continues to receive concerns about devices being moved, turned off, covered, unplugged, or otherwise interfered with in ways that undermine the resident’s intent and the protections the law was designed to provide,” Painter wrote in public testimony.
“When violations occur, there must be clear accountability,” she continued, “so that resident rights are not treated as optional or dependent on the preferences of staff or facility leadership.”
