Hatch says he will introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would give the state licensing board the power to categorize residential treatment facilities according to the services they offer and what clients they serve and to impose appropriate health and safety rules.

That is a reversal for Hatch, who opposed a similar bill that disappeared as this year's Legislature drew to a close in March. That happened after Robert Lichfield, founder of a chain of controversial homes, lobbied legislators. Hatch is now responding to his constituents who are rightly concerned about the safety of teen group homes after a group-home counselor was brutally killed at the Maximum Skills Life Academy in Cedar City. Two 17-year-old residents of the academy have been charged in the killing.

The Hatch bill takes one step toward tougher regulations. Unfortunately, it goes no further.

It does not give the state more money to hire additional inspectors to oversee the homes where troubled teenagers live, work and are supervised, sometimes for years. Only about 20 inspectors are now responsible for 1,300 group homes and 1,200 foster homes statewide.

It does not require background checks on employees or periodic inspections. And the bill does not include limits on the number of group homes in any one particular area, something requested by officials in Cedar City, a community that has seen a proliferation of teen-help homes recently.

The proposal's biggest deficiency, however, is its failure to include private boarding schools that promote themselves as treatment centers for teenagers who are in trouble.

Hatch denies he may have been influenced to exclude boarding schools by campaign donations from Lichfield.

He uses economics as a reason, saying the private boarding schools are "big business" in Utah and that regulating them might encourage them to leave. Hatch points to California's tightening of its oversight as a reason the schools are coming to Utah.

But, any center that houses teen residents and purports to offer behavior-altering treatment must be regulated, including private boarding schools. If their owners relocate to avoid California regulations, that should raise suspicions in Utah.

The state has a clear responsibility to see that all live-in centers that treat teenagers with serious behavior problems are safe and well-managed. Hatch's bill should stay on the drawing board until it does just that.