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New York Gov. George Pataki has signed the package known as Billy’s Law, which will give some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers added protection.

Named for a youth who was sent to residential facilities in nearby states because of his traumatic brain injury, his father claimed his son was beaten and restrained despite direction against it. In one case, the boy received 40 stitches after suffering from a fall.

Youths and adults with multiple handicaps in New York are sent to out-of-state facilities, most often in New England and New Jersey because there is no room in New York. Sending the roughly 1,400 children and young adults to get care out-of-state costs New York taxpayers as much as $200,000 per year per patient.

Under Billy’s Law, New York agencies will be required to conduct more inspections of the facilities, and Pataki and other lawmakers also hope to create more beds in New York to bring the residents back to the state. Supporters of the bill hope allowing the residents to remain in state will reduce the risk of harm.

Pataki vetoed a similar bill last year because of technical flaws but created a commission that investigated the care and the alternatives, which confirmed the use of electroshock therapy. Under New York law, electroshock therapy is illegal for these types of patients.

Assemblywoman Joan Millman, a Brooklyn Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said the number of children in out-of-state placements, which can include foster care children, has grown by more than 1,000 between 1998 and last year. Pataki said “this legislation takes aggressive steps to help people with unique needs by directing state entities to work even more closely to ensure that the treatment provided to each and every New Yorker is the best it can be, whether it is here in New York, or out of state.”

In addition to estimates that the state’s cost of more than $200 million a year would be cut substantially, the panel also said hundreds of jobs would be created.