General Assembly Raised Bill No. 706
January Session, 2015 LCO No. 2876
*02876_______AGE*
Referred to Committee on AGING
Introduced by:
(AGE)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 706
January Session, 2015
LCO No. 2876
*02876_______AGE*
Referred to Committee on AGING
Introduced by:
(AGE)
AN ACT CONCERNING MANDATED REPORTERS OF ELDERLY ABUSE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 17b-451 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):
(a) [Any physician] For purposes of this subsection, "mandated reporter" means a: (1) Physician or surgeon licensed under the provisions of chapter 370; [, any] (2) resident physician or intern in any hospital in this state, whether or not so licensed; [, any] (3) registered nurse; [, any] (4) nursing home administrator, nurse's aide or orderly in a nursing home facility or residential care home; [, any] (5) emergency medical technician certified under the provisions of chapter 368d, (6) person paid for caring for a patient in a nursing home facility or residential care home; [, any] (7) staff person employed by a nursing home facility or residential care home; [, any] (8) professional patients' advocate; [, any] (9) licensed practical nurse; [,] (10) medical examiner; [,] (11) dentist; [,] (12) optometrist; [,] (13) chiropractor; [,] (14) podiatrist; [,] (15) social worker; [,] (16) clergyman; [,] (17) police officer; [,] (18) pharmacist; [,] (19) psychologist; [or] (20) physical therapist; [,] and [any] (21) person paid for caring for an elderly person by any institution, organization, agency or facility, [. Such persons shall include] including, but not limited to, an employee of a (A) community-based services provider, (B) senior center, (C) home care agency, (D) homemaker and companion agency, (E) adult day care center, (F) village-model community, and (G) congregate housing facility. [,] Any mandated reporter who has reasonable cause to suspect or believe that any elderly person has been abused, neglected, exploited or abandoned, or is in a condition that is the result of such abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment, or is in need of protective services, shall [, not later than seventy-two hours after such suspicion or belief arose,] report such information, or cause a report to be made in any reasonable manner, not later than seventy-two hours after such suspicion or belief arose to the Commissioner of Social Services or to the person or persons designated by the commissioner to receive such reports. Any [person required to report under the provisions of this section] mandated reporter who fails to make such report within the prescribed time period shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, except that, if such [person] mandated reporter intentionally fails to make such report within the prescribed time period, such person shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor for the first offense and a class A misdemeanor for any subsequent offense. Any institution, organization, agency or facility employing individuals to care for persons sixty years of age or older shall provide mandatory training on detecting potential abuse, [and] neglect, exploitation or abandonment of such persons and inform such employees of their obligations under this section.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2015 17b-451(a)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
October 1, 2015
17b-451(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To add certified emergency medical technicians to mandated reporters of suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment of elderly persons.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]