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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7394
January Session, 2019
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E PROTECTION OF CONF IDENTIAL
COMMUNICATIONS BETWE EN A FIRST RESPONDER AND A PEER
SUPPORT TEAM MEMBER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) As used in this 1
section: 2
(1) "Peer support team member" means any person engaged in 3
directing or staffing any peer support program established by an 4
employer for the benefit of an employee who is a first responder; 5
(2) "First responder" means: Any peace officer, as defined in section 6
53a-3 of the general statutes; any firefighter, as defined in section 7-7
313g of the general statutes; any ambulance driver, emergency medical 8
responder, emergency medical technician, advanced emergency 9
medical technician or paramedic, as defined in section 19a-175 of the 10
general statutes; and any telecommunicator, as defined in section 28-30 11
of the general statutes; and 12
(3) "Confidential communications" means all oral and written 13
communications transmitted in confidence between a first responder 14
and a peer support team member in the course of participation in an 15
employer established peer support program and all records prepared 16
by a peer support team member related to such first responder's 17 Substitute Bill No. 7394
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participation in such program. 18
(b) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, and unless 19
the first responder making the confidential communication waives the 20
privilege, no peer support team member shall disclose any confidential 21
communications (1) to any third person, other than a person to whom 22
disclosure is reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the 23
purposes for which such member is consulted, (2) in any civil or 24
criminal case or proceeding, or (3) in any legislative or administrative 25
proceeding. 26
(c) No person in any civil or criminal case or proceeding or in any 27
legislative or administrative proceeding may request or require 28
information from any first responder relating to the first responder's 29
participation in a peer support program, including whether or not 30
such first responder at any time participated in such peer support 31
program. 32
(d) Consent of a first responder shall not be required for the 33
disclosure of such first responder's confidential communications: 34
(1) Where mandated by any other provision of the general statutes; 35
(2) Where a peer support team member believes in good faith that 36
the failure to disclose such confidential communications presents a 37
clear and present danger to any individual, including the first 38
responder; and 39
(3) Where the peer support team member was a witness or party to 40
an incident that resulted in the delivery of peer support services to the 41
first responder. 42
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section Substitute Bill No. 7394
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Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(a)(3), "in the course of the relationship with a first
responder" was changed to "related to such first responder's
participation in such program" for clarity; and the provisions of
Section (1)(b) were restructured for clarity.
JUD Joint Favorable Subst.