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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 63
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 6405
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E USE OF A SUPPORTED DECISION -
MAKING AGREEMENT BY A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY.
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) "Adult with a disability" means a person who is twenty-one 3
years of age or older who has a physical, developmental or mental 4
condition that substantially limits one or more of an individual's major 5
life activities, including any of the following: (A) Capacity for 6
independent living, (B) self-direction, (C) self-care, (D) mobility, (E) 7
communication, or (F) learning; 8
(2) "Supported decision-making" means a process of supporting and 9
accommodating an adult with a disability to enable the adult to make 10
life decisions, including decisions related to where the adult wants to 11
live, the services, supports and medical care the adult wants to receive, 12
whom the adult wants to live with and where the adult wants to work, 13
without impeding the self-determination of the adult; 14
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(3) "Supported decision-making agreement" means an agreement 15
between an adult with a disability and a supporter entered into under 16
this section; 17
(4) "Supporter" means a person who is twenty-one years of age or 18
older who is willing to enter into an agreement with an adult with a 19
disability to provide supported decision-making; and 20
(5) "Agency" has the same meaning as provided in section 1-200 of 21
the general statutes. 22
(b) An adult with a disability may voluntarily enter into a 23
supported decision-making agreement that allows the supporter to: 24
(1) Provide supported decision-making to an adult with a disability; 25
(2) Be present during the supported decision-making process, when 26
requested by the adult with a disability; or 27
(3) Assist a person with a disability, while in such person's presence 28
in (A) obtaining information that is relevant to a given life decision 29
from any person, provided the supporter keeps any information 30
obtained in connection with this responsibility confidential; or (B) 31
communicating the decisions of a person with a disability to others. 32
(c) A supporter acting pursuant to a supported decision-making 33
agreement may only exercise the authority expressly granted to the 34
supporter in the supported decision-making agreement. 35
(d) A person that in good faith accepts an acknowledged supported 36
decision-making agreement without actual knowledge that (1) such 37
agreement is void, invalid or terminated, (2) the purported supporter's 38
authority is void, invalid or terminated, or (3) the supporter is 39
exceeding or improperly exercising the supporter's authority may rely 40
upon the supported decision-making agreement as if the supported 41
decision-making agreement were genuine, valid and still in effect, the 42
supporter's authority were genuine, valid and still in effect and the 43
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supporter had not exceeded and had properly exercised the authority. 44
(e) If any state or municipal law requires that an agency or person 45
provide a prescribed notice to a person with a disability, and the 46
agency or person that is required to provide such notice has received a 47
supported decision-making agreement from a person with a disability 48
that specifies that a supporter is also to receive a copy of any such 49
notice, then the agency or person in possession of the supported 50
decision-making agreement shall also provide the specified supporter 51
with a copy of such notice. Notwithstanding the provisions of this 52
subsection, if any state or municipal law requires that an agency or 53
person provide a prescribed notice to a person with a disability and 54
such notice includes confidential information, including medical 55
records or educational records, that are protected by state or federal 56
law, such notice shall not be provided to the specified supporter unless 57
the supported decision-making agreement is accompanied by a release 58
authorizing the specified supporter to obtain the confidential 59
information. 60
(f) No agency or person shall be subject to criminal or civil liability, 61
nor shall any person be considered to have engaged in professional 62
misconduct, for an act or omission done in good faith and in 63
reasonable reliance upon a supported decision-making agreement. 64
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To permit a person with a disability to enter into a supported decision-
making agreement with another person.
[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.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LOONEY, 11th Dist.
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S.B. 63