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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 946
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4722
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING DE ADLINES APPLICABLE TO HEARIN G
DECISIONS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SE RVICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 17b-61 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) [Not] The commissioner or the commissioner's designated 3
hearing officer shall ordinarily render a final decision not later than 4
[sixty] ninety days after [such hearing, or] the date the commissioner 5
receives a request for a fair hearing pursuant to section 17b-60, and 6
shall render a final decision not later than three business days after the 7
hearing if the hearing concerns a denial of or failure to provide 8
emergency housing, [the commissioner or his designated hearing 9
officer shall render a final] provided the time for rendering a final 10
decision shall be extended whenever the aggrieved person requests or 11
agrees to an extension, or fails to take a required action, or when the 12
commissioner documents an administrative or other emergency 13
beyond the commissioner's control. Such decision shall be based upon 14
all the evidence introduced before [him and applying] the 15 Raised Bill No. 946
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commissioner or the commissioner's designated hearing officer and all 16
pertinent provisions of law, regulations and departmental policy, and 17
[such final decision] shall supersede the decision made without a 18
hearing. [, provided final definitive administrative action shall be 19
taken by the commissioner or his designee within ninety days after the 20
request of such hearing pursuant to section 17b-60.] Notice of such 21
final decision shall be given to the aggrieved person by mailing [him] 22
such person a copy thereof [within one business day of its rendition] 23
not later than one business day after the decision is rendered. Such 24
decision after hearing shall be final except as provided in subsections 25
(b) and (c) of this section. 26
(b) The applicant for such hearing, if aggrieved, may appeal 27
[therefrom] the decision in accordance with section 4-183. Appeals 28
from decisions of said commissioner shall be privileged cases to be 29
heard by the court as soon after the return day as shall be practicable. 30
If the commissioner or the commissioner's designated hearing officer 31
fails to render a final decision within the time limits set forth in 32
subsection (a) of this section, the aggrieved person's remedy shall be to 33
bring an action against the commissioner in the superior court for the 34
judicial district of New Britain for a writ of mandamus to compel the 35
commissioner to render such decision and for such other relief as may 36
be appropriate. 37
(c) The commissioner may, for good cause shown by an aggrieved 38
person, extend the time for filing an appeal to Superior Court beyond 39
the time limitations of section 4-183, as set forth below: 40
(1) Any aggrieved person who is authorized to appeal a decision of 41
the commissioner, pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, but who 42
fails to serve or file a timely appeal to the Superior Court pursuant to 43
section 4-183, may, as provided in this subsection, petition that the 44
commissioner, for good cause shown, extend the time for filing any 45
such appeal. Such a petition must be filed with the commissioner in 46
writing and contain a complete and detailed explanation of the reasons 47
that precluded the petitioner from serving or filing an appeal within 48 Raised Bill No. 946
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the statutory time period. Such petition must also be accompanied by 49
all available documentary evidence that supports or corroborates the 50
reasons advanced for the extension request. In no event shall a petition 51
for extension be considered or approved if filed later than ninety days 52
after the rendition of the final decision. The decision as to whether to 53
grant an extension shall be made consistent with the provisions of 54
subdivision (2) of this subsection and shall be final and not subject to 55
judicial review. 56
(2) In determining whether to grant a good cause extension, as 57
provided for in this subsection, the commissioner, or [his] the 58
commissioner's authorized designee, shall, without the necessity of 59
further hearing, review and, as necessary, verify the reasons advanced 60
by the petition in justification of the extension request. A 61
determination that good cause prevented the filing of a timely appeal 62
shall be issued in writing and shall enable the petitioner to serve and 63
file an appeal within the time provisions of section 4-183, from the date 64
of the decision granting an extension. The circumstances that 65
precluded the petitioner from filing a timely appeal, and which may be 66
deemed good cause for purposes of granting an extension petition, 67
include, but are not limited to: (A) Serious illness or incapacity of the 68
petitioner which has been documented as materially affecting the 69
conduct of the petitioner's personal affairs; (B) a death or serious 70
illness in the petitioner's immediate family that has been documented 71
as precluding the petitioner from perfecting a timely appeal; (C) 72
incorrect or misleading information given to the petitioner by the 73
agency, relating to the appeal time period, and shown to have been 74
materially relied on by the petitioner as the basis for failure to file a 75
timely appeal; (D) evidence that the petitioner did not receive notice of 76
the agency decision; and (E) other unforeseen and unavoidable 77
circumstances of an exceptional nature which prevented the filing of a 78
timely appeal. 79
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
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Section 1 from passage 17b-61
Statement of Purpose:
To clarify the deadline for the Department of Social Services to issue a
final decision on an administrative appeal and remedies when the
department fails to meet the deadline.
[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.]