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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1051
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5410
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT STRENGTHENING HO ME CARE SERVICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) For purposes of this 1
section and section 2 of this act, (1) "commissioner" means the 2
Commissioner of Consumer Protection; (2) "employee organization" 3
means any lawful association, labor organization, federation or council 4
having as a primary purpose the improvement of wages, hours and 5
other conditions of employment among workers; and (3) "homemaker- 6
companion agency" has the same meaning as provided in section 20-7
670 of the general statutes, as amended by this act. 8
(b) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall establish and 9
maintain a directory of employees of homemaker-companion agencies 10
whether such employees work on a paid, unpaid, part-time, full-time, 11
temporary or permanent basis. The commissioner shall assign a unique 12
identification number to each employee of a homemaker-companion 13
agency and shall collect and maintain the following information 14
concerning each employee: (1) Full name, (2) job title, (3) date of hire, 15
(4) self-identified gender, (5) home address, (6) mailing address, (7) 16 Raised Bill No. 1051
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telephone number, (8) electronic mail address, (9) full legal name of the 17
homemaker-companion agency employing the employee, and (10) a 18
list of home care trainings offered by the homemaker-companion 19
agency or its designee and date the training was completed by the 20
employee. 21
(c) A homemaker-companion agency shall collect and submit to the 22
commissioner information required pursuant to subsection (b) of this 23
section for each employee not later than five business days after hiring 24
such employee and shall submit updated information to the 25
commissioner for each employee on a quarterly basis. Information 26
other than the employee's full name, identification number, name of 27
any homemaker-companion agency employing the employee and a list 28
of home care trainings completed by the employee shall not be deemed 29
a public record under section 1-200 of the general statutes. Employees 30
shall not be responsible for any costs related to the directory. 31
(d) The commissioner shall make each employee's full name, 32
identification number, name of any homemaker-companion agency 33
employer and a list of home care trainings completed by the employee 34
available to the public unless such information is exempt from 35
disclosure by the commissioner pursuant to this section. The 36
commissioner shall provide all reported information, including contact 37
information, to a homemaker-companion agency or employee 38
organization upon request. 39
(e) Whenever the commissioner receives a request to inspect or copy 40
information contained in any public record about any employee in the 41
directory, the commissioner shall notify the homemaker-companion 42
agency that provided information on such employee not later than one 43
business day after receiving the request. Not later than one business 44
day after receiving notice from the commissioner, the agency shall 45
notify, in writing, (1) each employee concerned, provided such notice 46
shall not be required to be in writing where impractical due to a large 47
number of employees concerned, and (2) the employee organization, if 48
any, of each employee concerned. Except as otherwise set forth in this 49 Raised Bill No. 1051
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section or as may otherwise be required by law, the commissioner shall 50
not disclose any information which is not a public record. Except as 51
otherwise required by law, the commissioner may withhold from 52
disclosure information in the public record about an employee listed in 53
the directory whenever the commissioner has reasonable cause to 54
believe that release of such information would place the employee in 55
imminent danger. 56
(f) Unless otherwise required by law or court order, the 57
commissioner shall not provide access to the directory to federal, state 58
and local government entities, including, but not limited to, United 59
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or for the purpose of 60
criminal prosecution. 61
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) A homemaker-companion 62
agency shall provide an employee with (1) a minimum of sixteen hours 63
of paid training not later than sixty days after hiring such employee, 64
and (2) eight hours of paid continuing education annually. Training 65
topics shall include (A) services to assist consumers with personal 66
hygiene, (B) cooking, (C) household cleaning, (D) laundry and other 67
activities of daily living, and (E) a minimum of one hour of training in 68
federal and state workplace safety, fair wage and antidiscrimination 69
laws, regulations related to the employee's job duties and the rules of 70
any applicable collective bargaining agreement. 71
(b) A homemaker-companion agency shall ensure that employee 72
training is provided by a trainer with experience in workforce training 73
in the home care industry, with preference given to a trainer with 74
experience in both the effective performance of home care duties and 75
the rights and responsibilities of home care consumers and employees. 76
(c) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall adopt 77
regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the 78
general statutes to implement the provisions of this section and section 79
1 of this act. 80 Raised Bill No. 1051
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Sec. 3. Subdivision (5) of section 20-670 of the general statutes is 81
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 82
1, 2019): 83
(5) "Comprehensive background check" means a background 84
investigation of a prospective employee performed by a homemaker-85
companion agency, that includes: (A) A review of any application 86
materials prepared or requested by the agency and completed by the 87
prospective employee; (B) an in-person interview of the prospective 88
employee; (C) verification of the prospective employee's Social 89
Security number; (D) if the position applied for within the agency 90
requires licensure on the part of the prospective employee, verification 91
that the required license is in good standing; (E) a check of the sexual 92
offender registry established and maintained pursuant to section 54-93
257; (F) a review of criminal conviction information obtained through a 94
search of current criminal matters of public record in this state based 95
on the prospective employee's name and date of birth; (G) if the 96
prospective employee has resided in this state less than three years 97
prior to the date of the application with the agency, a review of 98
criminal conviction information from the state or states where such 99
prospective employee resided during such three-year period; and (H) a 100
review of any other information that the agency deems necessary in 101
order to evaluate the suitability of the prospective employee for the 102
position. 103
Sec. 4. Section 20-671 of the general statutes is repealed and the 104
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 105
No person acting individually or jointly with any other person shall 106
establish, conduct, operate or maintain a homemaker-companion 107
agency in this state without first obtaining a certificate of registration 108
from the Commissioner of Consumer Protection pursuant to section 109
20-672. A homemaker-companion agency shall submit annual cost 110
reports and audited financial statements to the commissioner. Annual 111
cost reports may be identical to annual reports submitted by the 112
agency to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 113 Raised Bill No. 1051
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This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2019 20-670(5)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2019 20-671
HS Joint Favorable
APP Joint Favorable