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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 246
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 1637
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING VA RIOUS REVISIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT
OF DEVELOPMENTAL SER VICES STATUTES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (c) of section 17a-247b of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 2
passage): 3
(c) The department shall make information in the registry available 4
only to: (1) Authorized agencies, for the purpose of protective service 5
determinations; (2) employers who employ employees to provide 6
services to an individual who receives services or funding from the 7
department; (3) [the Departments of Children and Families, Mental 8
Health and Addiction Services, and Social Services, for the purpose of 9
determining whether an applicant for employment appears on the 10
registry] the Department of Administrative Services, for the purpose of 11
determining whether an applicant for employment with the 12
Departments of Children and Families, Developmental Services, Mental 13
Health and Addiction Services and Social Services appears on the 14
registry; or (4) charitable organizations that recruit volunteers to 15 Raised Bill No. 246
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support programs for persons with intellectual disability or autism 16
spectrum disorder, upon application to and approval by the 17
commissioner, for purposes of conducting background checks on such 18
volunteers. 19
Sec. 2. Subsection (f) of section 17a-238 of the general statutes is 20
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 21
passage): 22
(f) The Commissioner of Developmental Services shall require the 23
attending physician of any person placed or treated in a residential 24
facility under the direction of the commissioner to obtain informed 25
written consent from the following persons prior to authorizing any 26
[surgical procedure or any] medical treatment or surgical procedure, 27
excluding routine medical treatment which is necessary to maintain the 28
general health of the person or to prevent the spread of any 29
communicable disease: (1) The person if such person is eighteen years 30
of age or over or is legally emancipated and competent to give such 31
consent; (2) the parent of a person under eighteen years of age who is 32
not legally emancipated; or (3) the legal representative of a person of 33
any age who is adjudicated unable to make informed decisions about 34
matters relating to such person's medical care. The person whose 35
consent is required shall be informed of the nature and consequences of 36
the particular medical treatment or surgical procedure, the reasonable 37
risks, benefits and purpose of such treatment or [surgical] procedure 38
and any alternative treatment or surgical [procedures] procedure which 39
[are] is available. The consent of any person or of any parent or legal 40
representative of any person may be withdrawn at any time prior to the 41
commencement of the medical treatment or surgical procedure. The 42
regional or training school director having custody and control of a 43
person living in a residential facility may authorize necessary [surgery] 44
medical treatment or surgical procedure for such person where, in the 45
opinion of the person's attending physician, the [surgery] medical 46
treatment or surgical procedure is of an emergency nature and there is 47
insufficient time to obtain the required written consent provided for in 48
this section. The attending physician shall prepare a report describing 49 Raised Bill No. 246
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the nature of the emergency which necessitated such [surgery] medical 50
treatment or surgical procedure and shall file a copy of such report in 51
the patient's record. 52
Sec. 3. Section 46a-11c of the general statutes is repealed and the 53
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 54
(a) The commissioner, upon receiving a report that a person with 55
intellectual disability allegedly is being or has been abused or neglected, 56
shall make an initial determination whether such person has intellectual 57
disability, shall determine if the report warrants investigation and shall 58
cause, in cases that so warrant, a prompt, thorough evaluation to be 59
made to determine whether the person has intellectual disability and 60
has been abused or neglected. For the purposes of sections 46a-11a to 61
46a-11g, inclusive, the determination of intellectual disability may be 62
made by means of a review of records and shall not require the 63
commissioner to conduct a full psychological examination of the person. 64
Any delay in making such determination of intellectual disability shall 65
not delay the investigation of abuse or neglect or recommendation of 66
provision of protective services. The evaluation shall include a visit to 67
the named person with intellectual disability and consultation with 68
those individuals having knowledge of the facts of the particular case. 69
All state, local and private agencies shall have a duty to cooperate with 70
any investigation conducted by the Department of Developmental 71
Services under this section, including the release of complete records of 72
the named person for review, inspection and copying, except where the 73
person with intellectual disability refuses to permit such records to be 74
released. The commissioner shall have subpoena powers to compel any 75
information related to such investigation. All records of the named 76
person shall be kept confidential by said department. Upon completion 77
of the evaluation of each case, written findings shall be prepared which 78
shall include a determination of whether abuse or neglect has occurred 79
and recommendations as to whether protective services are needed. The 80
commissioner, except in cases where the legal representative is the 81
alleged or substantiated perpetrator of abuse or neglect or is residing 82
with the alleged or substantiated perpetrator, shall notify the legal 83 Raised Bill No. 246
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representative, if any, of the person with intellectual disability if a report 84
of abuse or neglect is made which the commissioner determines 85
warrants investigation. The commissioner, except in cases where the 86
legal representative is the alleged or substantiated perpetrator of abuse 87
or neglect or is residing with the alleged or substantiated perpetrator, 88
shall provide the legal representative who the commissioner determines 89
is entitled to such information with further information upon request. 90
The person filing the report of abuse or neglect shall be notified of the 91
findings upon such person's request. 92
(b) The commissioner, upon receiving a report that a person who 93
receives services from the Department of Social Services' Division of 94
Autism Spectrum Disorder Services, allegedly is being or has been 95
abused or neglected, shall make an initial determination whether such 96
person receives funding or services from said division, shall determine 97
if the report warrants investigation and shall cause, in cases that so 98
warrant, a prompt, thorough evaluation, as described in subsection (b) 99
of section 17a-247f, to be made by the Department of Developmental 100
Services to determine whether the person has been abused or neglected. 101
(c) In cases where there is a death of a person with intellectual 102
disability for whom the Department of Developmental Services has 103
direct or oversight responsibility for medical care, and there is 104
reasonable cause to suspect or believe that such death may be due to 105
abuse or neglect, the commissioner shall conduct an investigation to 106
determine whether abuse or neglect occurred, except as may be 107
otherwise required by court order. The commissioner shall establish 108
protocols for conducting such investigations. 109
(d) The commissioner shall maintain an electronic copy of the reports 110
received of alleged abuse or neglect and all evaluation reports. 111
(e) Neither the original report of alleged abuse or neglect nor the 112
evaluation report of the investigator which includes findings and 113
recommendations shall be deemed a public record for purposes of 114
section 1-210. The original report of alleged abuse or neglect or the 115 Raised Bill No. 246
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evaluation report of the investigator shall not be provided to a legal 116
representative who is the alleged or substantiated perpetrator of abuse 117
or neglect or is residing with the alleged or substantiated perpetrator. 118
The name of the person making the original report shall not be disclosed 119
to any person unless the person making the original report consents to 120
such disclosure or unless a judicial proceeding results therefrom. 121
Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The Department of 122
Developmental Services shall encourage each operator of a residential 123
facility, licensed pursuant to section 17a-227 of the general statutes, to 124
adopt standards and practices that promote energy efficiency and 125
incorporate environmentally friendly construction materials and 126
techniques in the construction of any new residential facility. 127
(b) Any residential facility licensed pursuant to section 17a-227 of the 128
general statutes may participate in any energy assessment program 129
available under section 16-245m of the general statutes. A residential 130
facility participating in such energy assessment program shall provide 131
a copy of any energy assessment report received by such facility to the 132
Department of Developmental Services. 133
(c) Not later than July 1, 2021, the Commissioner of Developmental 134
Services shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a 135
of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General 136
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public health on (1) 137
the findings of the energy assessments performed on licensed 138
residential facilities pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, and (2) 139
recommendations for energy efficiency improvement in facilities 140
licensed pursuant to section 17a-227 of the general statutes. 141
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 17a-247b(c)
Sec. 2 from passage 17a-238(f)
Sec. 3 from passage 46a-11c
Sec. 4 from passage New section Raised Bill No. 246
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Statement of Purpose:
To (1) make information in the Department of Developmental Services'
abuse and neglect registry available to the Department of
Administrative Services, (2) allow the Commissioner of Developmental
Services or a Department of Developmental Services regional or training
school director to consent to emergency medical treatment for an
individual under the custody or control of the department, (3) restrict
legal representatives of persons with intellectual disabilities from
accessing abuse and neglect reports when the legal representative is the
alleged perpetrator of such abuse or neglect or is residing with the
alleged perpetrator, and (4) encourage licensed residential facilities to
adopt standards that promote energy efficiency and incorporate
environmentally friendly building materials.
[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.]