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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 422
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 2671
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT STRENGTHENING HOME CARE SERVICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2020) (a) For purposes of this 1
section, (1) "commissioner" means the Commissioner of Consumer 2
Protection; (2) "employee organization" means any lawful association, 3
labor organization, federation or council having as a primary purpose 4
the improvement of wages, hours and other conditions of employment 5
among workers; and (3) "homemaker- companion agency" has the same 6
meaning as provided in section 20-670 of the general statutes, as 7
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, (4) 15
self-identified gender, (5) home address, (6) mailing address, (7) 16 Raised Bill No. 422
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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 list 18
of home care trainings offered by the homemaker-companion agency or 19
its designee and date the training was completed by the employee. 20
(c) A homemaker-companion agency shall collect and submit to the 21
commissioner information required pursuant to subsection (b) of this 22
section for each employee not later than five business days after hiring 23
such employee and shall submit updated information to the 24
commissioner for each employee on a quarterly basis. Except for the 25
employee's full name, identification number, name of any homemaker-26
companion agency employing the employee and a list of home care 27
trainings completed by the employee, information in the directory shall 28
not be deemed a public record under section 1-200 of the general 29
statutes. Employees shall not be responsible for any costs related to the 30
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 employee information in the registry, 37
including contact information, to a homemaker-companion agency or 38
employee 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 day 44
after receiving notice from the commissioner, the agency shall notify, in 45
writing, (1) each employee concerned, provided such notice shall not be 46
required to be in writing where impractical due to a large number of 47
employees concerned, and (2) the employee organization, if any, of each 48
employee concerned. Except as otherwise set forth in this section or as 49 Raised Bill No. 422
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may otherwise be required by law, the commissioner shall not disclose 50
any information which is not a public record. Except as otherwise 51
required by law, the commissioner may withhold from disclosure 52
information in the public record about an employee listed in the 53
directory whenever the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe 54
that release of such information would place the employee in imminent 55
danger. 56
(f) Unless otherwise required by law or court order, the commissioner 57
shall not provide access to the directory to federal, state and local 58
government entities, including, but not limited to, United States 59
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or for the purpose of criminal 60
prosecution. 61
Sec. 2. Subdivision (5) of section 20-670 of the 2020 supplement to the 62
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 63
thereof (Effective July 1, 2020): 64
(5) "Comprehensive background check" means a background 65
investigation of a prospective employee performed by a homemaker-66
companion agency, that includes: (A) A review of any application 67
materials prepared or requested by the agency and completed by the 68
prospective employee; (B) an in-person interview of the prospective 69
employee; (C) verification of the prospective employee's Social Security 70
number; (D) if the position applied for within the agency requires 71
licensure on the part of the prospective employee, verification that the 72
required license is in good standing; (E) a check of the sexual offender 73
registry established and maintained pursuant to section 54-257; (F) a 74
review of criminal conviction information obtained through a search of 75
current criminal matters of public record in this state based on the 76
prospective employee's name and date of birth; (G) if the prospective 77
employee has resided in this state less than three years prior to the date 78
of the application with the agency, a review of criminal conviction 79
information from the state or states where such prospective employee 80
resided during such three-year period; and (H) a review of any other 81
information that the agency deems necessary in order to evaluate the 82 Raised Bill No. 422
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suitability of the prospective employee for the position. 83
Sec. 3. Section 20-671 of the general statutes is repealed and the 84
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2020): 85
No person acting individually or jointly with any other person shall 86
establish, conduct, operate or maintain a homemaker-companion 87
agency in this state without first obtaining a certificate of registration 88
from the Commissioner of Consumer Protection pursuant to section 20-89
672. A homemaker-companion agency shall submit annual cost reports 90
and audited financial statements to the commissioner. Annual cost 91
reports may be identical to annual reports submitted by the agency to 92
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 93
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2020 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2020 20-670(5)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2020 20-671
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a public registry of homemaker-companion agency
employees.
[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.]