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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5614
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3877
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A COMMISSION ON THE DISPARATE
IMPACT OF COVID-19.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section, 1
"COVID-19" means the respiratory disease designated by the World 2
Health Organization on February 11, 2020, as coronavirus 2019, and any 3
related mutation thereof recognized by the World Health Organization 4
as a communicable respiratory disease. 5
(b) There is established a Commission on the Disparate Impact of 6
COVID-19, which shall be part of the Legislative Department. 7
(c) The commission, established in subsection (b) of this section, shall 8
consist of the following members: 9
(1) Four appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives 10
who have expertise in evaluating disparities in education, housing and 11
human services; 12
(2) Four appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate who 13
have expertise in evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on essential 14
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workers; 15
(3) Three appointed by the majority leader of the House of 16
Representatives, two of whom have expertise in public health and 17
infectious diseases and one of whom shall be a teacher; 18
(4) Three appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, two of 19
whom have expertise in small business and one of whom shall be a 20
housing advocate; 21
(5) Three appointed by the minority leader of the House of 22
Representatives, two of whom have expertise in nursing homes and one 23
of whom shall be a representative of higher education; 24
(6) Three appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, two of 25
whom have expertise in health care delivery and one of whom has 26
expertise in the hospitality industry; 27
(7) Four appointed by the Governor, who have expertise in 28
evaluating racial, economic and health disparities; 29
(8) A representative of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the 30
General Assembly, who shall be appointed by the chairperson of said 31
caucus; and 32
(9) The executive director of the Commission on Women, Children, 33
Seniors, Equity and Opportunity, or the executive director's designee, 34
who shall be a nonvoting ex-officio member. 35
(d) Any member of the commission appointed under subsection (c) 36
of this section may be a member of the General Assembly. 37
(e) All initial appointments to the commission shall be made not later 38
than September 1, 2021, and shall terminate on August 31, 2022, 39
regardless of when the initial appointment was made. Any member of 40
the commission may serve more than one term. 41
(f) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro 42
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tempore of the Senate shall select the chairperson of the commission 43
from among the members of the commission. Such chairperson shall 44
schedule the first meeting of the commission, which shall be held not 45
later than September 1, 2021. 46
(g) The administrative staff of the Commission on Women, Children, 47
Seniors, Equity and Opportunity shall serve as administrative staff of 48
the commission. 49
(h) Appointed members of the commission shall serve for two-year 50
terms, which shall commence on the date of appointment, except as 51
provided in subsection (e) of this section. Members shall continue to 52
serve until their successors are appointed. 53
(i) Any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority. Any 54
vacancy occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled for the 55
balance of the unexpired term. 56
(j) A majority of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the 57
transaction of any business. 58
(k) The members of the commission shall serve without 59
compensation, but shall, within available funds, be reimbursed for 60
expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties. 61
(l) The commission shall have the following powers and duties: (1) 62
To analyze any disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 63
different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in the state; (2) to 64
identify the causes for such disparate impact; (3) to assess whether such 65
disparate impact was worsened or corrected by state responses to the 66
COVID-19 pandemic; (4) to appoint and convene at least two working 67
groups to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one to focus 68
on the impact on education, housing and human services needs and 69
another to focus on the impact on labor, commerce and public health 70
needs; (5) to hold one or more public hearings as necessary to carry out 71
the purposes of this section; (6) to obtain from any executive 72
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department, board, commission or other agency of the state such 73
assistance and data as necessary and available to carry out the purposes 74
of this section; (7) to accept any gift, donation or bequest for the purpose 75
of performing the duties described in this section; (8) to establish bylaws 76
to govern its procedures; and (9) to perform such other acts as may be 77
necessary and appropriate to carry out the duties described in this 78
subsection. 79
(m) The commission shall meet as often as deemed necessary by the 80
chairperson. 81
(n) Not later than January 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, the 82
commission shall submit a report, in accordance with the provisions of 83
section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the Governor, the speaker of the 84
House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the 85
majority leader of the House of Representatives, the majority leader of 86
the Senate, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, the 87
minority leader of the Senate and the chairperson of the Black and 88
Puerto Rican Caucus of the General Assembly on (1) the results of the 89
commission's analysis pursuant to subsection (l) of this section, and (2) 90
recommendations for policy changes and amendments to the general 91
statutes necessary to address the causes for any disparate impact of the 92
COVID-19 pandemic and to improve outcomes during any future 93
pandemic. 94
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a commission to analyze the disparate impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic
groups in the state.
[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.]
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Co-Sponsors: REP. ROJAS, 9th Dist.; REP. MILLER P., 145th Dist.
H.B. 5614