O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 21-64—sHB 6113
Committee on Children
AN ACT REQUIRING THE PROVISION OF INFORMA TION
CONCERNING CHILD SEX UAL ABUSE
SUMMARY: This act requires the Governor’s Task Force on Justice for Abused
Children, in collaboration with a national association of adult survivors of child
abuse, to do the following by December 1, 2021:
1. develop instructional guidelines for youth coaches on best practices for
appropriate interaction with youth athletes;
2. develop child sexual abuse informational guidelines that describe (a)
abusers’ grooming techniques, (b) victim behavior, and (c) methods for
contacting the appropriate authorities, and (d) methods for victims to tell a
parent or other adult if abuse has occurred; and
3. make both sets of guidelines available on the department’s website.
The act also requires certain municipalities, businesses, and nonprofit
organizations operating youth athletic activities (“operators”) and youth camp
licensees, starting January 1, 2022, to distribute a copy of the child sexual abuse
informational guidelines to each participant’s parent or guardian upon enrollment
or registration. Under the act, youth athletic activity operators must, by January 1,
2022, and annually thereafter, distribute a copy of the best-practices instructional
guidelines to their youth coaches.
Under the act, the instructional and informational guidelines may be
distributed by electronic mail.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
DEFINITIONS
Operator
Under the act, an “operator” is any municipality, business, or nonprofit
organization that conducts, coordinates, organizes or otherwise oversees any
youth athletic activity. It does not include any of these entities, whether or not
compensated, that solely provide access to or use of a field, court, or other
recreational area.
Youth Athletic Activity
The act defines “youth athletic activity” as an organized athletic activity
involving participants aged seven through 19 who:
1. (a) engage in, or practice or prepare for, an organized athletic game or
competition against another team, club, or entity or (b) attend an organized O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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athletic camp or clinic that trains, instructs, or prepares such participants
and
2. pay a fee to participate in such organized athletic game or competition or
attend such camp or clinic, or whose fee is sponsored by a municipality,
business, or nonprofit organization.
It does not include any college or university athletic activity or one that is
incidental to a nonathletic program or lesson.
Youth Camp
Under the act, “youth camp” means any regularly scheduled program or
organized group activity advertised as a camp or operated only during school
vacations or on weekends by a person, partnership, corporation, association, the
state, or a municipal agency for recreational or educational purposes. To qualify
as a youth camp, the program or activity must accommodate at least five children
from ages three to 16 who are (1) not bona fide personal guests in an individual’s
private home and (2) living apart from their relatives, parents, or legal guardian at
least three full or partial days per week unless a relative or guardian is a camp
employee.
It does not include classroom-based summer instructional programs, public or
private schools’ summer educational programs, licensed child care centers, or
drop-in programs administered by a nationally chartered boys’ and girls’ club for
children who are at least age six.
Youth Coach
Under the act, a “youth coach” is anyone who (1) holds or is issued a coaching
permit by the State Board of Education or (2) volunteers or is paid to act as a
youth athletic activity’s head coach, manager, instructor, or the assistant to such
positions.