Substitute House Bill No. 6417
Public Act No. 21-82
AN ACT REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR CERTAIN
EMPLOYEES OF YOUTH CAMPS AND YOUTH SPORTS COACHES,
TRAINERS AND INSTRUCTORS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 19a-421 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021):
(a) No person shall establish, conduct or maintain a youth camp
without a license issued by the office. Applications for such license shall
be made in writing at least thirty days prior to the opening of the youth
camp on forms provided and in accordance with procedures established
by the commissioner and shall be accompanied by a fee of eight
hundred fifteen dollars or, if the applicant is a nonprofit, nonstock
corporation or association, a fee of three hundred fifteen dollars or, if
the applicant is a day camp affiliated with a nonprofit organization, for
no more than five days duration and for which labor and materials are
donated, no fee. All such licenses shall be valid for a period of one year
from the date of issuance unless surrendered for cancellation or
suspended or revoked by the commissioner for violation of this chapter
or any regulations adopted under section 19a-428 and shall be
renewable upon payment of an eight-hundred-fifteen-dollar license fee
or, if the licensee is a nonprofit, nonstock corporation or association, a Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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three-hundred-fifteen-dollar license fee or, if the applicant is a day camp
affiliated with a nonprofit organization, for no more than five days
duration and for which labor and materials are donated, no fee.
(b) On and after October 1, 2022, any licensee shall require any
prospective employee eighteen years of age or older, who is applying
for a position at a youth camp that requires the provision of care to a
child or involves unsupervised access to a child, to submit to a
comprehensive background check. The background check shall include,
but not be limited to, a (1) (A) criminal history records check conducted
(i) in accordance with section 29-17a, or (ii) by searching the electronic
criminal record system maintained on the Internet web site of the
Judicial Department for convictions matching the prospective
employee's name and date of birth, (B) state child abuse registry
established pursuant to section 17a-101k, (C) registry established and
maintained pursuant to section 54-257, and (D) National Sex Offender
Registry Public Website maintained by the United States Department of
Justice, or (2) check by a third-party provider of national criminal
history record checks that is conducted through a centralized database
utilizing the prospective employee's fingerprints, provided such
provider appears on a list of such providers published on the Internet
web site of the Office of Early Childhood. Prior to each check of the state
child abuse registry conducted pursuant to this subsection, a licensee
shall submit to the office an authorization for the release of personal
information signed by the prospective employee, on a form prescribed
by the office, and the office shall submit such authorization to the
Department of Children and Families. Any prospective employee who
holds a J-1 visa, H-1B visa or R-1 visa issued by the United States
Department of State shall not be required to submit to a background
check under this section.
(c) Pending completion of all comprehensive background check
components described in subsection (b) of this section, a prospective Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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employee may begin work on a provisional basis, provided such
prospective employee is supervised at all times by an employee who
was subjected to a comprehensive background check described in
subsection (b) of this section within the past five years.
(d) Each licensee shall require any employee of a youth camp holding
a position that requires the provision of care to a child or involves
unsupervised access to a child to submit to a comprehensive
background check described in subsection (b) of this section not later
than five years after the date such employee was hired, and at least once
every five years thereafter. Nothing in this section prohibits a licensee
from requiring any such employee to submit to a comprehensive
background check more than once during a five-year period.
(e) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall have the discretion to
refuse to license under sections 19a-420 to 19a-429, inclusive, a person
to establish, conduct or maintain a youth camp, as described in section
19a-420, or to suspend or revoke the license or take any other action set
forth in any regulation adopted pursuant to section 19a-428 if, the
person who establishes, conducts or maintains such youth camp or a
person employed therein in a position connected with the provision of
care to a child or involving unsupervised access to a child, has been
convicted in this state or any other state of a felony as defined in section
53a-25 involving the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical
force against another person, of cruelty to persons under section 53-20,
injury or risk of injury to or impairing morals of children under section
53-21, abandonment of children under the age of six years under section
53-23, or any felony where the victim of the felony is a child under
eighteen years of age, or of a violation of section 53a-70b of the general
statutes, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2019, 53a-70, 53a-70a,
53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or 53a-73a, or has a criminal record in this state
or any other state that the commissioner reasonably believes renders the
person unsuitable to establish, conduct or maintain or be employed by Substitute House Bill No. 6417
Public Act No. 21-82 4 of 8
a youth camp. However, no refusal of a license shall be rendered except
in accordance with the provisions of sections 46a-79 to 46a-81, inclusive.
(f) Any person who is licensed to establish, operate or maintain a
youth camp shall notify the Commissioner of Early Childhood if such
licensee or any person employed by such youth camp is convicted of a
crime listed in subsection (e) of this section, if such licensee or person
employed by such youth camp is employed in a position connected with
the provision of care to a child or involving unsupervised access to a
child, immediately upon obtaining knowledge of the conviction. Failure
to comply with the notification requirement may result in the
suspension or revocation of the license or the imposition of any action
set forth in regulation, and shall subject the licensee to a civil penalty of
not more than one hundred dollars per day for each day after the
licensee obtained knowledge of the conviction, provided such civil
penalty shall not exceed the aggregate sum of four thousand five
hundred dollars.
(g) Each licensee shall maintain, and make available for inspection
upon request of the Office of Early Childhood, any documentation
associated with a comprehensive background check described in
subsection (b) of this section, for a period of not less than five years from
the date of (1) completion of such background check, if the subject of the
comprehensive background check was not hired by the licensee, or (2)
separation from employment, if the subject of the comprehensive
background check was hired by the licensee.
Sec. 2. Section 21a-432 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021):
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Youth athletic activity" means an organized athletic activity
involving participants of not less than seven years of age, except as Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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provided in subsections (d) to (f), inclusive, of this section, and not more
than nineteen years of age, who (A) (i) engage in an organized athletic
game or competition against another team, club or entity or in practice
or preparation for an organized game or competition against another
team, club or entity, or (ii) attend an organized athletic camp or clinic
the purpose of which is to train, instruct or prepare such participants to
engage in an organized athletic game or competition, and (B) (i) pay a
fee to participate in such organized athletic game or competition or
attend such camp or clinic, or (ii) whose cost to participate in such
athletic game or competition or attend such camp or clinic is sponsored
by a municipality, business or nonprofit organization. "Youth athletic
activity" does not include any college or university athletic activity, or
an athletic activity that is incidental to a nonathletic program or lesson;
and
(2) "Operator" means any municipality, business or nonprofit
organization that conducts, coordinates, organizes or otherwise
oversees any youth athletic activity but shall not include any
municipality, business or nonprofit organization solely providing access
to, or use of, any field, court or other recreational area, whether for
compensation or not.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2016, and annually thereafter, each
operator of a youth athletic activity shall make available a written or
electronic statement regarding concussions to each youth athlete and a
parent or legal guardian of each youth athlete participating in the youth
athletic activity. Such written or electronic statement shall be made
available upon registration of each youth athlete and shall be consistent
with the most recent information provided by the National Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention regarding concussions. Such written or
electronic statement shall include educational content addressing, at a
minimum: (1) The recognition of signs or symptoms of a concussion, (2)
the means of obtaining proper medical treatment for a person suspected Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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of sustaining a concussion, (3) the nature and risks of concussions,
including the danger of continuing to engage in youth athletic activity
after sustaining a concussion, and (4) the proper procedures for
allowing a youth athlete who has sustained a concussion to return to
athletic activity.
(c) No operator, or designee of such operator, shall be subject to civil
liability for failing to make available the written or electronic statement
regarding concussions pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section,
for purposes of this subsection and subsections (e) and (f) of this section,
youth athletic activity also includes an organized athletic activity
involving participants less than seven years of age. On and after October
1, 2022, an operator shall require any prospective employee or
volunteer, except as provided in subsection (f) of this section, who is
eighteen years of age or older and applying for a position as a coach or
instructor of a youth athletic activity or as an athletic trainer, licensed
under chapter 375a, to submit to a comprehensive background check.
The background check shall include, but not be limited to, a (1) (A)
criminal history records check conducted (i) in accordance with section
29-17a, or (ii) by searching the electronic criminal record system
maintained on the Internet web site of the Judicial Department for
convictions matching the prospective employee's name and date of
birth, (B) check of the state child abuse registry established pursuant to
section 17a-101k, (C) check of the registry established and maintained
pursuant to section 54-257, and (D) search of the National Sex Offender
Registry Public Website maintained by the United States Department of
Justice, or (2) check by a third-party provider of national criminal
history record checks that is conducted in accordance with the national
industry background check standards established by the United States
Olympic and Paralympic Committee. For each check of the state child
abuse registry conducted pursuant to this subsection, an operator shall Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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submit to the Department of Children and Families an authorization for
the release of personal information signed by the prospective employee
or volunteer. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an
athletic coach of intramural or interscholastic athletics who is employed
by a local or regional board of education, provided such board satisfies
the requirements relating to state and national criminal history records
checks applicable to employees of such board pursuant to section 10-
221d. Pending completion of all background check components
described in this subsection, a prospective employee or volunteer may
begin work on a provisional basis, provided such prospective employee
or volunteer is supervised at all times by an employee or volunteer who
was subjected to a background check described in this subsection within
the previous five years.
(e) The comprehensive background checks required pursuant to
subsection (d) of this section shall be conducted at least once every five
years for each coach, instructor or athletic trainer employed by or
volunteering for an operator.
(f) A person who is eighteen years of age or older and applies for a
position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic
activity in the state shall not be required to submit to such
comprehensive background checks if such person (1) is an employee or
volunteer of an operator of a youth athletic activity in the state, or has
not been separated from employment or volunteer position as a coach,
instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic activity in the state for a
period of more than one hundred eighty days, and (2) has successfully
completed such comprehensive background checks in the previous five
years. Nothing in this section prohibits an operator from requiring that
a person applying for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer
submit to comprehensive background checks more than once during a
five-year period.
(g) If the comprehensive background check conducted pursuant to Substitute House Bill No. 6417
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subsection (d) of this section results in a finding that a person who
applied for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth
athletic activity has been convicted in this state or any other state of a
felony as defined in section 53a-25 involving the use, attempted use or
threatened use of physical force against another person, of cruelty to
persons under section 53-20, injury or risk of injury to or impairing
morals of children under section 53-21, abandonment of children under
the age of six years under section 53-23, or any felony where the victim
of the felony is a child under eighteen years of age, or of a violation of
section 53a-70b of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to
January 1, 2019, or section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or
53a-73a, or has a criminal record in this state or any other state that the
operator reasonably believes may render the person unsuitable for a
position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic
activity, the operator to whom the person has applied shall not employ
the person or accept the person as a volunteer if, after considering (1)
the nature of the crime and its relationship to the position for which the
person has applied; (2) information pertaining to the degree of
rehabilitation of the convicted person; and (3) the time elapsed since the
conviction or release, the operator determines that such person is not
suitable for the position for which such person has applied.