LCO No. 3894 1 of 3
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6509
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3894
Referred to Committee on COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN
Introduced by:
(KID)
AN ACT CONCERNING SC HOOL-BASED MENTAL HE ALTH CLINICS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 19a-6r of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 2
(a) As used in sections 19a-6i, 19a-7d, [and] 19a-638 and section 2 of 3
this act: 4
(1) "School-based health center" means a health center that: (A) Is 5
located in, or on the grounds of, a school facility of a school district or 6
school board or of an Indian tribe or tribal organization; (B) is organized 7
through school, community and health provider relationships; (C) is 8
administered by a sponsoring facility; and (D) provides comprehensive 9
on-site medical and behavioral health services to children and 10
adolescents in accordance with state and local law, including laws 11
relating to licensure and certification. 12
(2) "Expanded school health site" means a health center that: (A) Is 13
located in, or on the grounds of, a school facility of a school district or 14
school board; (B) is organized through school, community and health 15 Raised Bill No. 6509
LCO No. 3894 2 of 3
provider relationships; (C) is administered by a sponsoring facility; and 16
(D) provides medical or behavioral services, including, but not limited 17
to, dental services, counseling, health education, health screening and 18
prevention services, to children and adolescents in accordance with 19
state and local law, including laws relating to licensure and certification. 20
(3) "School-based mental health clinic" means a clinic that: (A) Is 21
located in, or on the grounds of, a school facility of a school district or 22
school board or of an Indian tribe or tribal organization; (B) is organized 23
through school, community and health provider relationships; (C) is 24
administered by a sponsoring facility; and (D) provides on-site mental, 25
emotional or behavioral health services to children and adolescents in 26
accordance with state and local law, including laws relating to licensure 27
and certification. 28
[(3)] (4) "Sponsoring facility" means a: (A) Hospital; (B) public health 29
department; (C) community health center; (D) nonprofit health or 30
human services agency; (E) school or school system; or (F) program 31
administered by the Indian Health Service or the Bureau of Indian 32
Affairs or operated by an Indian tribe or a tribal organization. 33
(b) No person or entity shall use the term "school-based health center" 34
to describe a facility or make use of any words, letters or abbreviations 35
that may reasonably be confused with said term unless the facility meets 36
the definition of a school-based health center in subsection (a) of this 37
section. 38
(c) The Department of Public Health may adopt regulations, in 39
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish minimum 40
quality standards for school-based health centers and school-based 41
mental health clinics, as defined in subsection (a) of this section. 42
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) Not later than January 1, 2022, 43
the Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Connecticut 44
Association of School-based Health Centers, shall develop a plan to 45
establish school-based mental health clinics in regions of the state that 46
do not have access to a school-based health center or an expanded 47 Raised Bill No. 6509
LCO No. 3894 3 of 3
school health site. Such clinics may (1) to the extent permitted by a 48
sponsoring facility's license or certification, provide counseling to 49
individual students, groups or families, (2) extend the hours of 50
operation to include after school, weekend or summer hours based on 51
community need for services, and (3) provide mental health 52
programming for students in partnership with a local or regional board 53
of education. As used in this section, "mental health programming" 54
means age-appropriate education or outreach initiatives aimed at 55
students for the prevention of mental illness, including, but not limited 56
to, poster and flyer campaigns, films, guest speakers or other school 57
events. 58
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 19a-6r
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Department of Public Health to establish school-based
mental health clinics for the purpose of expanding access to mental,
emotional and behavioral health services for students.
[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.]