OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-2
AN ACT CONCERNING SOCIAL EQUITY AND THE HEALTH,
SAFETY AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.
As Amended by Senate "A" (LCO 8095)
House Calendar No.: 454
Senate Calendar No.: 175
Primary Analyst: CP 5/6/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Children & Families, Dept. GF - Cost 189,600 39,400
Social Services, Dept. GF - Cost 300,000 300,000
Office of Early Childhood GF - Cost 1,650,000 1,650,000
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Local and Regional School Districts STATE
MANDATE
1
- Cost
See Below See Below
Local and Regional School Districts Potential
Cost
Potential Potential
Explanation
The bill, which makes changes to certain statutes concerning
children, is anticipated to result in various fiscal impacts, identified by
section number below. Other sections of the bill are not anticipated to
result in a fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
Section 1, which requires the Youth Suicide Advisory Board
1
State mandate is defined in Sec. 2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state
mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that
requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a
way as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues. 2021SB-00002-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 4
(housed within the Department of Children and Families, or DCF) and
the Office of the Child Advocate to establish a youth suicide
prevention program providing certification in QPR Institute
Gatekeeper Training in each local health department and district
department of health, results in a cost to DCF of approximately $89,600
in FY 22 and $29,400 in each fiscal year thereafter. The QPR Train-the-
Trainers model would instruct a minimum of two employees at each
district health department to serve as their local QPR trainers.
Currently, there are 64 local health departments and district
departments of health in Connecticut. In the initial year, approximately
128 employees will need to be trained at a cost to DCF of
approximately $700 per person. In subsequent years, to refresh
training and replace trainers lost due to attrition, approximately 42
employees will need to receive training.
Section 14 requires local and regional school districts to conduct
one parent-teacher conference, in addition to the two per year required
under current law, during a period when the district provides virtual
learning for more than three consecutive weeks. One additional
parent-teacher conference is required every six months after that if
sessions continue to be provided virtually. This could result in a cost
and state mandate to local and regional school districts, associated
with providing substitute teacher coverage for teachers who are
required to conduct additional parent conferences if these conferences
are held during school hours. It is estimated that the average
substitute teacher rate is approximately $105 per day. The actual cost
to the district would be dependent on the number of days a substitute
teacher must be hired to cover the additional parent conferences. Fifty
additional substitute days results in a cost of approximately $5,250.
Sections 16 – 18 allow, beginning in FY 22, students in grades nine
through twelve to attend class online or as part of a remote learning
model. This could result in a potential cost to local and regional school
districts if additional virtual or online materials and equipment must
be purchased to accommodate students opting to participate in a
remote learning model. However, the bill is permissive, and local and 2021SB-00002-R01-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 4
regional school districts are not mandated to participate.
Section 22 requires that DCF develop and maintain a software
application for use on computers and mobile devices to facilitate the
reporting of nonemergent incidents. This provision is anticipated to
result in a fiscal impact to DCF of approximately $100,000 in FY 22 for
the development of the mobile application and $10,000 in FY 23 and
for technical support related to the application.
Section 24 results in a cost of approximately $1.2 million annually to
the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) associated with eliminating the
fees paid by families under the Birth to Three program.
Section 25 could result in an additional cost to local and regional
boards of education associated with monitoring additional
preschoolers who otherwise would not have been monitored. The
potential cost to the district would be dependent on staffing levels and
the number of additional children requiring monitoring or additional
services.
Section 27 could result in additional costs to OEC and towns related
to filing and paperwork associated with increased screenings of
children found ineligible for preschool special education services. The
increase would depend on the number of applicable children and
related screenings.
Section 28 is anticipated to result in a cost of approximately
$450,000 annually to OEC associated with extending support for
certain children transitioning out of Birth to Three. This is also
anticipated to result in an annual cost of approximately $300,000 to the
Department of Social Services for related Medicaid claims.
Senate "A" strikes the original bill and its associated fiscal impact,
thus becoming the bill with the above referenced fiscal impact.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly,
solely for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the 2021SB-00002-R01-FN.DOCX Page 4 of 4
General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety
of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.
Sources: Connecticut Department of Public Health, Local Health Administration, Online,
Available at https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Local-Health-Admin/LHA/Local-Health-
Administration
QPR Institute, Online, Available at https://www.qprinstitute.com/