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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5372
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 2350
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT PERMITTING CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKERS TO CONDUCT
PERIODIC BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS OF POLICE
OFFICERS AND PROMOTING THE INCREASED USE OF CLINICAL
SOCIAL WORKERS BY LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS WHEN ISSUING
EMERGENCY CERTIFICATES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-291e of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 2
(a) As used in this section: (1) "Administrative head of each law 3
enforcement unit" means the Commissioner of Emergency Services and 4
Public Protection, the board of police commissioners, the chief of police, 5
superintendent of police or other authority having charge of a law 6
enforcement unit; and (2) "behavioral health assessment" means a 7
behavioral health assessment of a police officer conducted by a board-8
certified psychiatrist, [or] psychologist licensed pursuant to the 9
provisions of chapter 383 or a clinical social worker licensed pursuant 10
to the provisions of chapter 383b, who has experience diagnosing and 11
treating post-traumatic stress disorder. 12 Raised Bill No. 5372
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(b) On and after January 1, 2021, the administrative head of each law 13
enforcement unit shall require each police officer employed by such law 14
enforcement unit to submit, as a condition of continued employment, to 15
a periodic behavioral health assessment. Each police officer employed 16
by a law enforcement unit shall submit to a periodic behavioral health 17
assessment not less than once every five years. In carrying out the 18
provisions of this section, the administrative head of each law 19
enforcement unit may stagger the scheduling of such behavioral health 20
assessments in a manner that results in approximately twenty per cent 21
of the total number of police officers in the law enforcement unit 22
receiving behavioral health assessments each year over a five-year 23
period. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, the 24
administrative head of a law enforcement unit may waive the 25
requirement that a police officer submit to a periodic behavioral health 26
assessment when the police officer has submitted written notification of 27
his or her decision to retire from the law enforcement unit to such 28
administrative head, provided the effective date of such retirement is 29
not more than six months beyond the date on which such periodic 30
behavioral health assessment is scheduled to occur. 31
(c) In addition to the behavioral health assessments required 32
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the administrative head of 33
each law enforcement unit may, for good cause shown, require a police 34
officer to submit to an additional behavioral health assessment. The 35
administrative head of a law enforcement unit requiring that a police 36
officer submit to an additional behavioral health assessment shall 37
provide the police officer with a written statement setting forth the good 38
faith basis for requiring the police officer to submit to an additional 39
behavioral health assessment. Upon receiving such written statement, 40
the police officer shall, not later than thirty days after the date of the 41
written request, submit to such behavioral health assessment. 42
(d) A law enforcement unit that hires any person as a police officer, 43
who was previously employed as a police officer by another law 44
enforcement unit or employed as a police officer in any other 45
jurisdiction, may require such new hire to submit to a behavioral health 46 Raised Bill No. 5372
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assessment not later than six months after the date of hire. When 47
determining whether such new hire shall be required to submit to a 48
behavioral health assessment, the law enforcement unit shall give due 49
consideration to factors that include, but are not limited to, the date on 50
which such new hire most recently submitted to a behavioral health 51
assessment. 52
(e) Any person conducting a behavioral health assessment of a police 53
officer pursuant to the provisions of this section shall provide a written 54
copy of the results of such assessment to the police officer and to the 55
administrative head of the law enforcement unit employing the police 56
officer. 57
(f) The results of any behavioral health assessment conducted in 58
accordance with the provisions of this section and any record or note 59
maintained by a psychiatrist, [or] psychologist, or clinical social worker 60
in connection with the conducting of such assessment shall not be 61
subject to disclosure under section 1-210. 62
Sec. 2. Subsection (d) of section 17a-503 of the general statutes is 63
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 64
2022): 65
(d) Any clinical social worker licensed under chapter 383b or 66
advanced practice registered nurse licensed under chapter 378 who (1) 67
has received a minimum of eight hours of specialized training in the 68
conduct of direct evaluations [as a member of] (A) as a member of any 69
mobile crisis team, jail diversion program, crisis intervention team, 70
advanced supervision and intervention support team, or assertive case 71
management program operated by or under contract with the 72
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, [or] (B) as a 73
member of a community support program certified by the Department 74
of Mental Health and Addiction Services, (C) as a member of any 75
collaborative program or partnership between a law enforcement unit, 76
as defined in section 7-294a, and a behavioral health and social services 77
agency, or (D) while employed by a law enforcement unit, as defined in 78 Raised Bill No. 5372
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section 7-294a, and (2) based upon the direct evaluation of a person, has 79
reasonable cause to believe that such person has psychiatric disabilities 80
and is dangerous to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, and 81
in need of immediate care and treatment, may issue an emergency 82
certificate in writing that authorizes and directs that such person be 83
taken to a general hospital for purposes of a medical examination. The 84
person shall be examined within twenty-four hours and shall not be 85
held for more than seventy-two hours unless committed under section 86
17a-502. The Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services, 87
and any law enforcement unit that (A) has established a collaborative 88
program or partnership as described in subparagraph (C) of subdivision 89
(1) of this subsection, or (B) employs clinical social workers licensed 90
under chapter 383b, shall collect and maintain statistical and 91
demographic information pertaining to emergency certificates issued 92
under this subsection. 93
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 7-291e
Sec. 2 July 1, 2022 17a-503(d)
Statement of Purpose:
To (1) allow clinical social workers to conduct periodic behavioral health
assessments of police officers, and (2) recognize the increased use of
clinical social workers by law enforcement units when issuing
emergency certificates.
[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.]