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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 254
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1905
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT REQUIRING LONG -TERM CARE FACILITY RESIDENTS TO
UNDERGO A CRIMINAL HISTORY AND SEXUAL OFFENDER
REGISTRY SEARCH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Criminal history and sexual offender registry search" or 2
"background search" means (A) state and national criminal history 3
records checks conducted in accordance with section 29-17a of the 4
general statutes, (B) a search of the National Sex Offender Public 5
Website maintained by the United States Department of Justice and the 6
registry established and maintained pursuant to section 54-257 of the 7
general statutes, and (C) a review of any other registry specified by the 8
Department of Public Health that the department deems necessary for 9
the administration of a background search program. 10
(2) "Disqualifying offense" means a conviction of a crime described in 11
section 53a-59, 53a-59a, 53-59b, 53a-59c, 53a-60, 53a-60a, 53a-60b, 53a-12
60c, 53a-61, 53a-61a, 53-61aa, 53a-62, 53a-64aa, 53a-64bb, 53a-64cc, 53a-13
70, 53a-70a, 53a-70c, 53a-71, 53a-72, 53a-72a, 53a-72b, 53a-73a, 53a-83b, 14 Raised Bill No. 254
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53a-86, 53a-90a, 53a-92, 53a-92a, 53a-94, 53a-94a, 53a-95, 53a-100aa, 53a-15
101, 53a-102, 53a-102a, 53a-103, 53a-103a, 53a-107, 53a-108, 53a-109, 53a-16
111, 53a-112, 53a-113, 53a-114, 53a-115, 53a-116, 53a-117, 53a-117a, 53a-17
117e, 53a-117f, 53a-117g, 53a-133, 53a-134, 53a-135, 53a-136, 53a-136a, 18
53a-167c, 53a-167d, 53a-167e, 53a-175, 53a-176, 53a-177, 53a-178, 53a-19
179, 53a-179a, 53a-179b, 53a-179c, 53a-180, 53a-180a, 53a-180b, 53a-180c, 20
53a-180aa, 53a-181, 53a-181a, 53a-181c, 53a-181d, 53a-181e, 53a-181f, 21
53a-181i, 53a-181j, 53a-181k, 53a-181l, 53a-182, 53a-182b, 53a-183, 53a-22
183b, 53a-185, 53a-186, 53a-189a, 53a-189b, 53a-189c, 53a-192, 53a-192a, 23
53a-223, 53a-223a, 53a-223b, 53a-223c, 53a-224, 53a-300, 53a-301, 53a-302, 24
53a-304, 53a-321, 53a-322 or 53a-323 of the general statutes. 25
(3) "Long-term care facility" means a nursing home, as defined in 26
section 19a-490 of the general statutes, a residential care home, as 27
defined in section 19a-490 of the general statutes, or a managed 28
residential community, as defined in section 19a-693 of the general 29
statutes, that provides services offered by an assisted living services 30
agency, as defined in section 19a-490 of the general statutes. 31
(b) Not later than January 1, 2023, the Department of Public Health, 32
within available appropriations, shall create and implement a criminal 33
history and sexual offender registry search program in order to facilitate 34
the performance, processing and analysis of a background search of any 35
person who is applying for admission or is otherwise to be admitted to 36
a long-term care facility. 37
(c) (1) On and after January 1, 2023, except as provided in subdivision 38
(2) of this subsection, each long-term care facility, prior to admitting a 39
person as a resident to the long-term care facility, shall require that such 40
person submit to a background search. The Department of Public Health 41
shall prescribe the manner by which (A) long-term care facilities 42
perform the review of any registry specified by the department, 43
including requiring long-term care facilities to report the results of such 44
review to the department, and (B) the person shall submit to a 45
background search, including requiring the Department of Emergency 46
Services and Public Protection to report the results of such background 47 Raised Bill No. 254
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search to the Department of Public Health. 48
(2) No long-term care facility shall be required to comply with the 49
provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection if (A) the person 50
provides evidence to the long-term care facility that such person 51
submitted to a background search conducted pursuant to subdivision 52
(1) of this subsection not more than one month immediately preceding 53
the date such person applies for admission as a resident of the long-term 54
care facility and that the prior background search confirmed that the 55
person did not have a disqualifying offense, (B) the long-term care 56
facility operates with a mission to serve the justice-involved population, 57
or (C) the person is being transferred from a hospital to the long-term 58
care facility for the purpose of receiving rehabilitation services, 59
provided the long-term care facility shall require that such person 60
submit to a background search as soon as practicable after such person 61
is admitted to the long-term care facility for receipt of such services. 62
(d) (1) The Department of Public Health shall review all reports 63
provided to the department pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. If 64
any such report contains evidence indicating that a person has a 65
disqualifying offense, the department shall provide notice to the person 66
and the long-term care facility indicating the disqualifying offense and 67
providing the person with the opportunity to file a request for a waiver 68
pursuant to subdivision (2) of this subsection. 69
(2) A person may file a written request for a waiver with the 70
department not later than thirty days after the date the department 71
provides notice to the person pursuant to subdivision (1) of this 72
subsection. The department shall mail a written determination 73
indicating whether the department shall grant a waiver pursuant to 74
subdivision (3) of this subsection not later than fifteen business days 75
after the department receives the written request from the person, 76
except that said time period shall not apply to any request for a waiver 77
in which a person challenges the accuracy of the information obtained 78
from the background search. 79 Raised Bill No. 254
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(3) The department may grant a waiver from the provisions of 80
subsection (e) of this section to a person who identifies mitigating 81
circumstances surrounding the disqualifying offense, including (A) 82
inaccuracy in the information obtained from the background search, (B) 83
lack of a relationship between the disqualifying offense and the 84
residency for which the person has applied, (C) evidence that the person 85
has pursued or achieved rehabilitation with regard to the disqualifying 86
offense, or (D) that substantial time has elapsed since committing the 87
disqualifying offense. The department and its employees shall be 88
immune from liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be 89
incurred or imposed, for good faith conduct in granting waivers 90
pursuant to this subdivision. 91
(4) After completing a review pursuant to subdivision (1) of this 92
subsection, the department shall notify in writing the long-term care 93
facility to which the person has applied for admission as a resident (A) 94
of any disqualifying offense and any information the person provided 95
to the department regarding mitigating circumstances surrounding 96
such offense, or of the lack of a disqualifying offense, and (B) whether 97
the department granted a waiver pursuant to subdivision (3) of this 98
subsection. 99
(e) No long-term care facility shall admit as a resident a person 100
required to submit to a background search if the long-term care facility 101
receives notice from the Department of Public Health that the person 102
has a disqualifying offense in the person's background search and the 103
department has not granted a waiver pursuant to subdivision (3) of 104
subsection (d) of this section. A long-term care facility may, but is not 105
obligated to, admit as a resident a person who was granted a waiver 106
pursuant to said subdivision. 107
(f) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, a long-108
term care facility shall not admit as a resident any person required to 109
submit to a background search until the long-term care facility receives 110
notice from the Department of Public Health pursuant to subdivision (4) 111
of subsection (d) of this section. 112 Raised Bill No. 254
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(2) A long-term care facility may admit as a resident a person 113
required to submit to a background search on a conditional basis before 114
the long-term care facility receives notice from the department that such 115
person does not have a disqualifying offense, provided the following 116
conditions have been met: (A) The period of residency on a conditional 117
basis shall last not more than sixty days, except the sixty-day time 118
period may be extended by the department to allow for the filing and 119
consideration of a written request for a waiver of a disqualifying offense 120
filed by a person pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, (B) the long-121
term care facility has begun the review required under subsection (c) of 122
this section and the person has submitted to a background check 123
pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, (C) the person is subject to 124
constant supervision by staff of the long-term care facility during the 125
course of such conditional residency period, and (D) the person, in a 126
signed statement (i) affirms that the person has not committed a 127
disqualifying offense, and (ii) acknowledges that a disqualifying offense 128
reported in the background search required by subsection (c) of this 129
section shall constitute good cause for removal from residency and a 130
long-term care facility may remove the person from residency if a 131
disqualifying offense is reported in such background search. 132
(g) Records and information with respect to any person that are 133
obtained by the Department of Public Health pursuant to this section 134
shall not be subject to disclosure under section 1-210 of the general 135
statutes. 136
(h) The Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations, in 137
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to 138
implement the provisions of this section. The commissioner may 139
implement policies and procedures consistent with the provisions of 140
this section while in the process of adopting such policies and 141
procedures as regulation, provided the commissioner shall publish 142
notice of intention to adopt regulations on the eRegulations System not 143
later than twenty days after the date of implementation. Such policies 144
and procedures shall be valid until the time final regulations are 145
effective. 146 Raised Bill No. 254
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This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require long-term care facility residents to undergo a criminal history
and sexual offender registry search.
[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.]