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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1025
January Session, 2023
LCO No. 4208
Referred to Committee on AGING
Introduced by:
(AGE)
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
HOMEMAKER -COMPANION AGENCY TASK FORCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) The Secretary of the Office of Policy 1
and Management, in consultation with the Commissioners of Consumer 2
Protection and Public Health, shall develop a plan to transfer the 3
responsibility for registration and oversight of homemaker-companion 4
agencies, as defined in section 20-670 of the general statutes, from the 5
Department of Consumer Protection to the Department of Public Health 6
by July 1, 2024. Not later than February 1, 2024, the secretary shall report 7
on such plan to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly 8
having cognizance of matters relating to aging, general law and public 9
health, in accordance with section 11-4a of the general statutes. 10
Sec. 2. Section 20-675 of the general statutes is repealed and the 11
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 12
(a) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection may revoke, suspend 13
or refuse to issue or renew any certificate of registration as a 14
homemaker-companion agency or place an agency on probation or issue 15 Raised Bill No. 1025
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a letter of reprimand for: (1) Conduct by the agency, or by an employee 16
of the agency while in the course of employment, of a character likely to 17
mislead, deceive or defraud the public or the commissioner; (2) 18
engaging in any untruthful or misleading advertising; (3) failure of such 19
agency that acts as a registry to comply with the notice requirements of 20
section 20-679a; or (4) failing to perform a comprehensive background 21
check of a prospective employee or maintain a copy of materials 22
obtained during a comprehensive background check, as required by 23
section 20-678. 24
(b) The commissioner shall revoke a certificate of registration if a 25
homemaker-companion agency violates any of the provisions of 26
subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, of subsection (a) of this section three 27
times in one calendar year. 28
[(b)] (c) The commissioner shall not revoke or suspend any certificate 29
of registration except upon notice and hearing in accordance with 30
chapter 54. 31
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than January 1, 2024, 32
the Commissioner of Consumer Protection, in consultation with the 33
Commissioner of Public Health, and with the advice and guidance of 34
relevant training organizations, shall (1) develop training standards for 35
homemaker-companion agency employees, as defined in section 20-670 36
of the general statutes, that (A) exemplify best practices for providing 37
homemaker and companion services, as defined in section 20-670 of the 38
general statutes, (B) provide instruction and specialized training 39
benchmarks for the care of clients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia 40
and other related conditions, and (C) ensure a high quality of care for 41
homemaker-companion agency clients, and (2) identify training 42
programs that provide instruction in the standards identified pursuant 43
to subdivision (1) of this subsection. The Commissioner of Consumer 44
Protection shall post such training standards and a list of such training 45
programs on the Department of Consumer Protection's Internet web 46
site. 47 Raised Bill No. 1025
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(b) Homemaker-companion agencies may adopt the training 48
standards and train employees using the training programs posted on 49
the department's Internet web site pursuant to subsection (a) of this 50
section. 51
Sec. 4. (Effective from passage) The Commissioner of Consumer 52
Protection shall develop a plan to implement mandatory training 53
standards for employees of homemaker-companion agencies, as 54
defined in section 20-670 of the general statutes. Not later than February 55
1, 2024, the commissioner shall report, in accordance with the provisions 56
of section 11-4a of the general statutes, on such plan to the joint standing 57
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 58
relating to aging. 59
Sec. 5. Section 20-679 of the general statutes is repealed and the 60
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2023): 61
(a) Not later than seven calendar days after the date on which a 62
homemaker-companion agency commences providing homemaker 63
services or companion services, such agency shall provide the person 64
who receives the services, or the authorized representative of such 65
person, with a written contract or service plan. The written contract or 66
service plan shall be developed in consultation with such person or 67
authorized representative and include (1) a person-centered plan of care 68
and services that prescribes the anticipated scope, type, frequency, 69
duration and cost of the services provided by the agency, (2) the 70
anticipated scope, type and frequency of oversight of an employee 71
assigned to such person by the homemaker-companion agency, and (3) 72
a predetermined frequency of meetings between the person who 73
oversees such employee and the person who receives the services, or the 74
authorized representative of such person. In addition, any contract or 75
service plan provided by a homemaker-companion agency to a person 76
receiving services shall also provide conspicuous notice, in boldface 77
type [(1)] (A) of the person's right to request changes to, or review of the 78
contract or service plan, [(2)] (B) of the employees of such agency who, 79
pursuant to section 20-678 are required to submit to a comprehensive 80 Raised Bill No. 1025
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background check, [(3)] (C) that upon the request of such person or an 81
authorized representative of such person, such agency shall provide 82
such person or representative of such person with written notice that a 83
comprehensive background check, as required pursuant to section 20-84
678, was performed for all employees of such agency performing 85
services for such person, [(4)] (D) that such agency's records are 86
available for inspection or audit by the Department of Consumer 87
Protection, [(5)] (E) that the agency is not able to guarantee the extent to 88
which its services will be covered under any insurance plan, and [(6)] 89
(F) that such contract or service plan may be cancelled at any time by 90
the client if such contract or service plan does not contain a specific 91
period of duration. On the date that a homemaker-companion agency 92
provides such contract or service plan to such person, the agency shall 93
also provide a printed copy of the guide that details the process by 94
which such person, or such person's authorized representative, may file 95
a complaint against such agency, posted on the Department of 96
Consumer Protection's Internet web site pursuant to section 6 of this act. 97
No contract or service plan for the provision of homemaker or 98
companion services shall be valid against the person who receives the 99
services or the authorized representative of such person, unless the 100
contract or service plan has been signed by a duly authorized 101
representative of the homemaker-companion agency and the person 102
who receives the services or the authorized representative of such 103
person. The requirements of this section shall not apply to homemaker 104
services or companion services provided under the Connecticut home-105
care program for the elderly administered by the Department of Social 106
Services in accordance with section 17b-342. A written contract or 107
service plan between a homemaker-companion agency and a person 108
receiving services or the authorized representative of such person shall 109
not be enforceable against such person receiving services or authorized 110
representative unless such written contract or service plan contains all 111
of the requirements of this section. 112
(b) Nothing in this section shall preclude a homemaker-companion 113
agency that has complied with [subdivisions (1) to (6)] subparagraphs 114 Raised Bill No. 1025
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(A) to (F), inclusive, of subsection (a) of this section from the recovery of 115
payment for work performed based on the reasonable value of services 116
which were requested by the person receiving services, provided the 117
court determines that it would be inequitable to deny such recovery. 118
(c) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall develop a model 119
written contract and model service plan, as described in subsection (a) 120
of this section. Not later than January 1, 2024, the commissioner shall 121
post such model written contract and model service plan on the 122
department's Internet web site. 123
Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Not later than October 1, 2023, 124
the Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall post a guide that details 125
the process by which a person who receives homemaker services or 126
companion services, as defined in section 20-670 of the general statutes, 127
or the authorized representative of such person, may file a complaint 128
against a homemaker-companion agency, as defined in section 20-670 of 129
the general statutes, on its Internet web site. 130
Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective from passage) On and after January 1, 2024, 131
each homemaker-companion agency, as defined in section 20-670 of the 132
general statutes, shall have a printed consumer brochure and maintain 133
an Internet web site detailing the homemaker and companion services 134
offered by such agency and provide such brochure or the address of 135
such Internet web site upon the request of consumers. 136
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Sec. 2 from passage 20-675
Sec. 3 from passage New section
Sec. 4 from passage New section
Sec. 5 October 1, 2023 20-679
Sec. 6 from passage New section
Sec. 7 from passage New section
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Statement of Purpose:
To require (1) the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to
develop a plan to transition registration and oversight responsibilities
for homemaker-companion agencies from the Department of Consumer
Protection to the Department of Public Health, (2) the Commissioner of
Consumer Protection to revoke a certificate of registration if an agency
violates certain provisions three times in one calendar year, (3) the
Commissioner of Consumer Protection to (A) develop training
standards, identify training programs and develop a model written
contract and service plan for homemaker-companion agencies, and (B)
develop a guide that details how to file a complaint against a
homemaker-companion agency, (4) the Commissioner of Consumer
Protection to develop a plan to implement mandatory training
standards for agency employees, and (5) homemaker-companion
agencies to (A) develop a person-centered plan of care and services for
clients, and (B) have consumer brochures and maintain an Internet web
site.
[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.]