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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5262
February Session, 2024
AN ACT CONCERNING A SEXUAL ABUSE AND ASSAULT SURVEY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-217h of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2024): 2
(a) For the school year commencing July 1, 2022, and biennially 3
thereafter, the Department of Public Health shall administer the 4
Connecticut School Health Survey to students in grades nine to twelve, 5
inclusive, provided the department receives funding from the federal 6
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for such purpose. The 7
survey shall be based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey developed by 8
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The department 9
shall provide guidelines to the local or regional board of education 10
regarding the administration of the survey to those high schools selected 11
at random by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 12
Such local or regional board of education shall administer the survey to 13
each high school selected to participate in the survey in accordance with 14
the guidelines provided by the department, including, but not limited 15
to, (1) the survey protocol as required by the federal Centers for Disease 16
Control and Prevention, (2) the requirement to provide parents the 17
opportunity to exclude their children from the survey by denying 18
permission in writing, on a form prescribed by the department, (3) the 19 Substitute Bill No. 5262
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requirement for the survey to be anonymous and administered in a 20
manner designed to protect student privacy, (4) the timeframe for 21
completion of the survey, and (5) the process by which the results of 22
such survey are to be submitted to the department. On and after July 1, 23
2026, each administration of the Connecticut School Health Survey shall 24
include the sexual abuse and assault awareness prevention survey for 25
administrators that was created as part of the state-wide sexual abuse 26
and assault awareness and prevention program described in section 27
17a-101q. Such survey for administrators shall be distributed to and 28
completed by administrators of the school in which the Connecticut 29
School Health Survey is being administered and the results of the 30
administrators' surveys shall be submitted to the department at the 31
same time as the results of the students' surveys. 32
(b) The department, in consultation with the Department of Mental 33
Health and Addiction Services, the Department of Children and 34
Families, the Department of Education and any other agency or public 35
interest group the department deems necessary, may develop 36
additional survey questions to be included as part of the Connecticut 37
School Health Survey that are relevant to the health concerns of high 38
school students in the state. 39
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2024 10-217h
ED Joint Favorable Subst.