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OLR Bill Analysis
SB 437
AN ACT CONCERNING THE STRUCTURE OF THE OFFICE OF THE
CHILD ADVOCATE WITHIN THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENTAL
ACCOUNTABILITY.
SUMMARY
This bill converts the advisory committee to the Office of the Child
Advocate (OCA) into the OCA Board and requires the new board to
appoint any new child advocate on or after January 1, 2025. Under
current law, the governor selects an advocate from a list of candidates
prepared by the advisory committee, who is then confirmed by the
legislature. By law, the child advocate’s duties include, among other
things, evaluating state agency service delivery to children and leading
OCA (see “BACKGROUND”).
The bill specifies the new board’s duties, including those related to
appointing a child advocate, and makes minor changes to some of the
advocate’s duties. It also makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2025
OCA BOARD
Under current law, the advisory committee to OCA is responsible for
(1) preparing a list of candidates from which the governor must choose
someone for the child advocate position, (2) meeting with the advocate
at least three times each year to hear a report on the office’s goals and
projects, and (3) preparing an annual evaluation of the office’s
effectiveness.
The bill sunsets the advisory committee on December 31, 2024, and
starting January 1, 2025, converts it into the OCA Board. It makes the
new board an independent, nonpartisan board within OCA and a
successor to the advisory committee. Any advisory committee member 2024SB-00437-R000399-BA.DOCX
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appointed before that date is automatically appointed to the new board
for the remainder of his or her term.
Like the current advisory committee:
1. the new board has seven members, with one appointed by each
of the six legislative leaders and one appointed by the governor;
2. members serve five-year terms from July 1 of the year of their
appointment;
3. an appointing authority must fill any vacancy for the unexpired
portion of the term;
4. the board must elect a chairperson (which the bill specifies must
be from among the board’s members); and
5. members cannot be volunteers, employees, board members, or
lobbyists of entities that the child advocate reviews, evaluates, or
monitors.
But unlike the committee, the bill requires that the new board’s
members have experience working with, or on behalf of, vulnerable
children (1) involved in the child welfare or juvenile justice system or
(2) who have received special education or other disability support
services. Current law does not specify qualifications for advisory
committee members.
The bill also specifies that the board is not subject to the law that
generally requires, among other things, (1) public members to make up
at least one-third of a board’s membership, (2) board members to serve
terms coterminous with the governor, and (3) board members to serve
at the pleasure of their appointing authority.
Board Duties
The bill gives the board the following duties:
1. appointing the child advocate (see below); 2024SB-00437-R000399-BA.DOCX
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2. annually evaluating the office’s effectiveness and the child
advocate’s performance, and posting the written evaluations on
the office’s website as a public document; and
3. advising the child advocate on the office’s strategic direction and
mission and helping promote the use and engagement of, and
access to, the office.
CHILD ADVOCATE
Appointment
The bill changes the process for appointing the child advocate by
requiring the new board to make the appointment, rather than the
governor with legislative approval. Current law generally requires the
advisory committee to give the governor a list of three to five candidates
for the position within 60 days after a vacancy occurs. The governor
must select a candidate from the list, who must then be confirmed by
the legislature. If the governor fails to appoint a candidate from the list
within eight weeks, then the top ranked candidate on the list receives
the designation and is referred to the legislature for confirmation.
The bill instead requires that any advocate appointed on or after
January 1, 2025, be appointed by the new OCA Board, with no
legislative confirmation. The bill requires a two-thirds majority vote of
the board’s membership to hire, reappoint, or discharge an advocate,
and whenever a vacancy arises in the child advocate position, the board
must convene to hire a successor. As under current law, the associate
child advocate serves as acting child advocate until the child advocate
is appointed.
As under current law, the child advocate (1) must be qualified by
training and experience to perform the office’s duties and (2) serves a
four-year term and may be reappointed or continue to hold office until
their successor is appointed and qualified. Unlike current law, the bill
further specifies that the board may (1) reappoint the advocate at the
end of his or her four-year term and (2) discharge an acting advocate for
cause. 2024SB-00437-R000399-BA.DOCX
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Duties
The bill makes the following changes to the child advocate’s duties:
1. requires the advocate to submit the annual report analyzing the
office’s work to the board, rather than to the advisory committee
(as under current law, it must also submit the report to the
Judiciary, Children’s, and Human Services committees);
2. requires that the advocate’s biennial report on confinement
conditions for youth held in secure detention or correctional
confinement be prepared within available appropriations;
3. requires the three-times-per-year presentations on the office’s
goals and projects to (a) be given to the board, rather than the
advisory committee, and (b) include a review of the office’s
resource needs; and
4. allows the advocate to disclose confidential information to a
federal, state, or local agency legally authorized to investigate or
address the advocate’s concerns or findings, if it would identify,
prevent, or treat the abuse or neglect of child.
BACKGROUND
Child Advocate
By law, the child advocate’s duties include evaluating state agency
service delivery to children; reviewing agency procedures to protect
children’s rights; investigating complaints and, when indicated,
advocating on behalf of a child’s best interests; taking all possible
actions to ensure the legal, civil, and special rights of children; and
giving technical training to attorneys representing children. OCA is a
division within the Office of Government Accountability but has
independent decision-making authority (CGS §§ 46a-13k and 46a-13l).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 19 Nay 0 (03/22/2024)