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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6912
January Session, 2025
AN ACT ESTABLISHING AN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND DEMENTIA
TASK FORCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) There is established an 1
Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia task force. The task force shall: 2
(1) Examine (A) the needs of persons living with Alzheimer's disease 3
or dementia in the state, (B) the services available to such persons and 4
their family caregivers, and (C) the ability of health care providers and 5
institutions to meet the needs of such persons; and 6
(2) Develop a State Alzheimer's Plan, which shall make findings and 7
recommendations regarding: 8
(A) State residents living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia and 9
their service needs, including, but not limited to, (i) the state's role in 10
providing or facilitating long-term care, family caregiver support and 11
assistance to persons with early-stage and early-onset Alzheimer's 12
disease or dementia, (ii) state policies regarding persons living with 13
Alzheimer's disease or dementia, and (iii) the fiscal impact of 14
Alzheimer's disease and dementia on publicly funded health care 15
programs; 16
(B) Existing resources, services and capacity relating to the diagnosis 17 Substitute Bill No. 6912
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and care of persons living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, 18
including, but not limited to, (i) the type, cost and availability of 19
dementia care services, (ii) the availability of health care providers who 20
can provide Alzheimer's disease or dementia-related services, 21
including, but not limited to, neurologists, geriatricians and direct care 22
workers, (iii) dementia-specific training requirements for public and 23
private employees who interact with persons living with Alzheimer's 24
disease or dementia, including, but not limited to, long-term care 25
providers, case managers, adult protective services employees and law 26
enforcement personnel and other first responders, (iv) home and 27
community-based services, including, but not limited to, respite care 28
services, (v) quality of care measures for home and community-based 29
services and residential care facilities, and (vi) state-supported 30
Alzheimer's disease and dementia research conducted at higher 31
education institutions located in the state; and 32
(C) Policies and strategies that (i) increase public awareness of 33
Alzheimer's disease and dementia, (ii) educate health care providers to 34
increase early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and 35
dementia, (iii) improve health care services for persons living with 36
Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (iv) evaluate the capacity of the health 37
care system in meeting the growing number and needs of persons living 38
with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (v) increase the number of health 39
care providers available to treat the growing aging population and 40
populations living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (vi) improve 41
services provided in the home and community to delay and decrease 42
the need for institutionalized care for persons living with Alzheimer's 43
disease or dementia, (vii) improve long-term care services, including, 44
but not limited to, assisted living services for persons living with 45
Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (viii) assist unpaid Alzheimer's 46
disease and dementia caregivers, (ix) increase and improve research on 47
Alzheimer's disease and dementia, (x) promote activities to maintain 48
and improve brain health, (xi) improve data and information collection 49
relating to Alzheimer's disease and dementia and the public health 50
burdens associated with such diseases, (xii) improve public safety and 51 Substitute Bill No. 6912
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address the safety-related needs of persons living with Alzheimer's 52
disease or dementia, (xiii) address legal protections for, and legal issues 53
faced by, persons living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, and (xiv) 54
improve methods through which the state evaluates and adopts policies 55
to assist persons living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia. 56
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 57
(1) Eleven members appointed by the Governor, (A) one of whom 58
shall be a person living with early-stage or early-onset Alzheimer's 59
disease or dementia, (B) one of whom shall be a family caregiver of a 60
person living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (C) one of whom 61
shall represent a municipality that provides services to senior citizens, 62
(D) one of whom shall represent home health care agencies, (E) two of 63
whom shall be health care providers with experience diagnosing and 64
treating Alzheimer's disease, (F) one of whom shall represent a national 65
organization that advocates on behalf of persons living with 66
Alzheimer's disease or dementia, (G) one of whom shall represent the 67
area agencies on aging, established pursuant to section 17a-850 of the 68
general statutes, (H) one of whom shall represent long-term care 69
facilities, (I) one of whom shall have expertise in aging policy issues, and 70
(J) one of whom shall represent homemaker-companion agencies; 71
(2) The Commissioner of Aging and Disability Services, or the 72
commissioner's designee; 73
(3) The Commissioner of Public Health, or the commissioner's 74
designee; 75
(4) The Commissioner of Social Services, or the commissioner's 76
designee; and 77
(5) The State Ombudsman, or the State Ombudsman's designee. 78
(c) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 79
than January 1, 2026. Task force members first appointed pursuant to 80
subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of subdivision (1) of subsection (b) 81 Substitute Bill No. 6912
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of this section shall serve for a term of two years. Task force members 82
first appointed pursuant to subparagraphs (E) to (J), inclusive, of 83
subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section shall serve for a term of 84
three years. Any subsequent task force member appointed pursuant to 85
subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section shall serve for a term of 86
two years, or until such member's successor is appointed. If the 87
Governor determines that no suitable successor candidate exists to 88
appoint to the task force, the Governor may reappoint an existing task 89
force member for one two-year term. 90
(d) The Commissioner of Aging and Disability Services, or the 91
commissioner's designee, shall convene the first meeting of the task 92
force not later than thirty days after all task force members are 93
appointed. At such meeting, the members of the task force shall select a 94
chairperson and vice chairperson from among the members of the task 95
force. The chairperson and vice chairperson may serve in such roles not 96
more than two consecutive years. The task force shall meet not less than 97
once every calendar quarter. 98
(e) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 99
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to aging shall 100
serve as administrative staff of the task force. 101
(f) Not later than January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the task 102
force shall submit a report on the State Alzheimer's Plan to the Governor 103
and, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general 104
statutes, the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having 105
cognizance of matters relating to aging, public health and human 106
services. Such report shall include recommendations for the 107
implementation of the State Alzheimer's Plan and identify any barriers 108
to the implementation of such plan. The task force shall update the State 109
Alzheimer's Plan every four years. 110
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section Substitute Bill No. 6912
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Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (f), the second reference to "State Alzheimer's Plan" in the first
sentence was deleted for clarity.
AGE Joint Favorable Subst.