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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1368
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4553
Referred to Committee on COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN
Introduced by:
(KID)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 46a-13m of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 2
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes concerning 3
the confidentiality of records and information, the Child Advocate may 4
request and shall have access to, including the right to promptly inspect 5
and copy, any records necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the 6
Child Advocate as provided in section 46a-13l. Such records shall be 7
provided to the Child Advocate not later than fourteen days from the 8
date of such request. If the Child Advocate is denied access to any 9
records necessary to carry out said responsibilities, the Child Advocate 10
may issue a subpoena for the production of such records as provided in 11
subsection (c) of this section. 12
(b) In the performance of [his] the responsibilities [under] described 13
in subsection (a) of section 46a-13l, the Child Advocate may 14
communicate privately with any child or person who has received, is 15
Raised Bill No. 1368
LCO No. 4553 2 of 2
receiving or should have received services from the state. Such 16
communications shall be confidential and not be subject to disclosure 17
except as provided in subsection (a) of section 46a-13n. 18
(c) The Child Advocate may issue subpoenas to compel the 19
attendance and testimony of witnesses or the production of books, 20
papers and other documents and to administer oaths to witnesses in any 21
matter under [his] the Child Advocate's investigation. If any person to 22
whom such subpoena is issued fails to appear or, having appeared, 23
refuses to give testimony or fails to produce the evidence required, the 24
Child Advocate may apply to the superior court for the judicial district 25
of Hartford which shall have jurisdiction to order such person to appear 26
and give testimony or to produce such evidence, as the case may be. 27
(d) The Child Advocate may apply for and accept grants, gifts and 28
bequests of funds from other states, federal and interstate agencies and 29
independent authorities and private firms, individuals and foundations, 30
for the purpose of carrying out [his] the Child Advocate's 31
responsibilities. There is established within the General Fund a child 32
advocate account which shall be a separate nonlapsing account. Any 33
funds received under this subsection shall, upon deposit in the General 34
Fund, be credited to said account and may be used by the Child 35
Advocate in the performance of [his] the Child Advocate's duties. 36
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 46a-13m
Statement of Purpose:
To make technical changes to a statute relating to the Child Advocate.
[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.]