CONNECTICUT PUBLIC ACTS 2007
ISSUES OF CONCERN TO THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY
HOUSING ISSUES
PUBLIC ACT 07-234 SSB 581 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A” AND “B”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING THE ALLOCATION OF PRIVATE ACTIVITY BONDS FOR RESIDENTIAL HOUSING.
SUMMARY: This bill requires the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) to use at least 10% of its annual private activity bond allocation for multifamily residential housing in calendar year 2008 and at least 15% in each subsequent year. By law, 60% of the private activity bonds that state issuers may issue must be allocated to CHFA.
The bill also requires CHFA's board of directors to review and analyze the authority's multifamily housing goals and programs to determine how it can increase production and promote preservation of multifamily housing, including such housing for households with incomes less than 50% and less than 25% of area median income. The board must also review the use of private activity bonds in conjunction with 4% federal tax credits and report its findings and recommendations to the Planning and Development and Housing committees by January 1, 2008.
*House Amendment “A” reduces CHFA's annual private activity bond allocation for multifamily housing from at least 20% of the total to at least 10% in 2008 and 15% thereafter.
*House Amendment “B” adds the required report.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007
CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES
PUBLIC ACT 07-49 SHB 5508
AN ACT AUTHORIZING COMMITMENT TO A CHRONIC DISEASE HOSPITAL UNDER A PHYSICIAN'S EMERGENCY CERTIFICATE.
SUMMARY: This bill permits a physician to place a person for psychiatric treatment in a chronic disease hospital under a 15-day emergency certificate if the hospital has a separate psychiatric unit. It permits a patient's admission in this situation regardless of the law that requires the hospital's medical director to determine that the hospital and its staff can adequately care for and treat the patient. But it prohibits a person from being placed in such a hospital if the placing physician believes the person has active suicidal or homicidal intent.
Current law permits physicians to confine people under 15-day emergency certificates only in a “hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities,” that is any public or private hospital that accepts psychiatric patients. As under current law, before placing someone in a chronic disease hospital a physician must find the person to (1) have psychiatric disabilities, (2) be a danger to himself or others or gravely disabled (i. e. , in danger of serious harm because the person cannot care for his or her own basic needs), and (3) be in need of immediate care and treatment in a hospital.
The bill requires a psychiatrist to examine anyone admitted to a chronic disease hospital under a 15-day certificate within 24 hours of admission. The law requires such an examination within 48 hours for people admitted to an acute care or psychiatric hospital under a certificate.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-153 HB 6390 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR DEFENDANTS FOUND NOT COMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL.
SUMMARY: This bill authorizes courts to give the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) the option to treat some mentally ill criminal defendants in less restrictive settings than hospitals. Current law gives the department this option only after the Probate Court (1) civilly commits a criminal defendant to its custody and (2) determines that inpatient treatment is not necessary.
The bill applies to defendants charged with nonviolent crimes whose mental illnesses render them unable to stand trial and who are unlikely to become competent within the period in which they can lawfully be detained (18 months or the maximum prison sentence they could serve, whichever is shorter). This is the same population currently eligible to pursue civil commitment rather than be subject to further criminal proceedings.
The bill creates procedures for implementing this change. Other options in existing law remain unchanged, including procedures for pursuing civil commitment as an alternative to restoring their competency and resuming the criminal court proceedings.
*House Amendment “A” adds the provision limiting community placements to cases in which medical panels have determined that appropriate services are appropriate.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-71 SHB 6391
AN ACT CONCERNING INVOLUNTARY ADMINISTRATION OF PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION FOR PURPOSES OF COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL.
SUMMARY: In some circumstances, courts may order The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) to give defendants psychiatric medication without their consent in order to restore them to competency so that their trial can resume.
Currently, a court's authority to order involuntary medication ends when the defendant's competency is restored. The bill, instead, allows courts to extend these orders for as long as the criminal charges are pending. It applies to situations in which a court has found, by clear and convincing evidence, that the defendant (1) is likely to relapse if the medication is discontinued and (2) because of mental illness, is unable to give informed consent to continue taking it.
The bill establishes procedures and legal standards for making this determination. They mirror existing laws governing involuntary medication of defendants in order to restore them to competency.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-117 HB 7067 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING THE APPOINTMENT AND POWERS OF CONSERVATORS AND SPECIAL LIMITED CONSERVATORS WITH RESPECT TO PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT.
SUMMARY: This bill specifies that criminal defendants who cannot or will not consent to take psychiatric medication needed to treat their condition are entitled to legal representation in matters involving petitions to subject them to forced medication. It also sets notice and hearing rules governing their involuntary medication proceedings.
It also specifies that probate court orders on this issue and on the issue of involuntarily releasing any psychiatric patient's medical records must be supported by clear and convincing evidence.
Current law has no legal representation provision or explicit legal standard for ordering forced medication, but clear and convincing evidence is the standard apparently applied in practice. Current law also has no procedure or standards for releasing medical records when defendants are unable or unwilling to give permission on their own.
*House Amendment “A” adds the legal representation and notice provisions.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-158 SHB 7217 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE "A")*
AN ACT CONCERNING DISCHARGE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS FOR INMATES, RESPONSIBILITY FOR OBTAINING BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES FROM CERTAIN PAROLEES AND DISCHARGE OF MENTALLY ILL PRISONERS.
SUMMARY: This bill requires the Department of Correction (DOC) to create a discharge savings account for each inmate to accumulate up to $ 1,000 payable to the inmate on discharge.
By law, someone convicted of a felony or a crime requiring registration as a sex offender must submit to a DNA test before being released on parole, unless the person was already tested. The bill makes DOC instead of the Board of Pardons and Paroles responsible for collecting the sample. By law, DOC is responsible for supervising offenders on parole.
The bill specifically authorizes the DOC commissioner to appoint and remove wardens to oversee a district, parole and community services, population management, programs and treatment, security and academy training, and staff development. Under the bill, these wardens serve at the commissioner's pleasure and are exempt from the classified service. By law, wardens of institutions are already subject to these provisions.
The bill eliminates a provision requiring referral to the Connecticut Prison Association of a mentally ill male prisoner transferred to a state mental hospital when he is to be released at the end of his sentence. The eliminated provision requires the association to return the prisoner to his residence or, if none, a place to best accomplish his reinstatement into society.
*House Amendment “A” increases the maximum amount in an inmate's discharge savings account from $ 500 to $ 1,000.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007, except for the provisions on collecting DNA samples and referrals of mentally ill male prisoners, which are effective on October 1, 2007.
PUBLIC ACT 07-216 SHB 7407 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING A DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION CITIZENS ADVISORY GROUP AND THE RIGHTS OF INMATES WITH MENTAL ILLNESS.
SUMMARY: When assessing and providing mental health services to certain inmates confined in a DOC facility, this bill requires DOC to consider a licensed psychiatrist's diagnosis to appropriately assess the inmate and provide individualized, clinically appropriate, and culturally competent mental health services to treat the inmate's condition. This applies if the psychiatrist diagnosed the inmate (1) with a mental illness and (2) as dangerous to himself or herself or others and informed DOC of this current diagnosis.
The bill requires DOC, before a planned release of such an inmate from a correctional facility, to collaborate with the Judicial Branch and departments of Social Services and Mental Health and Addiction Services, as necessary and within available appropriations, to assist the inmate in obtaining housing, mental health treatment services, public benefits, and employment counseling on release.
The bill requires DOC to develop a four to eight hour per year mental health training program for custodial staff, within available appropriations.
The bill requires the DOC commissioner to report to the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Public Health committees by February 1 annually (1) the number of inmates requiring mental health services in the previous calendar year and (2) a description of the services provided by DOC and contracted health care providers, if applicable.
*House Amendment “A”:
1. removes the provision creating a Citizens Advisory Group to review DOC policies and practices;
2. requires DOC to consider a psychiatrist's diagnosis of an inmate with mental illness as dangerous when assessing the inmate and providing individualized, clinically appropriate, and culturally competent mental health services rather than requiring those services for such an inmate;
3. removes provisions requiring that inmates to have the opportunity to submit confidential written requests for mental health services and be interviewed in a place with reasonable privacy;
4. reduces the required mental health training for staff from at least 16 hours to between four and eight hours, requires training within available appropriations, sets the timetable for offering the training, and sets specific training requirements for staff at facilities with female inmates;
5. provides that assistance to inmates on release be within available appropriations; and
6. requires the DOC report to be about inmates requiring mental health services rather than those diagnosed with a mental illness and determined dangerous.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-184 SSB 1438 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A”)
AN ACT CONCERNING NOTICE OF CERTAIN PROBATE COURT HEARINGS AND THE FILING OF CERTAIN REPORTS.
SUMMARY: The bill gives the probate court administrator additional powers over probate courts and probate court judges. Specifically it authorizes him to enforce statutes dealing with probate court administration and with regulations he or she issues. Also, under certain circumstances, it authorizes him to reassign pending cases to a special assignment probate judge or another probate judge and designate a special assignment probate judge to help the judge conduct his or her business. These circumstances involve courts where (1) court facilities do not meet statutory minimum standards or (2) court business has not been conducted properly, with expeditious dispatch, or in accordance with statutes or regulations.
The bill increases the minimum requirements for probate court facilities, requires the probate court administrator to notify a town if the court does not comply with minimum standards, gives the town the chance to submit a compliance plan, and requires probate court regulations to be submitted to the Judiciary Committee for approval.
This bill changes the method for notifying parties in connection with various probate court proceedings. In the following proceedings, it (1) allows service at an individual's usual place of abode (“abode service”) in those instances where current law requires personal service and (2) requires first class mail, instead of regular mail or certified mail, return receipt requested, for those instances that currently require notice by certified mail or regular mail:
1. temporary custody of a minor pending an application to probate court for the removing a guardian or terminating parental rights;
2. application for removal of parent as guardian;
3. appointment of guardian or co-guardians for a minor;
4. application for guardianship of a mentally retarded person;
5. petition to terminate parental rights;
6. Department of Family and Children (DCF) petition to determinate if continuing to care for a child or youth voluntarily admitted to DCF is in the child's or youth's best interest and, if so, whether there is an appropriate case service or permanency plan; and
7. emancipation of a minor.
The bill requires personal or abode service instead of notice by certified mail in one instance and notice by first class mail instead of certified mail in another instance regarding filing a claim for paternity by a putative father.
Finally, the bill delays from March 1 to April 1 of the following year, the date by which probate judges must file a statement of the actual gross receipts and itemized costs of his or her office and the net income for each such calendar year. It also delays from March 1 to April 1 the date by which a probate judge who ceases to hold office must file on the second and third years following the year he ceased to hold office a statement showing his or her net probate court income from the two years. The statements must be filed with the probate court administrator and signed under penalty of false statement.
*House Amendment “A” adds the provisions concerning the powers of the probate court administrator, minimum standards for probate courts, and special assignment probate judges.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007, except for the provisions relating to probate court administration, which become effective July 1, 2007.
PUBLIC ACT 07-116 SSB 1439 (FILE 670, AS AMENDED BY SENATE “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING CONSERVATORS AND APPEALS OF CONSERVATORSHIPS AND GUARDIANSHIPS.
SUMMARY: The law allows the probate court to appoint a conservator of the estate for someone who cannot manage his or her affairs and a conservator of the person for someone incapable of caring for himself of herself. This bill changes procedures for appointing conservators and designating their powers and sets procedures for appealing probate court decisions and filing habeas corpus petitions.
Among the bill's most important changes, it:
1. requires the probate court to record proceedings on appointing conservators, setting their powers and duties, and terminating conservatorships;
2. requires appeals of hearings appointing a conservator to be on record and sets the standard for court review;
3. changes the definitions of incapacity, which is required for the court to find appointment of a conservator necessary;
4. includes specific language for a notice to the person who is the subject of a petition for appointment of a conservator;
5. adds specific provisions about the right to an attorney and to choose an attorney, for a person who has a conservator appointed for him or her or is the subject of a petition for the appointment of one;
6. requires the probate court to consider certain factors and changes the standard the court must apply before deciding to appoint a conservator, including requiring a finding that appointing the conservator is the least restrictive intervention available to assist the person;
7. requires the probate court to give a conservator only the least restrictive duties and authority necessary to meet the person's needs, and the court must make specific findings on the need for each duty or authority;
8. requires a conservator to carry out the duties and authority assigned by the court in a manner that is the “least restrictive means of intervention” (§§ 19-20);
9. makes a number of similar changes to provisions on appointing a temporary conservator;
10. imposes specific requirements on the conservator of the person, including assisting in removing obstacles to the conserved person's independence, ascertaining the person's views, and making decisions that conform with the person's reasonable and informed preferences;
11. creates a procedure for the probate court to hold a hearing on changing a conserved person's residence similar to the provisions in current law for a conservator placing a person in a long-term care institution; and
12. allows a conserved person to petition the probate court to terminate the conservatorship at any time.
The bill defines “least restrictive means of intervention” as intervention for a conserved person that is sufficient to provide, within the available resources of the person's estate or public or private assistance, for the person's personal needs or property management while allowing the greatest amount of independence and self-determination (§ 10).
The bill also changes the term of someone who is subject to involuntary representation by a conservator from ward to a conserved person (§ 10). It makes numerous technical and conforming changes (§§ 7-9, 12, 26-32).
*Senate Amendment “A”:
1. returns to the current law requirement that a conservator file a report with the probate court within five days, instead of 48 hours excluding weekends and holidays under the original file, when placing a person in a long-term care institution on discharge from a hospital (§ 21);
2. clarifies that if a court grants an extension for good cause to allow more than 30 days to hold a hearing on terminating a conservatorship, the conservatorship does not terminate if the hearing is not held within the initial 30 days (§ 23);
3. applies the bill's standard for court review when deciding whether to terminate a conservatorship to conservators of the person as well as conservators of the estate (§ 23); and
4. makes technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
HEALTH CARE ISSUES
PUBLIC ACT 07-53 HB 6840
AN ACT CONCERNING SCREENING FOR KIDNEY DISEASE
SUMMARY: This act exempts gynecologists from the requirement that a physician screen for kidney disease as part of a patient's routine general medical examination.
Under prior law, physicians had to order a serum creatinine test as part of each patient's annual physical examination if the patient had not had such a test within the preceding 12 months. The act instead requires that this test be done as part of each patient's routine general medical examination, if not performed within the past 12 months. It also specifies that these medical examinations do not include annual gynecological examinations.
Creatinine is a breakdown product of creatine, which is an important part of muscle. A serum creatinine test measures the amount of creatinine in the blood.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-155 HB 6893
AN ACT CONCERNING EXPANDED OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES BY THE CHOICES HEALTH INSURANCE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
SUMMARY: This act expands the statutory role of the Department of Social Services' CHOICES health insurance assistance program in disseminating information (including preparing and distributing written material) and providing advice to Medicare beneficiaries. Under the act, the program must provide information on the federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program and long-term care options in the state. The act includes the Medicare Part D program in the list of mandatory Medicare-related information in the Connecticut Medicare consumer guide. CHOICES develops and distributes this guide after consulting with the insurance commissioner and other organizations.
The act also requires CHOICES to collaborate with other state agencies and entities in developing consumer-oriented websites that provide information on Medicare plans, including Medicare Part D plans and available long-term care options. It adds CHOICES personnel designated by the social services commissioner to the group charged with developing the state's long-term care website, which began operating in 2006. (The other entities are the Office of Policy and Management, Select Committee on Aging, Commission on Aging, and Long-term Care Advisory Council. )
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-155 HB 6893
AN ACT CONCERNING EXPANDED OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES BY THE CHOICES HEALTH INSURANCE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
SUMMARY: This act expands the statutory role of the Department of Social Services' CHOICES health insurance assistance program in disseminating information (including preparing and distributing written material) and providing advice to Medicare beneficiaries. Under the act, the program must provide information on the federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program and long-term care options in the state. The act includes the Medicare Part D program in the list of mandatory Medicare-related information in the Connecticut Medicare consumer guide. CHOICES develops and distributes this guide after consulting with the insurance commissioner and other organizations.
The act also requires CHOICES to collaborate with other state agencies and entities in developing consumer-oriented websites that provide information on Medicare plans, including Medicare Part D plans and available long-term care options. It adds CHOICES personnel designated by the social services commissioner to the group charged with developing the state's long-term care website, which began operating in 2006. (The other entities are the Office of Policy and Management, Select Committee on Aging, Commission on Aging, and Long-term Care Advisory Council. )
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-75 sHB 7055
AN ACT CONCERNING MEDICAL NECESSITY AND EXTERNAL APPEALS
SUMMARY: This act requires insurers, HMOs, and other entities to include a particular definition of “medically necessary” or “medical necessity” in individual and group health insurance policies and contracts. For insurers and HMOs that have entered into a federal court-approved class action settlement with physicians, the requirement does not apply until the settlement's expiration date.
The act extends the timeframe for appealing to the insurance commissioner (i. e. , filing an external appeal) after a person has exhausted a company's internal grievance procedures. Under prior law, after receiving a final written claim denial based on a lack of medical necessity or determination not to certify an admission, service, procedure, or extension of hospital stay, a person had 30 days to file an external appeal. The act extends this to 60 days. It also makes a conforming change.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2008, except for the appeal provision, which is effective upon passage.
PUBLIC ACT 07-34 SHB 7157
AN ACT CONCERNING STAFF TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER'S SPECIAL CARE UNITS AND PROGRAMS.
SUMMARY: The bill requires Alzheimer's special care units or programs annually to provide at least one hour of Alzheimer's and dementia-specific training to all unlicensed and unregistered staff providing care and services to residents in these programs or units. For staff hired on or after October 1, 2007, the training must be completed within six months of the date of employment.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-76 SHB 7222
AN ACT CONCERNING USE OF UNLICENSED ASSISTIVE PERSONNEL IN RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES
SUMMARY: This act allows unlicensed “assistive personnel” employed in residential care homes to perform limited health-related activities for residents. Under the act, they can obtain and record a resident's blood pressure and temperature with digital medical instruments if such instruments (1) have internal decision-making electronics, microcomputers, or software that interpret physiologic signals and (2) do not require the user's discretion or judgment.
The act also allows unlicensed assistive personnel to obtain and document a resident's weight and to assist residents in using glucose monitors for obtaining and documenting blood glucose levels.
A “residential care home” is an establishment furnishing, in single or multiple facilities, food and shelter to two or more persons unrelated to the proprietor. Also, it provides services that meet a need beyond the basic provisions of food, shelter, and laundry.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-197 SB 66
AN ACT EXPANDING INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR SPECIALIZED FORMULAS FOR CHILDREN
SUMMARY: This act requires health insurance policies to cover medically necessary specialized formulas administered under a physician's direction for children up to age 12, instead of age eight.
The act applies to group and individual insurance policies delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in Connecticut after September 30, 2007 that cover (1) basic hospital expenses; (2) basic medical-surgical expenses; (3) major medical expenses; (4) accidents only; and (5) hospital or medical services, including HMO contracts. It does not apply to self-insured benefit plans, which are regulated under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-148 SSB 1066
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION SERVICES
SUMMARY: This act requires the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) to develop a single affirmative action plan that covers its central office and each of its divisions and facilities regardless of Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities regulations that require separate plans for DMHAS' central office; Connecticut Valley and Cedarcrest hospitals; Connecticut, Capital Region, Southeastern, and Southwest Connecticut Mental Health centers; and Western Connecticut Mental Health Network.
The act requires that a copy of notices and other documents concerning any court action or proceeding that would otherwise be served personally on or mailed to the home of someone committed to a psychiatric facility be mailed directly to the person at the institution. It applies to anyone committed by court order, emergency certificate, or voluntarily. By law, the notice is also sent to (1) and served on the institution's superintendent or representative, who must deliver it to the individual, and (2) the Department of Administrative Services commissioner. Failure to send or serve documents does not abate the action or proceeding, although the court can order compliance. The notice must be sent by certified or registered mail.
The act also (1) changes the term “substance abuse disability” to “substance use disorder” and (2) repeals several obsolete statutes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
COMMUNITY LIVING ISSUES
PUBLIC ACT 07-11 SHB 5186
AN ACT CONCERNING THE EVACUATION OF PETS AND SERVICE ANIMALS AND APPROVAL OF THE LOCAL EMERGENCY PLAN OF OPERATIONS
SUMMARY: This act broadens the definition of “civil preparedness” to include measures addressing, where appropriate, the nonmilitary evacuation of pets and service animals. It prohibits the emergency management and homeland security commissioner from approving any local emergency operations plan that he determines does not address such evacuation and other civil preparedness activities and measures specified in existing law.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-134 SHB 5537
AN ACT CONCERNING WHEELCHAIR TRANSFER SAFETY
SUMMARY: This act requires anyone transporting someone being transferred into or out of a motor vehicle while in a wheelchair to provide and use a device designed to secure the person in the wheelchair while transferring him or her from the ground to the vehicle or the vehicle to the ground. The device must be in the vehicle at all times.
The act requires operators of certain specific types of newly registered vehicles to provide additional protection through the use of a device that secures the wheelchair to the motor vehicle's mechanical lift, or otherwise prevents or seeks to prevent the person from falling from the vehicle.
The act authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) commissioner to adopt regulations, in consultation with the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Public Health (DPH) commissioners, to implement these requirements.
It designates violations of the requirements as infractions.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-73 HB 7007
AN ACT RENAMING THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL RETARDATION
SUMMARY: This act renames the Department of Mental Retardation as the Department of Developmental Services (DDS). It specifies that the name change does not change the criteria for determining eligibility for the department's services. To be eligible for services, a person must (1) function at a significantly subaverage general intellectual level (usually this means an IQ score of 69 or lower) and (2) at the same time, exhibit deficits in adaptive behavior. These characteristics must manifest themselves before the person's 18th birthday.
The act authorizes the DDS commissioner to determine how and when related administrative changes, such as revisions to business cards, stationery, and signage, occur. It also makes a number of technical, conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-238 HB 7008 (AS AMENDED BY HOUSE “A” AND “B”)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL RETARDATION.
SUMMARY: This bill prohibits a probate court from excluding people from being a plenary or limited guardian of a person with mental retardation solely because they (1) work for a private agency the Department of Mental Retardation (DMR) funds or licenses or (2) operate a DMR-licensed community training home.
It permits the Children and Families (DCF) and Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) departments to access DMR's abuse registry to check whether a job applicant is listed there.
It increases, to $ 100,000 from $ 75,000, the cost allowance cap for executive director salaries in DMR's and DMHAS' calculations of grants to private agencies. And, beginning July 1, 2007, it permits the cap to rise annually up any percentage cost-of-living increase provided in the departments' contracts with these agencies.
The bill extends through June 30, 2009 the moratorium on the sale, lease, or transfer of state-owned, state-operated property used to house people with mental retardation. The moratorium is otherwise scheduled to expire on June 30, 2007. It does not apply to any agreement to sell, lease, or transfer property entered into before June 2, 2005.
Finally, the bill repeals several reporting requirements, some of which are obsolete.
*House Amendment “A” increases the executive director salary cap and indexes it to cost-of-living increases.
*House Amendment “B” adds the moratorium extension.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007, except for the executive director salary cap increase and the moratorium extension, which are effective upon passage.
PUBLIC ACT 07-83 HB 7065 (VETOED; OVERRIDDEN)
AN ACT CONCERNING LEGISLATIVE REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF WAIVER APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SERVICES TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
SUMMARY: This act strengthens legislative oversight of the Department of Social Services' (DSS) federal waiver applications. By law, whenever DSS applies to the federal government to waive certain federal program requirements, it must first submit the waiver application to the Human Services and Appropriations committees. Previously, the committees could advise the DSS commissioner of their opinion of the application, which, in practice, had not been binding on him.
The act (1) requires, rather than allows, the committees to advise the DSS commissioner of their approval, rejection, or modification of the application within 30 days of receiving it; (2) requires the committees to hold a public hearing on the application after they receive it and before they advise the commissioner; and (3) makes the committees' failure to advise an approval.
If the committees reject the waiver application, the commissioner may not submit it to the federal government. He must modify the application when the committees advise him to do so.
If the committees disagree, the act requires their chairmen to appoint a six-member conference committee composed of three members from each committee. At least one member from each committee must be from the minority party. The conference committee must report to the standing committees, which must in turn vote to accept or reject, but not amend, the report. The Appropriations Committee must advise the commissioner if both committees accept the report, and he must act in accordance with it. If either committee rejects the conference report, the waiver application is considered approved, and the committee rejecting it must notify the commissioner.
When submitting the application to the federal government, the act requires the commissioner to include (1) a complete transcript of the joint committees' proceedings along with the written comments submitted to the committees at the proceedings, which the act directs the committees to send to him and (2) any written comments he receives during the public comment period, which he must, by law, provide before submitting the application to the General Assembly.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-15 HB 7109
AN ACT CONCERNING CERTIFICATION STANDARDS FOR PERSONS PROVIDING INTERPRETER SERVICES
SUMMARY: This act broadens the law governing accreditation for individuals who are paid for providing interpreter services to deaf and hearing-impaired people. It adds interpreters who hold only a National Association of the Deaf-National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (NAD/RID) national interpreting certificate to those able to provide such services. And it changes the testing requirement for interpreters who use other credentials to become interpreters.
The act also makes technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-23 SHB 7156
AN ACT CONCERNING HOSPICE SERVICES
SUMMARY: This act (1) requires newly licensed hospices to provide hospice services in all settings and (2) sets conditions on the use of hospice-related titles and terms.
Under the act, an organization seeking an initial hospice license from the Department of Public Health (DPH) beginning January 1, 2008 must agree to provide hospice care services for terminally ill people on a 24-hour basis in all settings, including private homes, nursing homes, residential care homes, or specialized residences providing supportive services. It must also provide DPH with satisfactory evidence that it has the necessary qualified personnel to provide the services.
The act prohibits an organization from using the title “hospice” or “hospice care program” or any titles, words, letters, or abbreviations indicating or implying hospice licensure unless it is licensed to provide hospice services by DPH and certified as a hospice by Medicare.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-86 HB 7191
AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE STATE-WIDE RESPITE CARE PROGRAM
SUMMARY: The State-Wide Respite Care Program provides respite care for people with Alzheimer's disease or related disorders, regardless of age, who have annual incomes up to $30,000 and liquid assets up to $80,000. Prior law also required that they not be covered by Medicaid.
This act allows people under age 65 receiving community Medicaid, which does not provide respite care, to participate in the State-Wide Respite Program. It does this by changing the people ineligible for this program from those covered by Medicaid to those covered by the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE). CHCPE is a Medicaid waiver and state-funded program that provides respite services, as well as other home- and community-based care, to people aged 65 and over who meet its eligibility requirements.
Respite care services are support services that provide short-term relief for family caregivers from the demands of continual care for an individual with Alzheimer's or related diseases.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007
PUBLIC ACT 07-130 SSB 1451
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTICUT HOMECARE OPTION PROGRAM FOR THE ELDERLY
SUMMARY: This act establishes a Connecticut Home Care Option Program for the Elderly and a Connecticut Home Care Trust Fund, administered by the state comptroller. The program and the fund must help people plan and save for the costs of certain elderly services that (1) are either not covered by a long-term health insurance policy or supplement services covered by such a policy or by Medicare and (2) will allow them to remain in their homes or live in a non-institutional setting as they age.
The act allows participants to establish individual savings accounts within the fund and allows an account's designated beneficiary to withdraw funds from it for qualified home care expenses. It exempts interest earned on fund accounts from the state income tax and makes any unspent funds remaining in an account when a beneficiary dies part of his or her estate.
The act specifies the comptroller's duties and authority over the program and the trust fund, establishes standards for investing the fund's assets and for offering the fund to investors, and creates a 19-member advisory committee for the program.
Finally, the act eliminates the 250-person limit on the number of participants in a state-funded pilot program that allows seniors to hire their own personal care assistance (PCA) attendants directly instead of going though a home health care agency.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007, except for the repeal of the PCA pilot program participation limit, which takes effect July 1, 2007. The income tax exemption applies to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2007.
