2004 Acts Affecting Children

You asked for brief summaries of legislation relating to children the General Assembly passed in the 2004 regular session.

This report briefly summarizes the substantive provisions of acts affecting children passed this session. It does not summarize changes in the budget for FY 2004-05. Information on budgeting changes is available from the Office of Fiscal Analysis or by consulting the fiscal note for HB 5692, “An Act Making Adjustments to the State Budget for the Biennium Ending June 30, 2005, and Making Appropriations Therefor, Making Deficiency Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2004, and Making Adjustments to State and Municipal Revenues. ”

As of the date of this report, the governor has not signed all of these acts. Thus, some of the changes described below could be vetoed and might not become law. Additional chilren-related laws may be enacted during a special legislative session scheduled for May 11, 2004.

An act implementing the budget gives each town an FY 2004-05 ECS grant equal to its FY 2003-04 grant plus 23. 27% of the difference between that grant and its full ECS entitlement. This allocation is subject to the following constraints:

1. every town’s grant must be at least 60% of its full entitlement;

2. no priority school district may receive less than $ 370 per student;

3. every town, except Winchester, must receive at least the greater of (a) its FY 2002-03 grant or (b) its FY 2003-04 grant plus 0. 07%; and

4. Winchester must receive a grant at least equal to its fixed entitlement for FY 2002-03. (A “fixed entitlement” is a town’s full ECS formula grant, excluding prior year adjustments. )

The implementing legislation also (1) eliminates the cap on annual increases in ECS grants one year early, as of July 1, 2004, instead of July 1, 2005 and (2) starting with FY 2004-05, restores the density supplement, which gives additional ECS funding to towns with population densities greater than the state average. (HB 5692 and sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

The act establishes annual grants for priority school districts that vary according to population. The grant amounts and the districts eligible for each amount in FY 2004-05 are: $ 1. 5 million for the priority district with the largest population (Bridgeport), $ 1 million each for districts ranked two through four (Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford), $ 600,000 for the fifth-ranked district (Waterbury), and $ 500,000 for each district ranked six through eight (Danbury, New Britain, and Norwalk). The seven smallest priority districts receive $ 250,000 each (Ansonia, Bloomfield, Bristol, East Hartford, Meriden, New London, and Windham).

For FY 2004-05 only, the act also allocates money for two former priority districts, also according to population. West Haven receives $ 200,000 and Putnam, $ 100,000. (sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

The act increases FY 2004-05 allocations to four categorical education grant programs by the following amounts: Priority School District Grants, $ 8. 65 million; School Readiness, $ 7 million; Early Reading Success, $ 1 million; and Summer School, $ 900,000. It also allocates $ 1. 1 million for School Improvement. (sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

1. allows the State Department of Education (SDE), in consultation with the Department of Social Services (DSS), to grant waivers to allow for variation in the school readiness program schedule;

2. allows the SDE to reallocate 70% rather than 50% of unused non-competitive school readiness grant program funds to create new program slots and allows the remaining percentage to be used for professional development, rather than allowing those funds to lapse;

3. increases the maximum per child reimbursement for the SDE school readiness component of a program offered by a school readiness provider to $ 6,400 from $ 5,891; and

4. increases the maximum school readiness program competitive grant by $ 7,000 per priority school. (sHB 5690, effective July 1, 2004)

Another act extends the school readiness competitive grant program to towns that are among the 28 poorest in the state, but are not considered priority school districts. These towns are: Ashford, Chaplain, Griswold, Sprague, Sterling, and Thompson. Prior law allowed towns or regional school readiness councils to apply for these funds only to provide spaces in school readiness programs for eligible children who live in area served by a priority school or former priority school. (sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

The act (1) increases the minimum required number of early childhood education or child development credits from nine to 12 for school readiness staff holding credentials from a commissioner-approved organization and (2) adds a Connecticut teaching certificate with an early childhood or special education endorsement to the list of acceptable credentials for school readiness staff, beginning July 1, 2005. The act also makes it acceptable for staff members to have associates’ or four-year degrees in any field, as opposed to a major in early childhood development or early childhood education, as long as the person has earned at least nine, and on or after July 1, 2005 12, credits in either of those areas. (PA 04-15, effective July 1, 2004)

The act requires local and regional school boards to (1) provide all full-day students with a minimum 20-minute daily lunch break and (2) include a daily period of physical exercise for most students in kindergarten through grade five, except those students requiring special education for whom a planning and placement team develops a different exercise schedule. The act also requires school boards to make nutritious food and drinks, such as low-fat milk, water, 100% fruit juices, low-fat dairy products and fresh and dried fruit, available for purchase whenever students can purchase drinks in school or whenever they can buy food during the regular school day. (HB 5344, effective July 1, 2004)

1. makes statutory the requirement that school boards adopt written policies and procedures for administering medication in schools and changes the approving authority for such policies and procedures from the Department of Public Health (DPH) to the local school medical adviser or other qualified physician;

2. requires nurses and nurse practitioners who provide health services to students in a public or private school to submit to criminal background checks even if they are not directly employed by the local school board or private school; and

requires regional education service centers (RESCs) to arrange for the fingerprinting of school personnel of the SBE-approved endowed or incorporated academies and special education facilities upon the request of those institutions.

(sHB 5429, effective July 1, 2004, except for the provisions on criminal background checks, which are effective on passage)

By law, if for any fiscal year, the state appropriation for charter schools exceeds $ 7,250 per student, the excess funds must be used for proportionate increases in charter school per-student grants. For FY 2004-05, the act limits the reallocation to $ 110 per student (or a maximum of $ 7,360 per student). (sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

The act makes an exception to a law that limits enrollment at charter schools, other than K-8 schools, to 250 students. The exception allows Amistad Academy to enroll up to 300 students. Amistad is a New Haven charter school that enrolls students in grades 5-8. (sHB 5584, effective July 1, 2004)

The act increases the maximum tuition a school district operating a vocational agriculture (“vo-ag”) center can charge other districts for each student they send to the center from 102% to 120% of the ECS foundation amount. Since the ECS foundation is $ 5,891 per student, the act raises the maximum vo-ag center tuition from $ 6,009 to $ 7,069 per student. (sSB 529, effective July 1, 2004)

The act expands the duties of the International Education Advisory Committee by requiring it to (1) develop criteria and guidelines for international studies programs, as well as partnership programs between Connecticut public schools and foreign schools and (2) submit them to SBE for review and approval. The act requires the committee also to advise SBE on incentives to encourage the formation of the partnership programs, such as cooperation in teacher certification, student assessment programs and course credit recognition, summer program participation, and other low-cost measures that would maximize the benefits of the partnerships.

The act authorizes SBE to recognize international education and sister-school partnership programs and allows foreign schools to receive professional development and technical assistance under the partnership program within available appropriations under the same conditions as Connecticut public schools. (PA 04-153, effective July 1, 2004)

The act expands the permissible uses of SDE educational technology program grants for school districts to include wireless connectivity, as well as traditional wiring and connectivity, computers, and software.

It requires superintendents to affirm in their school construction grant applications that the school district considered using wireless connectivity technology in their school building projects.

Finally, the act shifts primary responsibility for the development of (1) a statewide teacher and administrator competency standard for the use of technology for teaching and (2) a statewide plan for the achievement of this standard from the Commission for Educational Technology to SDE.

Coverage for Nutritional Formula. The act requires health insurance policies to cover amino acid modified preparations and low protein modified food products prescribed for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The law already requires such coverage for products and preparations prescribed to treat other inherited metabolic disorders. The act also requires health policies to cover medically necessary specialized formula for children up to age eight, instead of age three.

The act requires health insurance policies to cover the preparations, food products, and specialized formulas on the same basis as other outpatient prescription drugs. (HB 5201, effective October 1, 2004)

Insurance for Adoptive Parents. This act allows people who adopt children from Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) custody to purchase group health insurance for themselves and their dependents through a state plan. Parents who choose this option must pay the full premium cost. They remain eligible for coverage until their adopted child turns age 18 or, if he has not completed high school, until he turns age 21. The law already allows people who have been foster parents or parents in permanent family residence for more than six months to purchase this coverage. (PA 04-53, effective October 1, 2004)

This act allows liquor permittees, and their agents and employees, to require prospective purchasers whose age they question to have their photographs taken and a photocopy of their driver’s license or non-driver photo identity card made as a condition of selling alcohol to them. If a permittee, agent, or employee is prosecuted for selling or giving liquor to a minor, the act makes it an affirmative defense that the individual did so in good faith and in reasonable reliance on the identification the minor provided. It requires the Department of Consumer Protection to adopt implementing regulations. The act limits how information taken from the photograph and photocopy may be used. (sHB 5497, effective October 1, 2004)

Child Sex Offenders. This act permits criminal courts to transfer cases involving certain 14- and 15-year-olds accused of having sexual intercourse with a victim under age 13, a class A felony, back to juvenile court. Under prior law, these offenders were automatically transferred to the regular criminal court docket and tried as adults if they were 14 or 15 at the time of the offense. If convicted, they had to serve at least 10 years at an adult correction facility if the victim was under age 10, or at least five years if the victim was between age 10 and 12. An offender adjudicated in the juvenile court system must be committed to DCF for up to four years, with the possibility of one 18-month extension if the court finds this to be in the child’s or community’s best interest.

Only those cases in which the prosecutor files a transfer motion are eligible for transfer under the act. The prosecutor’s motion must be filed within 10 working days of the child’s arraignment, and the court must

hold a hearing and issue its decision within 10 days of the filing date. Current law limits this option to 14- and 15-year-olds charged with class B felonies. (PA 04-148, effective October 1, 2004)

Juveniles in Adult Court. This act, until their transfers are final, requires courts to hold private court proceedings in areas away from adult criminal proceedings for 14- and 15- year-olds being transferred from juvenile to adult court. (PA 04-127, effective October 1, 2004)

Girls in the Juvenile Justice System. Two acts address issues involving girls in the juvenile justice system. One requires the DCF commissioner to establish a plan for developing a continuum of community-based services designed to prevent the incarceration of female status offenders and delinquents. The plan must include intervention and substance abuse programs, monitoring and treatment plans, and mental health treatment. The commissioner must consult with the social services commissioner, the Judicial Department, the child advocate, and community-based service providers and submit the plan to several legislative committees by January 1, 2005. (SA 04-5, effective July 1, 2004)

The other act prohibits DCF from placing girls in the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, mandating that the school house boys only. It directs DCF to transfer any girls currently housed there to another appropriate facility within 90 days. (PA 04-152, effective on passage)

Adjudicated Youth in DCF Care. This act requires DCF to report annually to the Children’s Committee on the number, by gender and age, of adjudicated youth (16- and 17-year olds) in its custody; facilities where they are housed and the status of facilities being constructed or prepared to house them; and the number, age, and gender of youths who have escaped from custody and the number of police reports filed about them. The first report is due by June 1, 2004. (PA 04-89, effective on passage)

Child Pornography. This act enhances penalties for offenses involving child pornography and using the Internet to entice minors to engage in sexual activity. Among other provisions, it:

1. increases, from one to three, the number of visual depictions a person must possess to be convicted of importing child pornography and increases criminal penalties for this crime;

2. creates graduated offense levels and penalties based on the amount of child pornography possessed;

3. requires sentences of those convicted of child pornography and enticement offenses to include between 10 and 35 years of probation, rather than up to five years as under current law;

4. bars people charged with (a) second- or third-degree possession of child pornography or (b) enticing a minor, from the pretrial Accelerated Rehabilitation (A/R) program; and

5. requires a 10-year period of sex offender registration and submission of DNA samples for people convicted of enticement (including those convicted before the act’s effective date) and the newly created child pornography possession offenses.

(PA 04-139, effective October 1, 2004, except for the increased criminal classification for enticement crimes, which is effective July 1, 2004)

Sexual Assaults on Children. A new act makes it second- or fourth-degree sexual assault for an adult to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact, respectively, with a person under age 18 who participates in a program or activity if the adult’s professional, legal, occupational, or volunteer status gives him power, authority, or supervision over the minor. The act covers actors age 20 or older.

Second-degree sexual assault is a class C felony unless the victim is under age 16 in which case it is a class B felony. A class C felony is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, up to a $ 10,000 fine, or both. A class B felony is punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment, up to a $ 15,000 fine, or both. Nine months of the prison term cannot be reduced or suspended.

Fourth-degree sexual assault is a class A misdemeanor unless the victim is under age 16 in which case it is a class D felony. A class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in prison, a $ 2,000 fine, or both. A class D felony is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, up to a $ 5,000 fine, or both. (PA 04-130, effective October 1, 2004)

This act creates a New Haven-region pilot probate court for children’s matters. These involve guardianship, termination of parental rights, adoption, paternity, emancipation, and voluntary commitment of mentally ill children to DCF. The probate court administrator must use available resources, including the Probate Court Administration Fund, to establish and fund the program. He must appoint a regional administrative judge, locate an appropriate facility, and establish policies and procedures. He must submit a report to the Judiciary Committee by January 3, 2007 containing recommendations for expanding the program.

The administrative judge and other participating judges will hear children’s matters on a separate docket. Each probate judge whose district is located in the region can choose or decline to participate in the program. (sSB 129, effective on passage)

This act establishes a Child Poverty Council to develop a plan to reduce the number of children living in poverty in Connecticut by 50% by July 1, 2014. The plan must (1) identify root causes of child poverty, (2) analyze poverty’s effects on children and families and its costs to government, (3) inventory programs that address child poverty, and (4) contain procedures and priorities for implementing strategies to achieve the 50% reduction. The council is composed of legislative leaders, executive agency heads, and other state officials. It must submit its plan to certain legislative committees by January 1, 2005 and then report annually on its implementation until it terminates on June 30, 2015. (sHB 5572, effective on passage)

The act reopens the state's state-funded legal immigrant programs to new applicants who are excluded from federal programs. These state programs include solely state-funded Temporary Family Assistance, cash assistance under SAGA, state-funded medical assistance (equivalent to Medicaid, SAGA medical, or HUSKY B, as appropriate), the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders, and state-funded food assistance equivalent to the federal Food Stamp Program.

Under current law, new applicants have not been accepted in these programs since June 30, 2003. (sHB 5689, effective July 1, 2004)

The act requires DSS to open enrollment for the child care subsidy program (Care for Kids) and to administer the program within existing available budgetary resources.

It also adds one group of people to whom DSS must give priority for Care for Kids child care subsidies, and codifies another. Working families whose TFA was discontinued not more than five years before they apply for the child care subsidy will now be a priority group for the subsidies. TFA recipients who are working or are engaged in Jobs First employment activities are placed in statute as a subsidy priority group. Under DSS regulations, these TFA families are already first in line for subsidies, followed by working parents whose cash benefits were discontinued within six calendar months of applying for child care. Under current law, teen parents, low-income working families, and certain others already receive priority over others in the subsidy program. (sHB 5689, effective July 1, 2004)

The act appropriates $ 75,000 in FY 2004-05 to the DPH for a school-based health clinic in Norwich. (sHB 5689, effective July 1, 2004)

The act transfers $ 75,000 from DCF's FY 2004-05 budget for Community Based Services to DSS for Teen Pregnancy Prevention. (sHB 5689, effective July 1, 2004)

Placement of Department of Children and Families (DCF) Children Outside of Connecticut. The act requires the DCF commissioner to ensure that a department representative makes in-person visits every two months to assess the well-being of children she places in out-of-state residential facilities. (sHB 5689, effective July 1, 2004)

Short-Term Foster Care for Adolescents. This act allows DCF to place an abused or neglected child age 14 or older in the home of anyone who is age 21 or older even though the person is not a licensed foster parent. DCF can do so for up to 90 days under the same conditions that

it can place a child with an unlicensed relative for this period. The act terms the people who accept children under these circumstances “special study foster parents. ”

Before placing a child with a special study foster parent, DCF must (1) determine it is in the child’s best interest, (2) conduct a satisfactory home visit, and (3) complete a basic assessment of the family. The foster parent must also attest that neither he nor any adult living in the household has been arrested or convicted of a felony against a person; risk of injury to, or impairing the morals of, a minor; or possessing, using, or selling any controlled substance. A special study foster parent who accepts a child for over 90 days must become licensed as a foster parent. (PA 04-88, effective upon passage)

Reports on Neglected Children in DCF Custody. This act requires DCF to notify the legal guardian and attorney of any child committed to its care as a delinquent within 10 days of receiving a report that the child has been neglected. This requirement already applied to abuse reports. The act also (1) changes the deadline for DCF to notify these parties if it substantiates an abuse report from 10 days after the report is received to 10 days after it is substantiated and (2) applies this deadline to neglect reports. (PA 04-48, effective October 1, 2004)

This act (1) lengthens never-married parents’ child support obligations under some circumstances, (2) increases Judicial Department support enforcement services officers’ independent authority, (3) creates a mechanism for suspending or modifying child support orders when a court places a child with a different guardian or custodian, and (4) allows family support magistrates to issue habeas corpus writs to secure the testimony of incarcerated parents in court. (PA 04-100, effective October 1, 2004, except the guardianship transfer provisions, which are effective on passage)


May 11, 2004		2004-R-0436
2004 ACTS AFFECTING CHILDREN

By: Judith Lohman, Chief Analyst Soncia Coleman, Research Analyst Saul Spigel, Chief Analyst