2022 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 19a - Public Health and Well-Being
Chapter 368r - Youth Camps
Section 19a-421. (Formerly Sec. 19-540). - Licensure. Background checks. Refusal to license, suspension or revocation of license. Notification re certain criminal convictions. Maintenance and inspection of background check documentation.

(a) No person shall establish, conduct or maintain a youth camp without a license issued by the office. Applications for such license shall be made in writing at least thirty days prior to the opening of the youth camp on forms provided and in accordance with procedures established by the commissioner and shall be accompanied by a fee of eight hundred fifteen dollars or, if the applicant is a nonprofit, nonstock corporation or association, a fee of three hundred fifteen dollars or, if the applicant is a day camp affiliated with a nonprofit organization, for no more than five days duration and for which labor and materials are donated, no fee. All such licenses shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of issuance unless surrendered for cancellation or suspended or revoked by the commissioner for violation of this chapter or any regulations adopted under section 19a-428 and shall be renewable upon payment of an eight-hundred-fifteen-dollar license fee or, if the licensee is a nonprofit, nonstock corporation or association, a three-hundred-fifteen-dollar license fee or, if the applicant is a day camp affiliated with a nonprofit organization, for no more than five days duration and for which labor and materials are donated, no fee.

(b) On and after October 1, 2022, any licensee shall require any prospective employee eighteen years of age or older, who is applying for a position at a youth camp that requires the provision of care to a child or involves unsupervised access to a child, to submit to a comprehensive background check. The background check shall include, but not be limited to, a (1) (A) criminal history records check conducted (i) in accordance with section 29-17a, or (ii) by searching the electronic criminal record system maintained on the Internet web site of the Judicial Department for convictions matching the prospective employee's name and date of birth, (B) state child abuse registry established pursuant to section 17a-101k, (C) registry established and maintained pursuant to section 54-257, and (D) National Sex Offender Registry Public Website maintained by the United States Department of Justice, or (2) check by a third-party provider of national criminal history record checks that is conducted through a centralized database utilizing the prospective employee's fingerprints, provided such provider appears on a list of such providers published on the Internet web site of the Office of Early Childhood. Prior to each check of the state child abuse registry conducted pursuant to this subsection, a licensee shall submit to the office an authorization for the release of personal information signed by the prospective employee, on a form prescribed by the office, and the office shall submit such authorization to the Department of Children and Families. Any prospective employee who holds a J-1 visa, H-1B visa or R-1 visa issued by the United States Department of State shall not be required to submit to a background check under this section.

(c) Pending completion of all comprehensive background check components described in subsection (b) of this section, a prospective employee may begin work on a provisional basis, provided such prospective employee is supervised at all times by an employee who was subjected to a comprehensive background check described in subsection (b) of this section within the past five years.

(d) Each licensee shall require any employee of a youth camp holding a position that requires the provision of care to a child or involves unsupervised access to a child to submit to a comprehensive background check described in subsection (b) of this section not later than five years after the date such employee was hired, and at least once every five years thereafter. Nothing in this section prohibits a licensee from requiring any such employee to submit to a comprehensive background check more than once during a five-year period.

(e) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall have the discretion to refuse to license under sections 19a-420 to 19a-429, inclusive, a person to establish, conduct or maintain a youth camp, as described in section 19a-420, or to suspend or revoke the license or take any other action set forth in any regulation adopted pursuant to section 19a-428 if, the person who establishes, conducts or maintains such youth camp or a person employed therein in a position connected with the provision of care to a child or involving unsupervised access to a child, has been convicted in this state or any other state of a felony as defined in section 53a-25 involving the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against another person, of cruelty to persons under section 53-20, injury or risk of injury to or impairing morals of children under section 53-21, abandonment of children under the age of six years under section 53-23, or any felony where the victim of the felony is a child under eighteen years of age, or of a violation of section 53a-70b of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2019, 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or 53a-73a, or has a criminal record in this state or any other state that the commissioner reasonably believes renders the person unsuitable to establish, conduct or maintain or be employed by a youth camp. However, no refusal of a license shall be rendered except in accordance with the provisions of sections 46a-79 to 46a-81, inclusive.

(f) Any person who is licensed to establish, operate or maintain a youth camp shall notify the Commissioner of Early Childhood if such licensee or any person employed by such youth camp is convicted of a crime listed in subsection (e) of this section, if such licensee or person employed by such youth camp is employed in a position connected with the provision of care to a child or involving unsupervised access to a child, immediately upon obtaining knowledge of the conviction. Failure to comply with the notification requirement may result in the suspension or revocation of the license or the imposition of any action set forth in regulation, and shall subject the licensee to a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars per day for each day after the licensee obtained knowledge of the conviction, provided such civil penalty shall not exceed the aggregate sum of four thousand five hundred dollars.

(g) Each licensee shall maintain, and make available for inspection upon request of the Office of Early Childhood, any documentation associated with a comprehensive background check described in subsection (b) of this section, for a period of not less than five years from the date of (1) completion of such background check, if the subject of the comprehensive background check was not hired by the licensee, or (2) separation from employment, if the subject of the comprehensive background check was hired by the licensee.

(1969, P.A. 820, S. 2; P.A. 77-614, S. 323, 610; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-6, S. 13, 117; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; 95-317, S. 4; P.A. 01-195, S. 145, 181; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3, S. 176; P.A. 14-39, S. 76; P.A. 21-82, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 77-614 replaced commissioner and department of health with commissioner and department of health services, effective January 1, 1979; Sec. 19-540 transferred to Sec. 19a-421 in 1983; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-6 increased license and renewal fees from $100 to $650 except if applicant is a nonprofit, nonstock corporation or association then from $25 to $250; P.A. 93-381 replaced department and commissioner of health services with department and commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-317 added the fee exemption for five-day duration day camps with donated labor and materials; P.A. 01-195 referenced Sec. 19a-428 re regulations and made technical changes, effective July 11, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3 increased fees from $650 to $815 and from $250 to $315; P.A. 14-39 replaced “department” with “office” and made a technical change, effective July 1, 2014; P.A. 21-82 designated existing provisions re licensure as Subsec. (a), and added Subsec. (b) re comprehensive background checks for certain prospective employees, Subsec. (c) re certain prospective employees to work on provisional basis, Subsec. (d) re subsequent comprehensive background checks for certain employees, Subsec. (e) re refusal to license and suspension or revocation of license due to conviction for certain crimes of person who establishes, conducts or maintains youth camp or certain employees, Subsec. (f) re requirement to notify commissioner of conviction for certain crimes of person who establishes, conducts or maintains youth camp or certain employees, and Subsec. (g) re maintenance and inspection of documentation associated with comprehensive background checks.