Legislation from 2001 Session
- Information on state legislation from the 2001 session:
- Connecticut Voices for Children Policy Update: Summary of Legislation Affecting Children, Youth, and Families: 2001 General Assembly Session(PDF, 76 pages)
State of Connecticut Office of Legislative Research: Summary of 2001 Legislation Affecting Children
Summary of Significant Juvenile Justice Legislation (1995-2000)
- Connecticut Voices for Children Policy Update: Summary of Legislation Affecting Children, Youth, and Families: 2001 General Assembly Session(PDF, 76 pages)
- CCA-Initiated and Sponsored Legislation:
- P.A. 01-181: An Act Concerning Gender Specific Services and Programs for Juvenile Offenders
Effective Date: October 1, 2001 This act makes assuring that programs for juvenile offenders are gender specific one of the goals of the state’s juvenile justice system. It requires the Judicial Branch’s Office of Alternative Sanctions to ensure that all of its crime prevention and reduction programs for juvenile offenders are gender specific, if necessary. And it requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF) commissioner to assure that the department’s programs for juvenile offenders under its supervision are gender specific. Under the act, a program is gender specific if it comprehensively addresses the unique needs of a targeted gender.
Finally, the act specifies that mental health services are included in the community-based programs the DCF commissioner is responsible for promoting in order to prevent juvenile crime and minimize children’s involvement with the juvenile justice system.
- P.A. 01-161: An Act Concerning Zoning Requirements for Residences for Children with Mental or Physical Disabilities
Effective Date: July 1, 2001 This act requires local zoning regulations to treat as single-family homes Department of Children and Families (DCF)-licensed residences housing up to six mentally or physically disabled children (not defined) and necessary staff. The law already requires this treatment for Department of Mental Retardation (DMR)-licensed residences housing up to six mentally retarded people and necessary staff.
The act permits any resident of a town hosting a DCF-licensed residential facility to petition the DCF commissioner to revoke the facility’s license for violations of applicable statutes or regulations. The resident must get the approval of the town’s legislative body before filing the petition.
Under the act, DCF-licenses residential facilities cannot be located within 1,000 feet of each other or DMR-licensed residences, unless the local zoning commission approves. DMR-licensed residences are also subject to this restriction.
The act also specifies that it does not change the existing law relative to special education funding responsibilities for DCF- and DMR-placed children. Generally, the child’s original school district must pay for special education and related services.
