Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 420l - Miscellaneous Provisions
Section 21a-432. - Operators of youth athletic activities to make available statement re concussions. Comprehensive background checks for certain employees and volunteers.

(a) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Youth athletic activity” means an organized athletic activity involving participants of not less than seven years of age, except as provided in subsections (d) to (f), inclusive, of this section, and not more than nineteen years of age, who (A) (i) engage in an organized athletic game or competition against another team, club or entity or in practice or preparation for an organized game or competition against another team, club or entity, or (ii) attend an organized athletic camp or clinic the purpose of which is to train, instruct or prepare such participants to engage in an organized athletic game or competition, and (B) (i) pay a fee to participate in such organized athletic game or competition or attend such camp or clinic, or (ii) whose cost to participate in such athletic game or competition or attend such camp or clinic is sponsored by a municipality, business or nonprofit organization. “Youth athletic activity” does not include any college or university athletic activity, or an athletic activity that is incidental to a nonathletic program or lesson; and
(2) “Operator” means any municipality, business or nonprofit organization that conducts, coordinates, organizes or otherwise oversees any youth athletic activity but shall not include any municipality, business or nonprofit organization solely providing access to, or use of, any field, court or other recreational area, whether for compensation or not.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2016, and annually thereafter, each operator of a youth athletic activity shall make available a written or electronic statement regarding concussions to each youth athlete and a parent or legal guardian of each youth athlete participating in the youth athletic activity. Such written or electronic statement shall be made available upon registration of each youth athlete and shall be consistent with the most recent information provided by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding concussions. Such written or electronic statement shall include educational content addressing, at a minimum: (1) The recognition of signs or symptoms of a concussion, (2) the means of obtaining proper medical treatment for a person suspected of sustaining a concussion, (3) the nature and risks of concussions, including the danger of continuing to engage in youth athletic activity after sustaining a concussion, and (4) the proper procedures for allowing a youth athlete who has sustained a concussion to return to athletic activity.
(c) No operator, or designee of such operator, shall be subject to civil liability for failing to make available the written or electronic statement regarding concussions pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, for purposes of this subsection and subsections (e) and (f) of this section, youth athletic activity also includes an organized athletic activity involving participants less than seven years of age. On and after October 1, 2022, an operator shall require any prospective employee or volunteer, except as provided in subsection (f) of this section, who is eighteen years of age or older and applying for a position as a coach or instructor of a youth athletic activity or as an athletic trainer, licensed under chapter 375a, 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) check of the state child abuse registry established pursuant to section 17a-101k, (C) check of the registry established and maintained pursuant to section 54-257, and (D) search of the 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 in accordance with the national industry background check standards established by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. For each check of the state child abuse registry conducted pursuant to this subsection, an operator shall submit to the Department of Children and Families an authorization for the release of personal information signed by the prospective employee or volunteer. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an athletic coach of intramural or interscholastic athletics who is employed by a local or regional board of education, provided such board satisfies the requirements relating to state and national criminal history records checks applicable to employees of such board pursuant to section 10-221d. Pending completion of all background check components described in this subsection, a prospective employee or volunteer may begin work on a provisional basis, provided such prospective employee or volunteer is supervised at all times by an employee or volunteer who was subjected to a background check described in this subsection within the previous five years.
(e) The comprehensive background checks required pursuant to subsection (d) of this section shall be conducted at least once every five years for each coach, instructor or athletic trainer employed by or volunteering for an operator.
(f) A person who is eighteen years of age or older and applies for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic activity in the state shall not be required to submit to such comprehensive background checks if such person (1) is an employee or volunteer of an operator of a youth athletic activity in the state, or has not been separated from employment or volunteer position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic activity in the state for a period of more than one hundred eighty days, and (2) has successfully completed such comprehensive background checks in the previous five years. Nothing in this section prohibits an operator from requiring that a person applying for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer submit to comprehensive background checks more than once during a five-year period.
(g) If the comprehensive background check conducted pursuant to subsection (d) of this section results in a finding that a person who applied for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic activity 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, or section 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 operator reasonably believes may render the person unsuitable for a position as a coach, instructor or athletic trainer for a youth athletic activity, the operator to whom the person has applied shall not employ the person or accept the person as a volunteer if, after considering (1) the nature of the crime and its relationship to the position for which the person has applied; (2) information pertaining to the degree of rehabilitation of the convicted person; and (3) the time elapsed since the conviction or release, the operator determines that such person is not suitable for the position for which such person has applied.
(June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 114; P.A. 21-82, S. 2.)
History: June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 21-82 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by adding references to exclusions provided in Subsecs. (d) to (f), and added Subsec. (d) re comprehensive background checks for certain prospective employees and volunteers, Subsec. (e) re subsequent comprehensive background checks for certain employees and volunteers, Subsec. (f) re exceptions to comprehensive background check requirement, and Subsec. (g) re prohibition on employing or accepting as a volunteer certain applicants after consideration of certain factors.

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