Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Committee on Children
                          JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
    Bill No.: HB-5333
               AN ACT CONCERNING THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND
        Title: PREVENTION YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY.
 Vote Date: 3/10/2020
Vote Action: Joint Favorable Substitute
   PH Date: 3/3/2020
    File No.:
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
Committee on Children
REASONS FOR BILL:
This bill requires the Office of the Child Advocate create additional questions assessing the
risk to youth victims of sexual abuse or assault. These questions will be added to the Youth
Risk Survey that is administered by the Department of Public Health. This bill would also
require any school that is chosen to participate in the survey.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Rene D. Coleman-Mitchell; Commissioner, Department of Public Health
The Department of Public Health supports this bill. The Department has been conducting this
survey since 2005 and in that time results have ben low due to a lack of participation. This
survey is a great local and national tool used for identifying the needs of students allowing for
the development of programs that promote healthy behaviors in the young people of our
state. This legislation would positively impact health equity, the survey collects demographic
information that allows data to be analyzed to identify health disparities across genders,
races, Hispanic ethnicity and sexual minorities. The Department does request the following
language changes:
     Line 6: The department shall randomly select the high schools that shall participate in
       the survey in any school year. We recommend this read as follows: The department
       shall administer the survey to public high schools selected at random by the National
       Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and such high schools shall participate in
       the survey in the school year in which they are selected.
     Line 10: The department shall provide guidance to the local or regional board of
       education for each high school selected to participate in the survey relating to (1) best
       practices for administering the survey, (2) the timeframe for completion of the survey,
       and (3) the process by which the results of such survey are to be submitted to the
       department. o We recommend that subdivision (1) read as follows: (1) Centers for
       Disease Control and Prevention required protocol for administering the survey in a
       random selection of classrooms
      They recommend inserting this language after line 12: The survey shall be
       anonymous and administered in a manner designed to protect students' privacy. The
       Department shall require a selected school to utilize passive parental consent before
       administering the survey.
The Department does not support the language on lines 20-25 because it conflicts with the
Center for Disease Controls approved policy for this survey. They suggest the following;
    On Line 23, regarding questions developed by the Child Advocate:
   1. Such questions shall be included as part of the Connecticut School Health Survey
      administered pursuant to section 1 of this act.
   2. The content of the CT YRBS must meet CDC criteria, and preference is given to an
      official list of approved optional questions released by the CDC for each survey year.
      Any state-designed questions must be submitted to the CDC for approval.
   3. The Department welcomes representatives from the Office of the Child Advocate to be
      an active member of the survey planning process to propose state-added YRBS
      questions to the CDC.
Sarah Eagan, Office of the Child Advocate
The Office of Child Advocate is testifying in support of this legislation. The Youth Risk
Behavior Study is an amazing tool used to a gain better understanding of the health,
including mental health, and behaviors of adolescent students. Connecticut's rate of
participation in the survey is decent but could be better. It is important that Connecticut begin
to collect baseline data regarding youth victimization or youth concerns regarding adult
sexual misconduct.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
Lucy Nolan, Director of Policy and Public Relations, Connecticut Alliance to End
Sexual Violence
The Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence supports this bill. Gathering this information
helps in prevention programs and is a critical step in highlighting the importance of the issue
among youth. Adding questions will also help shine light on the topic, making it seem less
taboo among adolescents.
Steven Rogers, Director of Emergency Mental Health Services and Attending
Physician at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center
Supports this legislation and considers good data to be important in identifying the social and
emotional needs of youth. Increasing the amount of schools that participate in the survey will
help direct resources to areas where they are most helpful.
                                                                          Page 2 of 3 HB-5333
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, Inc.
The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education opposes this potential legislation.
Boards of Education already have policies in place for participating in surveys that do not
compromise the time spent learning.
Reported by: Peter Murszewski                           Date: 4/11/2020
                                                                         Page 3 of 3 HB-5333