Sec. 17a-248b. State Interagency Birth-to-Three Coordinating Council.
Sec. 17a-248b. State Interagency Birth-to-Three Coordinating Council. (a)
The lead agency shall establish a State Interagency Birth-to-Three Coordinating Council
and shall provide staff assistance and other resources to the council. The council shall
consist of the following members, appointed by the Governor: (1) Parents, including
minority parents, of children with disabilities twelve years of age or younger, with
knowledge of, or experience with, programs for children with disabilities from birth to
thirty-six months of age, the total number of whom shall equal not less than twenty per
cent of the total membership of the council, and at least one of whom shall be a parent
of a child six years of age or younger, with a disability; (2) two members of the General
Assembly at the time of their appointment, one of whom shall be designated by the
speaker of the House of Representatives and one of whom shall be designated by the
president pro tempore of the Senate; (3) one person involved in the training of personnel
who provide early intervention services; (4) one person who is a member of the American
Academy of Pediatrics; (5) one person from each of the participating agencies, who
shall be designated by the commissioner or executive director of the participating agency
and who have authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of
the participating agency; (6) public or private providers of early intervention services,
the total number of whom shall equal not less than twenty per cent of the total membership of the council; and (7) a representative of a Head Start program or agency. The
Governor shall designate the chairperson of the council who shall not be the designee
of the lead agency.
(b) The Governor shall appoint all members of the council for terms of three years.
(c) The council shall meet at least quarterly and shall provide public notice of its
meetings, which shall be open and accessible to the general public. Special meetings
may be called by the chairperson and shall be called at the request of the commissioner.
(d) Council members who are parents of children with disabilities shall be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties
under this section.
(e) The council shall: (1) Assist the lead agency in the effective performance of the
lead agency's responsibilities under section 17a-248, this section and sections 17a-248c
to 17a-248g, inclusive, 38a-490a and 38a-516a, including identifying the sources of
fiscal support for early intervention services and programs, assignment of financial
responsibility to the appropriate agency, promotion of interagency agreements and preparing applications and amendments required pursuant to federal law; (2) advise and
assist the commissioner and other participating agencies in the development of standards
and procedures pursuant to said sections; (3) advise and assist the commissioner and
the Commissioner of Education regarding the transition of children with disabilities to
services provided under sections 10-76a to 10-76h, inclusive; (4) advise and assist the
commissioner in identifying barriers that impede timely and effective service delivery,
including advice and assistance with regard to interagency disputes; and (5) prepare and
submit an annual report in accordance with section 11-4a to the Governor and the General
Assembly on the status of the birth-to-three system. At least thirty days prior to the
commissioner's final approval of rules and regulations pursuant to section 17a-248, this
section, sections 17a-248c to 17a-248g, inclusive, 38a-490a and 38a-516a, other than
emergency rules and regulations, the commissioner shall submit proposed rules and
regulations to the council for its review. The council shall review all proposed rules and
regulations and report its recommendations thereon to the commissioner within thirty
days. The commissioner shall not act in a manner inconsistent with the recommendations
of the council without first providing the reasons for such action. The council, upon a
majority vote of its members, may require that an alternative approach to the proposed
rules and regulations be published with a notice of the proposed rules and regulations
pursuant to chapter 54. When an alternative approach is published pursuant to this section, the commissioner shall state the reasons for not selecting such alternative approach.
(P.A. 96-185, S. 8, 16; P.A. 98-250, S. 5, 39; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-2, S. 28; P.A. 00-27, S. 2, 24; P.A. 05-256, S. 7;
P.A. 06-196, S. 206.)
History: P.A. 96-185 effective July 1, 1996 (Revisor's note: In Subsec. (a) a reference to the "chair" of the council was
replaced editorially by the Revisors with "chairperson" for conformity with Subsec. (c) and customary statutory usage);
P.A. 98-250 increased number of parents from five to six and added a representative of a Head Start program or agency,
effective July 1, 1998; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-2 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing staggered appointments with appointed
for three years; P.A. 00-27 made technical changes, effective May 1, 2000; P.A. 05-256 amended Subsec. (a)(1) to require
that the total number of parents on council equal not less than 20% of total membership and Subsec. (a)(6) to require that
the total number of public or private providers on council equal not less than 20% of total membership, effective June 30,
2005; P.A. 06-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (a)(1), effective June 7, 2006.