Sec. 46a-13b. Office of the Victim Advocate established.
Sec. 46a-13b. Office of the Victim Advocate established. (a) There is established
an Office of the Victim Advocate. The Governor, with the approval of the General
Assembly, shall appoint a person with knowledge of victims' rights and services as
Victim Advocate. Such person shall be an attorney and qualified by training and experience to perform the duties of Victim Advocate as set forth in section 46a-13c. The
appointment shall be made from a list of at least three persons prepared and submitted
by the advisory committee established pursuant to section 46a-13f. Such list shall be
confidential and not open to the public or subject to disclosure. Upon any vacancy in
the position of Victim Advocate, the advisory committee shall meet to consider and
interview successor candidates and shall submit to the Governor a list of no less than
five and no more than seven candidates not later than sixty days after said vacancy.
Such list shall rank the candidates in the order of committee preference. Upon receipt
of the list of candidates from the advisory committee, the Governor shall appoint a
candidate for Victim Advocate from among the choices within eight weeks of receipt
of such list. If, at any time, any of the candidates withdraws from consideration prior
to confirmation by the General Assembly, the appointment shall be made from the
remaining candidates on the list submitted to the Governor. The person appointed Victim
Advocate shall serve for a term of four years and may be reappointed or shall continue
to hold office until his successor is appointed and qualified.
(b) The Office of the Victim Advocate shall be in the Department of Administrative
Services for administrative purposes only.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, the Victim Advocate shall act independently of any state department in the performance of his duties.
(d) The Victim Advocate may, within available funds, appoint such staff as may
be deemed necessary. The duties of the staff may include the duties of the Victim Advocate if performed under the direction of the Victim Advocate.
(e) The General Assembly may annually appropriate such sums as necessary for
the payment of the salaries of the staff and for the payment of office expenses and other
actual expenses incurred by the Victim Advocate in the performance of his duties.
(f) The Victim Advocate shall annually submit to the Governor and the General
Assembly a detailed report analyzing the work of the Office of the Victim Advocate.
(P.A. 98-231, S. 1; P.A. 05-287, S. 4.)
History: P.A. 05-287 amended Subsec. (b) to change the administrative location of the Office of the Victim Advocate
from the Freedom of Information Commission to the Department of Administrative Services, effective July 1, 2005.
See Sec. 4-38f for definition of "administrative purposes only".