Connecticut’s 2024 legislative session in retrospect: child care liability insurance

The 2024 legislative session in Connecticut was a tumultuous one for insurance-related matters.

The Connecticut legislative calendar alternates between a long-session year and a short-session year. The 2024 session was a short session—characterized by two significant differences. First, the short session is indeed shorter, running from February to May, compared to the long session’s January to June duration. Second, during a short session, the Legislature is primarily focused on budgetary issues.

While this rule usually doesn’t prevent the consideration of other matters, including insurance, this year saw a departure from the norm. Due to political in-fighting, the Insurance Committee failed to report out any bills. Despite the lack of insurance legislation, PIACT remained actively engaged in advocacy, exemplified by its work on a notable piece of legislation mandating liability insurance for licensed child care providers in the Nutmeg State.

Child care liability insurance

Rep. Travis Simms, D-140, introduced legislation that would mandate liability insurance for licensed child care providers in Connecticut on Feb. 15, 2024. Currently, there is no legal requirement for licensed child care facilities to maintain liability insurance. The original bill would’ve required the Office of Early Childhood to certify that all licensed child care centers, group child care homes, and family child care homes maintain a minimum of $100,000 in liability coverage.

Follow along as we explore the chronology of this bill’s path through the legislative process.

What does the original bill do?

The legislation would require the Office of Early Childhood to implement regulations mandating that licensed child care centers, group child care homes and family child care homes to maintain a minimum of $100,000 in liability insurance coverage. Though focused on insurance requirements, the bill was referred to the Committee on Children due to the implications it has for the well-being of children.

What was the recommendation?

The PIACT Leg/Reg Committee reviewed the legislation and recommended submitting a proposal to suggest that rather than mandating child care facilities to obtain liability insurance, the bill should stipulate that beginning Monday, Jan. 1, 2025, any contract for child care services must include a declaration stating that the facility has liability insurance coverage.

Why was the recommendation needed?

The recommendation was needed because the modified approach shifts from a statutorily created minimum insurance limit to a compulsory insurance requirement that allows more flexibility in limits. By removing the obligation to meet specific insurance limits, the proposed change allows child care facilities, and their insurance agents, more flexibility to assess their insurance needs independently.

This change would allow facilities to tailor their insurance coverage to their specific circumstances and allow independent insurance agents to guide their clients toward more appropriate coverage.

DOA

While H.B. 5160 died on the House calendar, its language was incorporated into H.B.5002. This new bill would require the Office of Early Childhood to consult with a nonprofit organization to develop a document to explain the benefits of child care centers and homes maintaining liability insurance coverage, as well as the potential consequences of not having such coverage.

According to the bill, this document would need be distributed electronically to licensed child care facilities.

Although Connecticut’s House of Representatives did not adopt PIACT’s recommendation for a contractual disclaimer, PIACT’s advocacy was not wasted. Through the efforts of your association, a potential harmful bill that could have encouraged child care facilities to purchase low limit policies was tabled. The emergence of a bill to create a liability insurance benefits document for child care facilities reflects the association’s advocacy against legislation detrimental to the insurance industry.