A bill imposing training requirements for employees at homemaker companion agencies, a key arm of the state’s sprawling home care industry, won final passage in the Senate Tuesday, adding a measure of oversight to a largely unregulated care sector.

The proposal sailed through the chamber without debate. It now heads to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk.

“Many of us know the anxiety of placing the care of our parents or loved ones in the hands of a stranger. Too often these workers have shouldered this immense responsibility without any guaranteed training to draw on,” said Sen. Jan Hochadel, a Meriden Democrat who is co-chair of the legislature’s Aging Committee.

“Standards have varied widely from agency to agency, leaving seniors and their families with no way of knowing whether the person walking through their door was prepared. This bill establishes a consistent baseline. Our seniors deserve to age with dignity and those caring for them deserve the tools to make that possible.”

Under the bill, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, new employees at homemaker companion agencies, which provide nonmedical, home-based services like housekeeping and meal preparation, would have to complete at least eight hours of training on a variety of topics. That includes maintaining a clean and safe environment (practices related to dressing, bathing and toileting); identification and reporting of abuse and neglect; communication; identifying and reporting changes in a client’s condition; and nonmedical services for people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

To continue their education, workers would also be required to complete each training program every two years.

The state’s consumer protection commissioner, working with several other state agencies, would come up with the list of programs. Upon completion of training, homemaker companion employees and their supervisors must now submit a form attesting to finishing the program.

The bill passed the House last week.

“We believe these homemaker companions are valuable and deserve to have training to help them better do their job,” Rep. Jane Garibay, D-Windsor, co-chair of the Aging Committee, said. “Life has changed. People are living longer with more ailments. The aging population is exploding in Connecticut.

“We do get reports of, ‘[This is] not a good home homemaker companion,’ of some issues, so we have to make sure they have the basic skills to go into a home to take care of our loved ones.”

Legislators worked with home care industry officials on the bill.

“There has not been any mandated training, so we’re pleased to see this,” said Tracy Wodatch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association for Health Care at Home. “It helps consumers understand that the people they hire from homemaker companion agencies will have some baseline training. I’m very pleased about the Alzheimer’s and dementia [training for] care of clients with that type of diagnosis.”

The number of homemaker companion agencies in Connecticut has risen sharply over the last decade as more people age at home. In 2012, there were 380 registered homemaker companion agencies. By 2022, the number had grown to more than 900.

State officials now estimate there are 1,100.

But the industry has operated with little oversight, the Connecticut Mirror reported in 2023. Unlike nursing home employees and home health aides, who must be licensed by the state Department of Public Health, there is no licensing process for homemaker companion workers. The agencies must instead register annually with the state Department of Consumer Protection.

Company managers are required to conduct criminal background checks on prospective employees but aren’t required to share that information with the state, which does not track who works at the agencies.

CT Mirror reviewed more than 75 complaints against homemaker companion agencies filed with the consumer protection department between 2018 and 2020 and discovered at least half a dozen cases in which homemaker companion agency employees were arrested for allegedly stealing from their clients, along with over a dozen findings by DCP investigators of agencies that routinely misadvertised their services and seven complaints of clients being left alone for hours at a time.

Many of the DCP investigations led to small fines of less than $5,000 or an employee being fired. Agency officials acknowledged the department had never denied a homemaker companion business’s registration and had never revoked a business’s registration following an investigation.