Genga said the legislation, House Bill 5024: An Act Concerning Voting Rights, would allow Election Day voter registration and create an online voter registration system.

“Just about each year with every election voter turnout in Connecticut has been falling,” Genga said. “We need to encourage more voting because each voter, each vote counts. We must make it a priority to modernize our elections system so that everyone eligible can participate in the democratic process.”

The bill would allow eligible Connecticut residents to register to vote and cast a ballot on Election Day. It would establish Election Day registration (EDR) procedures and eliminate the use of presidential ballots since they will be redundant under the bill's EDR provisions.

The bill would also require the secretary of the state to establish and maintain an online system for voter registration. Starting in January 2014, Connecticut residents would be able to go online and use their driver’s license number to log into the website. They would enter the same information that is currently part of the paper-registration. That information would be verified and sent electronically to the registrar of voters in their town and the registrar would be able to accept or reject the registration.

Election Day Registration would begin in 2013, a municipal election, allowing election officials to have three election cycles before administering EDR in a Presidential election.

The legislation now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

The legislation (HB 5499) seeks to expand the opportunities for smaller community-based hospices to operate in Connecticut and gives smaller hospice facilities across the state the ability to provide high quality services, while allowing patients to stay close to friends and family. Currently, there are just two licensed hospices in the state.

The bill facilitates the creation of hospices that offer both in-patient and home-based hospice services. The state has two residential hospices regulated under provisions that date to the 1970s using a model equivalent to the regulation of skilled nursing homes, Genga said.

“Today's needs have changed and this bill encourages the move toward new regulations that will allow the addition of smaller, more home-like residential models that will serve many more areas of the state,” he said.

The bill also assures that no invasive procedures will be performed on a patient at a hospice facility and that the Department of Public Health maintains oversight of hospice facilities.

Paul Waters, who operates a program in Manchester for drunken drivers, said he didn’t know lawmakers had written his program off the books until clients stopped showing up in January.

“We lost all our business,” Waters said. His company, the Commonwealth Group on Center Street, was one of three programs in Connecticut that the Department of Motor Vehicles had authorized to operate an evaluation and treatment program for those convicted of drunken driving.

But the budget that state lawmakers and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed off on last year removed that requirement. Court probation officers now handle any substance-abuse treatment that drunken drivers need.

The budget also reduced from one year to 45 days the license suspension for drivers arrested for the first time on a drunken driving charge and required that those drivers install an ignition interlock device, which measures a driver’s blood-alcohol level before allowing the car to start. Previous law had required the device for a second arrest but not for the first.

Two area lawmakers want to restore the substance-abuse treatment program.

Reps. Henry Genga (D-East Hartford) and Jack Thompson (D-Manchester) support legislation that again would require the program. The measure also aims to catch some 21,000 people who some officials say never had enrolled in the program and now don’t have to in order to get their licenses back.

Michael P. Lawlor, Malloy’s undersecretary for criminal justice policy, is lukewarm to the change. Malloy supported the changes in law last year.

“The law cannot allow these 21,000 chronic alcohol abusers who are mandated to complete this program to get a pardon,” Genga told Judiciary Committee members last month.

Genga touted the program’s success. It has a 7 percent recidivism rate, which means 93 percent of the people who go through the program don’t get stopped again for drunken driving, he said.

Thompson pointed out that offenders were required to pay for the program.

“It doesn’t cost the state anything to continue this program,” Thompson said. “It is a demonstration of their responsibility and meeting that responsibility.”

Lawlor said lawmakers are welcome to require the programs again. “If the legislature wants to add this back, that’s fine. It’s not a bad idea, necessarily,” he said.

By law, the licenses of those convicted a third time for drunken driving are revoked. Offenders may reapply for a license in six years. They then must use an automobile ignition interlock device, which detects blood-alcohol levels, for 10 years.

A bill that was approved by the state Legislature's joint Judiciary Committee on Monday reduces the waiting time for a new license from six to two years, but mandates the use of the interlock device for the rest of the driver's life.

At first glance, the change might seem to ease the penalty on three-time losers, but in fact it simply acknowledges a reality: Most repeat DUI offenders drive even without a valid license. The new provision reduces the no-license time so they may legally get to and from work, while effectively eliminating their driving while intoxicated. It's a common-sense adjustment.

The bill also includes a provision that unaccountably was taken out of the drunken-driving statutes last year. As The Courant's Jon Lender recently reported, before 2012, repeat offenders had to complete a 15-month education and counseling program at their own expense. That requirement is no longer state law, and it's difficult to say why not.

According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, the program was 93 percent successful in keeping participants from driving again while drunk. And it cost the state nothing. Why get rid of an apparently effective, life-saving freebie?

Perhaps the requirement got caught up in the statewide move to promote government efficiency, although there are hints that a tussle over who should handle the rehabilitation of drunken drivers — the DMV or the Judicial Branch's parole and probation wing — was a factor.

Exactly how this worthwhile initiative fell into the cracks is moot. The point now, as state Reps. Jack Thompson of Manchester and Henry Genga of East Hartford recently commented, is that "the state cannot allow 21,000 chronic alcohol abusers, who were mandated to complete this program, to get a pardon."

They are right. Legislators should pass the bill, complete with its restoration of the education program.

Sometimes the state legislature inadvertently takes a step backward as it pushes forward in an effort to deal with a social problem.

That's what some Connecticut lawmakers think happened last year when the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy pushed landmark legislation through the General Assembly to overhaul the state's system of dealing with drunken drivers.

Here's the story in brief: For 16 years, if you had two or more drunken-driving offenses, then you couldn't get your license back until you completed a 15-month course of counseling and education that began with a 48-hour hotel stay with other multiple DUI offenders. Three major vendors ran those programs under contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

But those programs — which claimed to be 93 percent successful, with a "recidivism" rate of only 7 percent, based on DMV statistics — ended on Jan. 1, the effective date of the new drunken-driving bill.

Last year's bill shifted the fight against drunken driving toward a new technology — the "ignition interlock device," an electronic breath analyzer connected to the ignition system of a car or truck that prevents a drunken driver from starting a vehicle. And, in the process, it repealed a long-standing law that required repeat drunken-driving offenders to complete the 15-month programs before they could get their licenses back.

As a result, there remain about 21,000 people who lost their drivers' licenses because of multiple DUI offenses but never completed the required courses — and because the courses are no longer required after this past Jan. 1, those drunken drivers can just pay a $175 "restoration fee" and regain their licenses, critics say.

It's a case of throwing out something good in the process of trying to make progress in new directions, two Democratic lawmakers said last week.

"The state cannot allow 21,000 chronic alcohol abusers, who were mandated to complete this program, to get a pardon," state Reps. Henry Genga of East Hartford and Jack Thompson of Manchester said last week in written testimony to the legislature's judiciary committee.

They testified in support of a new drunken-driving bill that would fine-tune some of the provisions of last year's legislation — and, in particular, reinstate the requirement that the multiple drunken-driving offenders go through the 15-month program before they can get their licenses back.

The section of the statutes that was repealed last year "must be reinstated" to restore the requirement that the repeat drunken-driving offenders go through the course before getting their licenses back, Thompson and Genga said.

"Without the Multiple Offender Drunken Driving Program, Connecticut has no program designed to address this group of chronic alcohol abusers," they said. The best way to deal with this group is via "thorough assessment, education, peer intervention, treatment and aftercare follow-up," they said.

The program doesn't cost the state anything, because the offenders have to pay the fee of $800 to $900 themselves, Genga and Thompson said.

Why would the Malloy administration and legislature repeal the requirement for drunken drivers to go through such a program?

Former judiciary committee co-chairman Michael Lawlor, now the head of criminal justice policy and planning in Malloy's budget office, said the move wasn't inadvertent, nor was it a step backward. He said it was just one of many elements to last year's legislation, which included an administrative shift of responsibility for drunken-drivers' alcoholism treatment from the DMV to the Judicial Branch's parole and probation officers.

The drunken-driver programs that the new legislation repealed were not the only alcoholism treatment that offenders were required to undergo, Lawlor said. Such offenders also were required by the criminal justice system to undergo treatment. The consensus last year was that for purposes of efficiency and avoiding duplication, it would be better if the DMV didn't handle the programs and probation personnel took it over, Lawlor said.

But supporters of the programs that were discontinued Jan. 1 said that the treatment ordered by probation officers might not be the same for all offenders, and might not be as effective or consistent.

Lawlor said Friday that neither he nor the Malloy administration is opposing the proposal to restore the programs that ended Jan. 1. He said that if the reinstatement brings some duplication with other treatment programs, which are already being ordered by probation personnel to individuals, there's no harm done.

"It certainly is not a bad idea to make these offenders do more stuff," Lawlor said. "If it can be done through probation, great. But if the legislature wants to reinstate these education programs … it can't hurt."

The three vendors for the 16-year-old program — the Commonwealth Group of Manchester, Bridgeport-based Connecticut Renaissance, and the Danbury-based Midwestern Connecticut Council of Alcoholism — have joined to hire a lobbyist for $12,000 to push for reinstatement of their programs, state records show.

Reinstating the programs is only part of what this year's drunken-driving bill would do.

It also would continue the shift in emphasis in last year's bill away from long suspensions of drunken-drivers' licenses toward shorter license suspensions in conjunction with lengthy requirements for drunken drivers to have their cars and trucks equipped with ignition interlock devices.

Last year's bill, for example, changed the penalty for a third drunken-driving offense from the old one — a year's license suspension, followed by two years of mandatory use of the ignition interlock device — to a 45-day suspension that's followed by three years' use of the ignition interlock device.

This year's bill pushes things further in that direction.

For example, the old system required that after a fourth offense, a drunken driver's license would be revoked for at least six years, after which he or she could apply for reinstatement but would have to use an ignition interlock device for 10 years. This year's bill would enable such a repeat offender to reapply for his or her license after two years. If approved, he or she would have to drive a vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device for life.

The shift away from long license suspensions toward shorter ones — with longer ignition interlock device usage — is an acknowledgment of "two harsh realities," said Democratic Rep. Tom Reynolds of Ledyard.

"License suspensions and fines do not change the behaviors of repeat DUI offenders, and three out of four offenders with suspended licenses drive anyway," Reynolds told the judiciary committee last week in testimony supporting this year's drunken-driving bill. "This is why states are adopting the mandatory use of [ignition interlock devices] for repeat offenders as the most effective strategy for changing offenders' behaviors, while allowing offenders to drive to and from work."

That approach has the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which was heavily involved with the administration in developing last year's bill and is supporting this year's bill, too.

Genga said the legislation specifically prohibits oil wholesalers and distributers (those who pay the gross receipts tax) from passing on anything purporting to be based on the tax for the portion of any sales price over $3 a gallon.

“Gas prices have risen 15 percent since the beginning of the year,” Genga said. “We have taken action today that will provide relief at the pump from these oppressive prices and all savings will go directly to Connecticut consumers — not the big oil companies.”

Large wholesalers in violation of profiteering statutes have much greater impact on consumers than individual retailers, so the legislation specifically grants the commissioner of the Department of Consumer authority to impose CUPTA fines of up to $10,000 upon large gasoline wholesalers and distributors who are in violation of profiteering laws.

The state’s petroleum profiteering law was also amended by today’s legislation to include an automatic trigger, based on extreme wholesale price increases, for price gouging protections to go into effect.

“If the big oil companies think they are going to reap the benefits—they are sorely mistaken. The state will take action — including serious fines — if there is any price gouging,” Genga said.

The bill, which is now headed to the governor for his signature, institutes similar profiteering protections in regards to home heating oil.

Under Malloy’s proposal, East Hartford would receive an additional $1,714,744, a 4.1 percent increase, in ECS funding, increasing East Hartford’s total education grant to $43,425,561 for 2012-13.

“This is great news for East Hartford,” said Genga, a member of the legislature’s Education Committee. “The additional money for East Hartford is certainly welcomed and needed at this time.”

“While the total funding proposed for East Hartford is not sufficient to meet all of our needs, it is certainly appreciated,” Genga said.

In his State of the State address Wednesday at the State Capitol, Malloy outlined his vision for Connecticut that maintains recent efforts to stabilize the state’s finances and continues to pursue the job creation policies that have begun to spur economic growth. Malloy also announced the final part of his education reform agenda - an overhaul of the state’s tenure system so that it rewards quality teachers, not just those who have been in the profession the longest.

Malloy’s proposal addresses many areas in need of reform, including: increasing the access to and quality of early childhood education slots; allocating new funding and implementing new approaches that will improve low performing schools; expanding slots for public schools of choice including charter schools; removing red tape and other barriers that stand in the way of local school districts; repositioning our vo-tech schools to promote job readiness and job linkages; and improving teacher preparation so professionals have the skills they need to excel when they enter the classroom.

“In these difficult economic times, it is critical that we invest in early childhood education and school districts that are the most challenged,” Genga said.

“We need to guarantee the success of our students. The governor’s plan to overhaul the teacher preparation program is critical to that success,” he said.

Information on the governor’s tenure reform package is attached.

EAST HARTFORD — Goodwin College officials broke ground Wednesday on a $57 million project to build the first of three magnet school near the Riverside Drive campus.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was among 12 officials who took shovel in hand to break ground on the Connecticut River Academy. Others included Mayor Marcia LeClerc; state Sen. Gary LaBeau, D-East Hartford; State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor; and state Rep. Henry Genga, D-East Hartford.

Malloy praised the college's initiative to improve the educational quality of the school's students.

"Goodwin College is good for the state of Connecticut, good for East Hartford, and it's certainly good for its students," Malloy said Wednesday.

Genga, who is also a member of the legislature's Education Committee, said the project would create a lot of construction jobs, and Malloy said he will "celebrate the fact that we're putting construction workers back to work."

"It's such an important thing mentally for these students to walk into a new building with new facilities. It's really an enlightening environment," Genga said of the project that will construct a 103,000-square-foot building.

Around a hundred people attended the event, including more than a dozen students, Genga said.

"It was so exciting. We've been planning this for three years. There's so many steps you have to go through," Dean of Magnet Schools Alan Kramer said. "It was so important that all these people were there. It became real for the first time, and we were able to celebrate it together."

Kramer said 480 students would attend the school during the 2013-14 school year, 120 in each grade 9 to 12.

The academy will house nine college-level science labs, a university-style lecture hall, and a green roof. Since the school will be on the river, the academy will have its own dock, Kramer said.

"We're going to have our own floating class — a large floating boat equipped with all sorts of experimental facilities," Kramer said.

U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, who was unable to attend the event but issued a statement on the project, praised Goodwin's work for its students and the town. In May, Larson announced the approval of a $1.15 million federal Economic Development Administration grant to fund the construction.

The academy is the first of three planned magnet schools that will be constructed. The other two are the Pathways Academy of Technology Design, which will house 400 students, and the Goodwin College Early Development Childhood Magnet School, which will host 120 preschool students and 120 kindergarteners, Kramer said.

Kramer said that academy would be run "effectively in partnership" with LEARN, a regional education service center.

Genga said the avenues Goodwin has opened for college students, high school students, and the community are deserving of praise.

"I refer to Goodwin as 'the Goodwin Educational Complex,' because it's so much more than a college," Genga said.

Genga recalled serving on the Town Council during the 1970s when the area around Goodwin was much different than it is today.

"I remember we were talking about the south side, and the mayor said, 'The answer is to stake a bulldozer to it and start it all over. But now look what great things are happening in that area," Genga said.

An open field with shabby buildings on Riverside Drive near Goodwin College is being transformed into the site of a state-of-the-art environmental sciences magnet high school. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was joined by state and local officials for a Jan. 11 groundbreaking ceremony for the Connecticut River Academy.

Officials at the groundbreaking ceremony included East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc, Connecticut River Academy Principal Linda Dadona, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg, state Sen. Gary Lebeau, state Rep. Henry Genga and Education Commissioner Stephen Pryor. The Connecticut River Academy is an environmental science magnet high school. Photos by Frances Taylor.

The inter-district magnet school will draw 480 students from 25 different towns for a curriculum that includes a focus on the river, and allows high school students to participate in some college level courses. Malloy praised the concept of a high school/college partnership as an important aspect of education reform. “A project like this will help us close the achievement gap,” Malloy said. “It's a great idea, and it's something that could also work for some our more tradition-minded institutions.”

About 30 Connecticut River Academy students also attended the event. Many of them will have the opportunity to experience the new high school, which could open by the fall of 2013.

The new $57 million, 103,000 square-foot school building will be the first of the college's three magnet schools to be under construction on the Goodwin campus. Next will be the Pathways Academy of Technology and Design, and the Goodwin College Early Childhood magnet school will be constructed on the Willowbrook School property across the street from Riverside Drive.

The Connecticut River Academy, which opened in 2010, is currently housed in a recently-constructed building and a set of portable classrooms at 195 and 167 Riverside Drive. The academy will have its first senior class next year.

Malloy noted that the changing demographics of the state mean that, with an aging population, Connecticut needs its young people to remain in the state, which they will do only if there are educational and work opportunities here for them.” We need to train our replacement workforce,” the governor said. “This is a college that recognizes as its core mission that Connecticut has to be competitive...this project is important in helping to turn Connecticut around.”

Other state and local officials were also present at the official groundbreaking, which in addition to the ceremonial toss of dirt, also included a bulldozer being revved up and its shovel smashing into an empty building on the site that will be torn down to make way for the new high school. East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc, state Sen. Gary Lebeau, state Rep. Henry Genga, Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg, Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, Connecticut River Academy Principal Linda Dadona and Dean of Magnet Schools Alan Kramer each donned hard hats and posed with shovels for the ceremony.

The project also represents construction jobs for East Hartford and the state, said Peter Riley, president of the Greater Hartford Building and Trades Council. “We have a community workforce agreement that will ensure that people from Connecticut and East Hartford will be trained and will work on this project,” Riley said.

“We need to stand strong behind the Affordable Care Act,” Thompson said. “The act has already provided benefits to children with pre-existing conditions, who can no longer be denied health insurance. Also because of the act, individuals no longer can be dropped from coverage when they get sick. People from Connecticut and across the country have been helped.”

“In these difficult economic times, affordable health care for everyone has become more important than ever,” Genga said. “Because of the federal act, more residents will save money on their health care when the law is fully implemented in 2014.”

In conjunction with the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform, hundreds of lawmakers from across the nation joined forces to announce and demonstrate their support of the amicus brief. The legislators’ brief argues that the Constitution gives broad power to the federal government to act in cases where a national solution is necessary. The Affordable Care Act capitalizes on state innovations by setting a minimum coverage floor and giving states considerable policy flexibility.

“I am proud that our state is moving forward to implement the Affordable Care Act. It is making a difference in the lives of our constituents already: thousands have benefitted from the protections against insurance company abuses, lower out of pocket costs for seniors and tax credits for small employers,” Speaker of the House Christopher G. Donovan (D-Meriden) said. “Health care is a national problem that no state has been able to solve alone - it requires a federal partner and a national solution. Our implementation efforts should not be derailed by baseless constitutional challenges.”

“We cannot afford to lose the progress already made by giving in to political pressures that in the end will only hurt working families, small businesses and seniors. We will continue to push forward in implementing the Act so that our families can get the care they need,” said Rep. Betsy Ritter (D-Waterford/Montville), House chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee.

The show of support for the Affordable Care Act in Connecticut was part of a larger demonstration of support for the law across the nation this week, as over 500 state legislators representing all 50 states signed on to the Amicus Brief defending the law. The brief will be filed this Friday and was prepared in conjunction with the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform (a national group of state legislators working to advance health reform and implement the Affordable Care Act), Progressive States Network, and the Constitutional Accountability Center.

Rep. Geoff Luxenberg (D-Manchester) did not attend the press conference but signed the amicus brief.

The full text of the amicus brief will be available at: www.progressivestates.org/ACAamicus

Praising Goodwin College as a driver of development and opportunity, the governor and local officials helped break ground on Wednesday at the construction site of Connecticut River Academy on the college campus.

The $57 million, 103,000-square-foot magnet high school is the first of the college's three magnet schools to be under construction — Goodwin's extended campus will eventually include an early childhood school and another magnet high school focused on technology.

Goodwin College officials said that students from 25 towns around the state attend the academy, where programs largely focus on the river to its west and environmental sciences.

"We were approached by the state Department of Education in response to the [Sheff v. O'Neill] settlement to consider constructing a magnet school here and incorporating the theme of the magnet school into what the college was doing, particularly around environmental studies," said Todd Andrews, vice president of college relations and advancement.

The point was to create a model that would enable high school students to graduate with college course credits, he said.

Local legislators said they value the college's contributions not only for the educational opportunities it brings to East Hartford, but for its impact, financially and otherwise, on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Rep. Henry Genga speaks at groundbreaking ceremony for the new magnet high school to be built the Goodwin College campus.

"I remember previous mayors saying [that] to develop that place you'd have to just completely bulldoze it and start it over," said Rep. Henry Genga, whose 10th District includes Goodwin College.

"In five to 10 years, you're going to have a much different view of East Hartford and a better quality of life."

Goodwin's dean of magnet schools, Alan Kramer, has said that the academy really is woven into the "fabric" of the college.

Ultimately, academy attendance will grow to 480 students, officials said. Its permanent building, which will be placed on what is known as the former Ambassador Limousine property, will house nine college-level science labs, a university-style lecture hall and a "green roof" with garden space, among other things.

"This is a college that recognizes as its core mission that Connecticut has to be competitive," said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

He added that giving high school students like those at the Connecticut River Academy access to college courses and sharpening their skills is a part of "turning Connecticut around" — something that would include creating more jobs to keep young people in the state.

The construction project and leadership by Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg was praised for a commitment to local contractors and firms by all of the ceremony's speakers.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs Linda Schwartz and other legislators spoke at the event.

“It’s important to thank everyone for participating in our collection for Connecticut’s homeless veterans,” Rep. Genga said. “Our veterans deserve our gratitude and support every day for their service. This is a wonderful way to show our appreciation.”

The approximately 400 veterans residing at the Rocky Hill facility continue to be in need of many basic personal items and the collection helped to provide these necessities. In addition to personal items, gift cards and clothes, this year’s donations included Wii video game consoles and a flat-screen TV. After the press conference, the donations were loaded into a van for delivery to the Veteran’s Home.

Since 1863, the residential facility at the Veterans’ Home and Hospital has offered a place to live and a continuum of rehabilitative services designed to prepare veterans for their return to independent living in the community.

Rep. Henry Genga brings donations to a van that will take them to the Veterans Home in Rocky Hill as part of an annual Christmas drive to help homeless veterans.

Rep. Henry Genga (left) joins Rep. Betty Boukus (second from right), Veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz (center), other legislators and three student elves to deliver gifts to the Veterans Home in Rocky Hill. Boukus organized the gift drive.

“Henry has spent his adult life advocating on behalf of the children of East Hartford as an educator, volunteer and now as a state legislator, so it is truly fitting that we give this award in recognition of his service,” said Susan Keane, president of ChildPlan’s board of directors.

Keane said that ChildPlan directors decided last year to recognize community leaders who have helped the organization the most in achieving the goal of serving children and that Genga was the first to receive the award, which they plan to give annually.

“Henry has been a strong supporter of ChildPlan’s ‘East Hartford’s Plan for Healthy and Successful Young Children,’ which lays out a blueprint for children from newborn to 8 years old,” Keane said.

“In addition, Henry is a strong supporter of the YMCA, where he serves as a board member, and East Hartford's School Readiness Council. Henry was the ideal person to receive ChildPlan’s first Community Leader Award,” Keane said.

Genga said he was honored to receive the award. “I can’t think of another award that could mean as much as this. Helping children is a reward in itself and also being recognized for helping is truly an honor.”

The award was given at ChildPlan’s annual meeting in December.

The forum, co-sponsored by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, will focus on ways to keep people in their homes while representing themselves in the foreclosure process.

“This forum will give people the power to help themselves. It is a win for all parties involved,” said Rep. Henry Genga (D-East Hartford). “It is an opportunity for homeowners in a difficult financial situation to learn that they may have options to keep their homes.”

“While Connecticut tries to navigate through these tough economic times, this forum can be of some help to homeowners who are still having some difficulty,” said Rep. Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester).

“Since 2008, nearly 11,000 people have taken advantage of this foreclosure mediation program and 85 percent are still in their homes. That's an unqualified success, and we need to spread the word about it,” said Sen. Gary D. LeBeau (D-East Hartford).

The forum will highlight resources and assistance available through the state’s Mediation Program and Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Topics to be discussed range from home loan modification to negotiating a home exit strategy. An 80-page publication explaining the foreclosure process, including forms needed for court, will also be available.

The Connecticut Fair Housing Center is a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance and resources to homeowners facing foreclosure.

In addition to the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, the forum is also being co-sponsored by Genga, Rojas, Rep. Timothy Larson (D-East Hartford, South Windsor) and Sen. LeBeau.

The East Hartford lawmakers also praised the legislature for approving the state’s commitment to Jackson Laboratory - a critical investment in a $1.1 billion project that unlocks the potential of thousands of jobs in genomic medicine and the biosciences.

“We all worked together in a bipartisan manner and Connecticut is the winner,” Genga (D-East Hartford) said, referring to the comprehensive jobs bill.

“What we accomplished today can be used as a blueprint for success tomorrow,” Rojas (D-East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester) said during the special session of General Assembly. “We need to keep looking for new ways to help companies, especially small business, grow and expand.”

Larson (D-East Hartford, South Windsor) said Connecticut’s legislature, unlike many others across the country, was able to create a bipartisan agenda to support small businesses, grow jobs and spur innovation. “The work we accomplished today will help put Connecticut back to work and usher our state into a new era of science, technology and job creation,” he said.

The lawmakers also lauded the legislature for approving Jackson Laboratory’s plan to build a $1.1 billion research facility at the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in Farmington. The State of Connecticut will invest $291 million and Jackson Laboratory will raise the balance of $860 million for the project.

According to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, the project is expected to create over 660 positions at Jackson Laboratory in Farmington within 20 years. The department estimates more than 4,600 bioscience jobs would be generated through spin-off companies and another 2,000 would be added to local service and area retail stores. The project would yield more than 840 construction jobs as well.

“Connecticut’s investment in bioscience will pay dividends for generations,” Genga said.

“By approving this project, we are sending a clear message to everyone outside of Connecticut that this state is open for business and that we want to be a world leader in the field of bioscience,” Rojas said.

The goal of the comprehensive jobs bill is to jump-start job creation and foster long-term economic growth through small-business incentives, less government red tape, incentives for innovation, economic development tools and workforce development and training.

A key part of the legislation is the Small Business Express Package, which will make $50 million a year available to small businesses through incentives, grants and loans.

“Small business continues to be the engine that drives our economy,” Larson said. “Investing in the future of Connecticut’s small businesses is essential to our continued economic growth.”

Another vital component is aligning programs at vo-tech schools, community colleges and universities with high demand job needs of employers, including the state’s manufacturing technology companies.

Other components of the jobs bill include:

• Consolidating and increasing the tax credit for new hires
• Creating investment incentives for angel investors in emerging technology
• Building innovation centers in key cities and investing in innovative ventures
• A second “First Five” program
• Cutting the business entity tax
• Streamlining the business permitting process
• Remediating old industrial sites/brownfields
• Computer upgrades to foster seamless communication between business and the state
• Workforce development, education and training
• Allowing the Airport Authority to designate new Development Zones
• Investments in roads and bridges
• Replenishing the Manufacturing Assistance Act
• Main Street commercial centers improvement initiative

After languishing without enough funding for years, the plan to renovate and expand East Hartford’s Raymond Public Library is ready to go, as the state is poised to pump $4 million into the project this month.

“We’ve literally outgrown this space,” Library Director Pat Jones said Friday. “If you come in on a typical day, it’s sometimes very hard to find a free space to sit.”

The funding is slated to be released next Friday by the State Bond Commission. The commission approves the release of funds financed by state borrowing. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy chairs the commission and sets its agenda. Lawmakers approve the projects.

Plans call for a two-floor, 11,600-square-foot addition to the back of the library. That would bring the library to 33,341 square feet. With its population, East Hartford is supposed to have a library with about 50,000 square feet, Jones said.

And the space was getting so cramped that it was nearing the point of throwing out books just to free up space, Jones said. More and more people are using the library, he said. “We are heavily used and in bad times in particular, we’re used — as are most libraries — more than normal,” Jones said.

Plans include space for books, seating, a meeting space for public use, and an expanded children’s section, Jones said.

He hopes to start work on the expansion in the next two or three months.

The project is expected to cost $6.1 million. Town residents approved $2.1 million in bonding in 2008 referendum. The town also had been approved for a $1 million grant from the Connecticut State Library. That’s included in the money set to be released Friday. The extra $3 million from the state is what’s new.

Jones, who has worked at the library since 1969, said the expansion is big news. The last time the library was expanded was in 1968. It was supposed to last about 20 years, he said.

“I’m absolutely elated,” Jones said. “This is probably the biggest thing that’s happened here during my experience.”

Local lawmakers also are pleased by Malloy’s decision to fund the expansion.

“This project will dramatically improve the quality of life for East Hartford, and I’m very happy we’ve been able to make it happen,” Rep. Henry J. Genga, D-East Hartford, said.

The state funding comes after Mayor Marcia Leclerc sent a letter to Genga and the town’s other legislators in September urging them to push for the funding. “Additional space is critically needed to improve services and expand benefits for our community,” she wrote.

Genga said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s recommendation for the funding of the East Hartford project is on the State Bond Commission’s agenda and is expected to be approved when the commission meets Friday, Oct. 28.

“This funding will not only improve a valuable human resource for the residents of East Hartford, but also create jobs,” Genga said. About 400 construction jobs would be needed for the expansion and four part-time assistant librarians would be permanently hired.

“This grant is an important step in allowing the expansion to move forward,” Malloy said. “The project will result in a re-shaping of the Raymond Library, allowing East Hartford residents to continue utilizing the important services it provides.”

Mayor Marcia Leclerc, noting that the expansion has been on hold for numerous years, said, “I am so happy we are finally going to get the funding we need for this project,” Leclerc said. “Earlier this year, I thought the money might be available, so I approached Henry to take the lead and help us. Because of his work, the library has a new future.”

Genga praised Malloy, House Speaker Chris Donovan, Reps. Timothy Larson (D-East Hartford and Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford, Manchester, Glastonbury) as well as Senate President Pro Tempore Don Williams and Sen. Gary LeBeau (D-East Hartford) for supporting the bonding request.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate their support,” he said.

“When Mayor Leclerc told us the town needed this funding, I knew the support of our delegation in the General Assembly would be critical,” Genga said. “Obtaining this grant demonstrates the commitment our delegation has made to the people of East Hartford.”

Leclerc said the expansion project is shovel-ready and will move forward as soon as the financing is approved.

“The expansion is critical to the quality of life in East Hartford residents,” Leclerc said.

“The State Library Space Planning Guide indicates that for a community our size, the library should provide about 50,000 square feet. The current usable space of the building is 21,695 square feet. Many of the recommendations of the 1997 Library Improvement Plan have been implemented, but additional space is critically needed to improve services and expand benefits for our community,” Leclerc said.

The library addition in the expansion project would add 11,646 square feet to the site and bring total usable square footage to 33,341.

“This project will dramatically improve the quality of life for East Hartford, and I’m very happy we’ve been able to make it happen,” Genga said.

By Melissa Traynor, Hartford Courant

EAST HARTFORD —— Local officials and legislators toured the Raymond Library Thursday morning, pointing out cramped computer stations, a lower stairwell where book donation boxes are piled up and other examples of how a big community's library operates in a small space.

Library Director Patrick Jones said the town wants to double the library's 17,900-square-foot space.

The project has been in the works for years — plans were drawn up in 2007 — but funding for the $6 million expansion is still needed.

Mayor Marcia Leclerc said that the town bonded about $2 million and received a $1 million construction grant from the Connecticut State Library.

Local legislators, such as Sen. Gary LeBeau and Rep. Henry Genga, who were part of the small tour group Thursday, said they would like to see the remaining $3 million included in a state bond package.

They invited Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams on the tour to discuss East Hartford's needs and take a look at plans for the proposed "shovel-ready" expansion, which they say will create up to 400 construction jobs and some permanent library staff positions.

At the beginning of the tour, Jones gestured toward the computer work area, where every terminal was in use except for a few computers with "out of order" signs taped over the monitors.

"We've reached a saturation point. If we can expand this facility, it will bring us to the next level," Jones said, adding that they'd like to have more physical space, digital capabilities and archives.

Current plans call for the library building to be expanded to take over about two thirds of its parking lot to the east, to create a three-story building. Construction would last between six months and a year, Jones said.

"It seems to me that is makes perfect sense to have a significant change here to accommodate the town… We'll see what we can do," Williams said.

A school-based dental program for East Hartford's school children has received an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The four-year grant will fund a program that brings dental care directly into the town's public schools.

“We know that needy families don't always have regular access to dental care,” said East Hartford Superintendent of Schools Mark Zito, during a press conference at Silver Lane Elementary on Sept. 29. Integrated Health Services, which operates the Galvin Dental Program, is the recipient of the grant.

The grant was one of only 12 awarded nationwide, and will allow the school-based dental program to expand to more schools, including two new magnet schools at Goodwin College. The grant will enable the program to serve more than 900 students in East Hartford.

“It’s an extraordinary opportunity,” Zito said. Zito also thanked U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1st District), U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and state Rep. Henry Genga (D-10th District) for their help with achieving the federal grant.

“This grant will go a long way in helping IHS continue the fantastic work they do every day in providing dental services to students in East Hartford,” said Larson. “Making sure that kids have access to preventative dental care should be one of our top priorities, and I am proud we are leading the way here in East Hartford.”

The Galvin Dental Program, which was founded by local dentist Dr. Thomas Galvin, has been providing dental care for East Hartford students since 2000. Many East Hartford students are on the state HUSKY medical plan, and often have limited access to dental care. In 2008, the program began offering restorative dental care, such as filling cavities and treating gum disease.

The press conference was held at Silver Lane Elementary School, which offered the first school-based dental program in East Hartford.

Deborah Poerio, president of Integrated Health Services, said that since restorative treatment was offered in school, the rate of tooth decay dropped from 27 percent to 7 percent. By September 2010, the decay rate had dropped from 24 percent to 8.5 percent.

For the first time this year, the program will operate a special van that carries a portable dentist office to each school. The grant has enabled the program to purchase the extra equipment that will be used by the van.

“School-based health care centers provide a comfortable environment where students can receive quality medical, behavioral and dental care,” said Poerio.

“We sincerely appreciate your many years of service and dedication to the YMCA community,” Brian Liss, executive director of the YMCA, said.

“Your unwavering determination and persistence in assisting so many families is respected and highly commendable. You are a true inspiration,” Liss told Genga at the YMCA annual dinner.

“The YMCA is a great organization that serves the community in so many important ways. Receiving this award is an honor that I will always remember. It will remind me of the many, many volunteers that worked together with me,” Genga said.

Joe Carlson, chairman of the Strong Kids Campaign, presents the
James O. MacDonald Volunteer Leadership Award to state Rep. Henry Genga
as Brian Liss, executive director of the East Hartford YMCA, watches.

EAST HARTFORD — Rep. Henry Genga announced Thursday the creation of a scholarship fund in memory of the late Frank Benettieri, who owned Frank's Willow Inn on Main Street.

In a statement, Genga said that a committee of the Willow Inn Hot Stove League, a group of locals who meet and chat about baseball every Tuesday morning at the inn, decided to establish a fund in Benettieri's name to honor him as a businessman, sportsman and philanthropist.

Benettieri, a former Little League coach and volunteer, passed away in May at the age of 72 after a battle with cancer.

"Frank has left a legacy of volunteerism and generosity, especially in raising money for decades for children with cancer," Genga said. "He was an inspiration for all and it's only fitting that we create a scholarship in his name."

The committee that created the fund is made up of coaches, athletes, politicians, and Benettieri's friends and relatives.

"Frank was a big supporter of the Jimmy Fund and would frequently recruit his best friend, Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams, to help raise money," Genga said in a statement. "Williams would travel to East Hartford to assist Frank in raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund, part of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston."

The scholarship fund will benefit East Hartford students who are scholar-athletes only. Those who wish to donate money to the funds can make out checks to the East Hartford Public Schools— with "Benettieri Scholarship Fund" in the memo line — and send it 1110 Main St., East Hartford 06108.

“Frank has left a legacy of volunteerism and generosity, especially in raising money for decades for children with cancer,” Genga said. “He was an inspiration for all and it’s only fitting that we create a scholarship in his name.”

Genga said a committee of the Willow Inn Hot Stove League, which meets every Tuesday morning at Benettieri’s Willow Inn restaurant on Main Street, East Hartford, decided recently to establish the scholarship to honor the businessman, sportsman and philanthropist. Genga, the chairman, said the committee is composed of athletes, coaches, politicians, friends and relatives.

“Frank was a big supporter of the Jimmy Fund and would frequently recruit his best friend, Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams, to help raise money,” Genga said. “Ted Williams would travel to East Hartford to assist Frank in raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund, part of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.”

Genga said people who want to donate to the scholarship fund may send a check or other contribution to East Hartford Public Schools, 1110 Main St. East Hartford, CT 06108.

Donors should write Benettieri Scholarship Fund in the memo area of checks and on the envelope. Checks should be made out to East Hartford Public Schools, Genga said.

Anyone interested in more information may contact Scott Gray, sports commentator for WTIC-1080 radio in Hartford, at 10 Executive Drive, Farmington, CT 06032. Gray’s email is Scott.Gray@cbsradio.com. Gray is a charter member of the committee. Information also may be obtained by calling Genga at 860-568-6395.

East Hartford — Every Tuesday morning for many years, people gathered at Frank’s Willow Inn on Main Street.

The group sat for hours and members talked about their favorite baseball teams, games, and players. And no one was more passionate about baseball, especially when he was discussing the Boston Red Sox, then the inn’s owner, Frank Benettieri.

“Those meetings were called the Willow Inn Tuesday Morning Hot Stove League,” state Rep. Henry Genga, D-East Hartford, a longtime friend of Benettieri, said. “They have been going on since I can remember. And they will continue, in honor of Frank.”

Benettieri, 72, died May 25, after a long bout with cancer. He leaves behind a legacy to the town because of his generosity and volunteerism, especially when it came to raising money for children with cancer.

Benettieri would travel to Winter Haven, Fla., to watch his beloved Red Sox in spring training and met Ted Williams through a mutual friend, Genga said.

“They remained good friends until Williams passed away in 2002,” Genga added.

Williams would travel to East Hartford and assist Benettieri in raising thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund, part of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

As a Little League coach, Benettieri left an “indelible impression” on numerous young baseball players, Scott Gray, sports commentator for WTIC-1080 radio in Hartford, said in a May 31 commentary.

Genga said Benettieri was a generous person who could not pass a person on the street asking for money without giving a couple of dollars.

“One time Frank anonymously gave a 12-year-old boy a replica of a Johnny Damon Red Sox jersey and an autographed baseball after the boy’s father died of cancer,” Genga said. “That’s the kind of guy Frank was.”

Since 1972, Benettieri had season tickets to Fenway Park in Boston, six rows behind the visitor’s dugout, Genga said.

Genga said one of the greatest memories he has was the time Benettieri invited him to go to Fenway Park in 2005; the year after the Red Sox finally won a World Series.

Genga, a diehard New York Yankees fan, traded jokes with Benettieri as they watched the game.

“I told him that the Red Sox didn’t know where to go to get a World Series trophy, they hadn’t won in so long, so they had to go visit the Yankees to find out where to get one,” Genga said.

One Christmas, Genga purchased a barstool with the Red Sox logo on the seat for Benettieri.

That stool will remain at the bar, no one will sit on it, with a picture of him in front of it, Genga said.

“You could not dislike Frank,” Genga added. “He was never a judgmental person. He touched a lot of lives.”

“Student teaching is a valuable component of the teacher certification process. In addition, this bill allows college students to student teach in a private school setting, which would provide them with the skills to serve others and further the values and practices of their profession. This bill, which has bipartisan support also in the Senate, recognizes the importance of that,” said Genga, who sought the legislation. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Genga said the bill also allows certified teachers working at private schools to serve as cooperating teachers, as long as they pay the cost of their participation in the state’s cooperating teacher program and those private schools receive no state funding for cooperating teacher professional development. Cooperating teachers are those who are certified by the state and provide supervision of student teachers.

To put our state back on solid financial ground, Governor Dannel P. Malloy proposed a budget that called for all residents of Connecticut to share in the sacrifice.

While the governor's plan was carefully constructed, it still needed a lot of work because of the harsh impact it would have on East Hartford and its residents.

As an example, Governor Malloy suggested ending the state's funding reimbursement program to towns for tax credits given to manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney. Elimination of the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program, however, would have cost East Hartford more than $3.5 million.

The governor also wanted to eliminate the $500 property tax credit for homeowners, raise the tax on gasoline and add new taxes on coupons, hair cuts, car washes and other items we take for granted.

Thankfully, after many hours of negotiations, my colleagues and I in the legislature were able to reach a budget compromise with the governor. The end result is that we were able to save the PILOT program funding, retain a $300 property tax credit for residents and eliminate the 3-cent gas tax increase and some of the other proposed sales taxes.

On top of that, East Hartford will receive an increase of $653,258 in municipal aid for fiscal year 2012 and increase of $750,551 for 2013 when compared to the $48,405,637 the town was appropriated in 2011.

In addition, for the first time ever, we will have a new Earned Income Tax Credit program to provide financial relief to as many as 190,000 low-income workers in the state.

In order to achieve a balanced budget fair to all we had to make significant spending reductions. To accomplish that we consolidated 30 percent of our state agencies while maintaining important investments that will help grow businesses and protect families.

After 3 years of economic hardship, our state's finances are stabilized and Connecticut is moving forward on the road to economic recovery. And as we begin to implement the spending plan, the Malloy administration will continue its negotiations with state employee unions to come up with the labor concession package that is the final piece of this budget.

Although the governor's budget still includes higher taxes – a sacrifice that we all will have to share – we now have a budget that is truly balanced. A budget that does not include borrowing for paying our current expenses. A budget that does not include accounting gimmicks. A budget that does not further defer our pension obligations.

But unlike budgets that were recently passed in New York and New Jersey, our state budget protects our cities and towns and does not pass the burden on to local property taxpayers. As we all know, the property tax is the most regressive of all taxes.

There is no question that we had to make tough and unpopular decisions, but in the end our state budget is honest and balanced. Working with Governor Malloy we created a budget that will move Connecticut forward, a budget that is responsible and a budget that puts us on the road to recovery.

EAST HARTFORD — When Town Council member Susan Skowronek discovered that seniors on fixed incomes in town were going to banks to obtain loans to pay their property taxes, she was astounded.

After some research she found out why. Banks are offering loans at an annual interest rate of 3 percent, compared to the 18.5 percent that the town has to charge for overdue taxes under state law.

East Hartford has a good reputation for working with residents who have difficulty paying their taxes, Skowronek said.

Skowronek added that the town has an installment option in place that helps residents but they have to charge the higher interest rate because it is mandated by the state.

Skowronek said that if municipalities could charge lower interest rates to qualified seniors, that money could be returned to the town coffers.

Although she knew that the deadline for proposing new legislation had passed, Skowronek sent letters to the East Hartford legislative delegation asking for their support for a proposed bill for next year.

“I want to implement a bill or make an amendment to the existing law that lowers the interest rate for qualified seniors so that paying their town interest on delinquent taxes, or what would be delinquent taxes, is more cost-effective than paying interest to a bank, Skowronek said.

On April 14, Skowronek received a positive reply from Rep. Henry Genga, D-East Hartford, who said paying the town on a monthly basis at a lower interest rate is a “win-win for both the town and its senior citizens on fixed incomes.”

Genga said that state and federal guidelines are already in place for qualifying seniors, 65 years of age and older, on fixed incomes.

“Right now the town gets the money up front from the senior who has to borrow it,” he said. “The bank gets the interest.”

Municipalities cannot get more than 1 percent when they invest the money in today’s sluggish market; this way they can at least get 3 percent, Genga explained.

Details of the proposed bill would have to be worked out, but Genga said that he believes that the state’s municipalities should have the option of whether they want to implement the plan.

This new bill would benefit qualified seniors and towns throughout the state, Skowronek said.

“As it stands, taxpayers and towns are scrambling, while banks keep getting richer,” she added.