Maria Horn

Earlier this week, Governor Lamont signed orders extending the state’s civil preparedness and public health emergency to February 9, 2021.  Due to expire on September 9, this extension allows the Governor’s prior executive orders to remain in effect (pending any legislative action, which would override them) and allows him to continue to modify those orders as conditions change. 

Those orders have helped respond to a myriad of pandemic-driven issues, each requiring a small statutory change or accommodation, including, for example, the use of masks to protect public health, how to handle the expiration of driver’s licenses or daycare workers’ CPR certificates, allowing towns to conduct meetings online, and business regulatory relief such as delaying tax-payment deadlines.  Without the emergency order in place, each of these small statutory changes or accommodations would require hearings, debate, and a vote in both the House and the Senate.  This is a cumbersome, time-consuming process even when Connecticut’s part-time legislature is in regular session: pulling the legislature back into special session now for each of these changes would also be a costly and ineffective use of scarce government resources. Not to mention that many of these changes will be temporary: as executive orders, they will expire all by themselves; as legislative action we would have to act all over again to undo them.

Before the Governor acted to extend the order, I spoke with many local elected officials, organizations, and businesses about how the orders have affected them. Among them were a number of first selectmen, from a range of political perspectives, who asked me to ensure the orders were continued, in order to provide clarity in uncertain times, including the ability to conduct meetings online, and guidance for local businesses to operate safely. I spoke with a colleague who had been on a call with 300 child-care businesses, who universally asked that the orders be extended: they would not be able to operate under the underlying statutory regime.

This morning the Public Health Emergency Committee met, and voted to affirm the Governor’s extension. This group of 10 legislators, which includes bipartisan leadership of the legislature and the Public Health Committee, has the statutory authority only to accept or reject the extension in full.  The legislature itself has, and retains, the ability to override any particular order.
No legislator, myself included, likes to be left out of the process of governing, and we continue to make plenty of noise in meetings, phone calls, emails, and texts with the Governor and his agencies, and with our own legislative leadership. It is not the process we imagined, but it has worked well, allowing public health decisions, such as the clearly effective wearing of masks, for example, to be made based on science, and not politics. It is important to note that the legislature has always had, and retains, the ability to act on any individual order should it choose to do so.  We are currently planning a special session in September at which I expect we will address amending some of those orders.

I wish you all a happy Labor Day Weekend!  Yesterday I participated in a “Conservation Conversation” that featured the magnificent Trinity Preserve in Cornwall, which has been preserved thanks to a combination of state funding through the Community Investment Act, federal funding through the Highlands Conservation Act, private philanthropy, and a lot of work from local land trusts, and I’m hoping to get out on some of those trails! 
 
Here’s a list of today’s topics:

• Geer Village Adult Day Care program will not reopen
• Census 2020 deadline is September 30
• Listening Session on proposed Energy Reform Bill on Tuesday, September 8 at 10:30
• Federal Lost Wages Assistance Program due to begin mid-September
• COVID-19 Testing Tool Kit

For several additional graphs and tables containing more data, including a list of cases in every municipality, visit ct.gov/coronavirus, and click the link that is labeled, “COVID-19 Data Tracker.”
 
Weekly update on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes and assisted living facilities
 
The following documents contain the weekly data regarding each of the nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut that have reported positive cases of COVID-19 among their residents. The data is presented as it was reported to the state by each of the facilities. If a facility is not listed, that means it is reporting that it does not have any residents who have tested positive.
 

**Download: Report from September 3, 2020 on COVID-19 in Connecticut nursing homes **Download: Report from September 3, 2020 COVID-19 in Connecticut assisted living facilities

 

 
 
Geer Village Adult Day Care program will not reopen
 
Geer Village announced earlier this week that they would not reopen their Adult Day Care program, citing the ongoing danger from COVID-19, and in particular the risk of infection as they transport highly vulnerable people across long distances and provide care in a confined space.
Going forward they will be focused on finding new ways to help those who need support at home, including by creating an entirely new division at Geer focused on safe, alternative programming for seniors.  Geer is embarking on the creation of a new division called Community Services with a goal to provide a variety of senior support services throughout our service area.  
Geer announced that Lenore Consiglio, LPN as the new Senior Director of Community Services that will lead this endeavor.  Geer will release more details as they are available. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions feel free to contact Lenore Consiglio at (860) 824-2623 or lconsiglio@geercares.org or Kevin O’Connell, CEO at (860) 824-3868 or koconnell@geercares.org
Census 2020 deadline is September 30
 
Many of you have heard the news that the census deadline is now September 30^th and we have less than 4 weeks to ensure that all households in Connecticut are counted. As of today, Connecticut's total enumeration rate -- those who have self-responded and those who were counted during nonresponse follow-up -- is 91.2 percent. But we need to make sure that the remaining 9 percent of households are counted.  
  
Households are able to still self-respond to the 2020 U.S. Census at 2020Census.gov, or by phone at:
844-330-2020 (English) or 844-468-2020  (Spanish).
 
In 10 minutes, we all have the ability to shape our future. Data from the 2020 Census determines billions of dollars in federal funding for critical services and also our political representation. For our country, for our state, complete the Census: our future depends on it.

Listening Session on proposed Energy Reform Bill on Tuesday, September 8 at 10:30
 
The collection of legislative proposals unrolled after the recent spike in electric costs, followed by the disastrous storm response from Eversource and other utilities, has now been drafted into a proposed bill: An Act Concerning Emergency Response by Electric Distribution Companies and Revising the Regulation of other Public Utilities.  It is an ambitious piece of legislation, which addresses:

• Moving toward a rate-making structure that is performance based;
• Limiting executive compensation
• Providing a bill credit to every ratepayer who loses power for more than 72 hours, retroactive to July 1;
• Compensation of up to $500 for spoiled food or medicine;
• Increasing minimum staffing levels;
• Ensuring presence of a consumer advocate on the board

 
A virtual listening session for this proposed bill (An Act Concerning Emergency Response by Electric Distribution Companies and Revising the Regulation of other Public Utilities) will be held by the Energy & Technology Committee on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 10:30 via Zoom.  The session will end no later than 8:00 pm.
 
People who wish to testify via Zoom must register using the On-line Testimony Registration Form. Registration will CLOSE on Monday, September 7th at 12:00 PM. Speaker order of approved registrants will be posted on the Energy and Technology Committee website. If you do not have internet access, you may provide testimony via telephone. To register to testify by phone, call the Phone Registrant Line (860-240-0430) to leave your contact information. Please email written testimony in Word or PDF format to ETTestimony@cga.ct.gov.
 
Speakers will be strictly limited to 3 minutes of oral testimony. The Committee encourages witnesses to submit a written statement and to condense oral testimony to a summary of that statement. The Listening Session will be recorded and broadcast live on CT-N. It will also be available on demand from CT-N.
 
Federal Lost Wages Assistance Program due to begin mid-September
 
The federal Lose Wages Assistance Program, which provides an additional $300 that will be to be added to some unemployment claimants weekly payments, is due to begin mid-September. Claimants will receive information in the mail about how and when to certify.
 
In addition, the CT DOL has put information up on their website, including a FAQ: https://portal.ct.gov/DOLUI/FPUC.
 
COVID-19 Testing Tool Kit
 
As a part of the state’s campaign to ensure that everyone knows that if they have symptoms, they should get tested, we’ve recently completed this Testing Tool Kit in English and Spanish to help distribute information to promote COVID-19 testing in the State of Connecticut. The Tool Kit also has a guide with recommendations about how to use all of the available tools. 
 
The testing guidance that applies to everyone in the state – no matter what – is that if you have symptoms – get tested, and find a test by visiting ct.gov/coronavirus. 
 
We also have several priority communities across the state that are densely populated, and where more residents live in apartment buildings, or multi-family settings. In those communities – we need adults to get tested regularly, even if they are asymptomatic. 
 
Another resource developed specifically for priority populations in the state was distributed in mid-July. This tool kit has been distributed through grassroots leaders and networks, and was built with a ground-up approach, ensuring that residents who need to get tested most get the message from trusted sources. The campaign is called Knowing is Better, and you can find the tool kit at knowingisbetterct.org/toolkit.  
 
 
Governor Lamont encourages residents to sign up for the state’s CTAlert notification system
 
Governor Lamont is encouraging Connecticut residents to sign up for CTAlert, the state’s emergency alert system, which provides text message notifications to users. To subscribe, text the keyword COVIDCT to 888-777.
 
Providing information to Connecticut residents
 
For the most up-to-date information from the State of Connecticut on COVID-19, including an FAQ and other guidance and resources, residents are encouraged to visit ct.gov/coronavirus.
 

Individuals who have general questions that are not answered on the website can also call 2-1-1 for assistance. The hotline is available 24 hours a day and has multilingual assistance. Relay services can be accessed by calling 7-1-1. Anyone who is out-of-state or using Relay can connect to Connecticut 2-1-1 toll free by dialing 1-800-203-1234. The hotline is intended to be used by individuals who are not experiencing symptoms but may have general questions related to COVID-19. Anyone who is experiencing symptoms is strongly urged to contact their medical provider.