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| Dear Friend,
This is my State Capitol update for the week of March 13th.
If you prefer to watch rather than read, click on the video below to hear about the issues contained in this newsletter. |
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The legislature has moved into the last few weeks of public hearings. Bills are starting to get voted out as each committee approaches its “JF Deadline,” the date by which they must act on legislation. Some deadlines have already past, and nearly all are in March. The only exceptions are the two “money committees,” Finance and Appropriations, which have deadlines in late April.
One of the big issues again this year is aid in dying, SB 1076, which passed in the Public Health Committee last week and will now go to the Judiciary Committee. I hear regularly from constituents who feel strongly about this issue for thoughtful and principled reasons based on their experiences and faith traditions. Most, but not all, are supportive and have searing stories that have formed and often changed their views. I have been very moved by those stories. Added to my own, they make me inclined to support this legislation, though I will pay attention to the debate in the Judiciary Committee.
The Environment Committee had a long public hearing on Friday on a bear bill, SB 1148, which, in addition to banning intentional feeding and giving farmers increased ability to kill a bear that is destroying crops or farm animals, would direct the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to “establish an annual bear hunt lottery season in Litchfield County. Such lottery shall authorize the taking of not more than fifty bears in Litchfield County during any such bear hunt season.”
For the last several months, I have been hearing from, and actively seeking out, constituents with specific stories about encounters with bears. Most of us out here have had them. Most are benign: I have seen bears while hiking and running, and watched them eat fruit off my trees. None of my encounters have been frightening, though I confess I was pretty mad at the bear the bear who broke a huge limb off of a peach tree. Others in the district have had them break into their homes, consume acres of crops, or threaten their animals: those are very different experiences from my own. I have reached out to scientists with a variety of backgrounds, and have reports on my desk which conclude that a limited hunt (which all other New England states with a significant population of black bear have) can help curb hostile interactions, and others that conclude that hunting is ineffective. I am still listening, and doing my best to educate my colleagues on how we in Litchfield County interact with bears.
As I have listened to the testimony on these and other issues, it has struck me that the most powerful, and effective, testimony is nearly always those who are sharing their personal experiences on how these issues affect them, their families, and businesses. Please keep sharing your own experiences and views with me.
On the topic of bears, I wanted to draw your attention to a recent DEEP report. With bears emerging from their winter denning season later this month, DEEP wanted to make sure that legislators and members of the public have current information regarding the State’s bear population. DEEP Wildlife Division Staff have compiled The State of the Bears (ct.gov), which is the most up-to-date information we have on a range of frequently asked topics about our bear population to serve as a resource.
March is Women’s History Month. Last week I shared a profile of Isabelle Kelley, and many of you responded in kind with portraits of other women important to Connecticut History, so I thought I’d share one of them, courtesy of Charlie Waiveris from Goshen. Clare Boothe Luce was a Representative in Congress from Connecticut who dedicated millions to support women to pursue careers in which they were underrepresented, specifically what we now call STEM fields. Women were given scholarships to study and teach graduate work in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. Since her death in 1989 over 200 million dollars have been awarded to over 2,600 women to study, do research and teach.
Upcoming events include the Nor’easter heading our way that may dump more than a foot of snow on the Northwest Corner starting on Monday evening, running through Wednesday. The snow is likely to be heavy and wet, and may well cause significant power outages. Try to minimize your travel, and keep supplies on hand.
And the week includes St. Patrick’s Day, which will be a little different for me this year. My mom’s family was 100% Irish Catholic. The extended family was tight, and they took care of each other through some tough times. My mom was the oldest of 4 siblings, raised mostly by a single mother as her father died when my mom was 9. The youngest and her only brother died young, but the three sisters lived long and stayed close as they raised their own families. Last week, the last of those sisters – my Aunt Sally - died, and my cousins (in Michigan and Pennsylvania) and I have been reminiscing how much those three sisters loved to talk politics over a cold beer, arguing, teasing, telling stories, and laughing a lot. I will raise a glass to those Hogan sisters this week, so I hope you all can use the holiday as a tribute to extended family.
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Here’s a list of today’s topics:
- COVID-19 weekly update. Click here
- Public Hearing Schedule for this week. Click here
- Coverage period for deliverable fuel assistance extended to March 31 . Click here
- Public awareness campaign on dangers of wrong-way driving. Click here
- Update on Salisbury-Sharon Transfer Station food waste diversion program. Click here
- Connecticut Arts Endowment 2023 Grantees. Click here.
- Sharon Historical Society selected for grant from Museum Makeover Program. Click here
- Housatonic Youth Services Bureau wants to hear from community members. Click here
- Broadband updates. Click here
- Lakeville Planning Forum on March 18. Click here.
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| For graphs and tables containing data on COVID-19, including a list of cases in every municipality, visit ct.gov/coronavirus and click the link that is labeled, “Data Tracker.”
Note that the federal government is making at home test kits available free of charge. For more information, https://www.covid.gov/tests. |
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| Public Hearing schedule for March 13 – 17 |
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| Please remember that you only need to register if you wish to provide testimony. If you want to observe the hearings, you can tune in to watch the proceedings live on the committee’s YouTube channel.
You can register to testify and find more detail on this week’s public hearings, including the bills that will be heard, in this week’s CGA Bulletin. Access the Bulletin here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABulletin/Bulletin.asp |
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Coverage period for deliverable fuel assistance extended to March 31
The Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) is extending the coverage period for households receiving deliverable fuel assistance under the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) during the 2022-2023 winter season to March 31, 2023. The original deadline to receive fuel deliveries this winter season was March 15, 2023.
Thanks to the work of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation in securing unprecedented fiscal year 2023 federal funding for the program, the state has resources available to provide for a slight extension to the deadline, giving residents a few extra days to receive assistance for fuel deliveries. Households that heat their homes with deliverable fuels such as home heating oil, propane, or kerosene will now have until March 31, 2023, to submit requests to their fuel providers for deliveries and receive assistance under CEAP for those deliveries. Approved CEAP households should contact their fuel providers before the end of March to request delivery.
CEAP helps Connecticut households afford the cost of energy year-round, with a particular focus on ensuring that households get support heating their homes each winter. Program benefits and deadlines are set each year to ensure that the funding allocated to the program is sufficient to meet demand and provide as much support to households as possible. The program is administered by DSS.
This winter season, thanks to additional federal funding, the state has offered all deliverable fuel households an extra $430 benefit, which means families heating with deliverable fuels like heating oil and propane can now access up to $2,320 per household to help pay their heating bills. Total benefits for deliverable fuel households now range from $1,110 to $2,320, up from $680 to $1,890 under the original allocation plan for this year, or by as much as 63% for certain households. |
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Public awareness campaign on dangers of wrong-way driving
The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is launching a new public awareness campaign on the dangers of wrong-way driving as part of the state’s larger strategy of reversing the catastrophic recent increase in wrong-way crashes and deaths. The campaign’s theme of “One Wrong Move” demonstrates how just one moment and one decision can be fatal. It features spots distributed through a variety of media outlets such as television, radio, digital, and billboards.
Wrong-way driving crashes in Connecticut tripled in 2022. This includes 13 wrong-way crashes that resulted in 23 deaths, compared to 4 wrong-way crashes in 2021 and 2 in 2020. Studies have shown that wrong-way driving crashes are 100 times more likely to be fatal than other types of crashes.
Anyone who encounters a wrong-way driver should call 9-1-1 and report the location as soon as it’s safe to do so. If a driver discovers they have entered a highway going in the wrong direction, they should immediately pull into the breakdown lane and change their direction when it is safe. |
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In July 2022, Governor Lamont authorized the release of $20 million in state bond funding for CTDOT to purchase and install advanced wrong-way driving technology along the state’s highways and roads. This technology uses motion sensors to detect a driver entering a highway exit ramp from the wrong direction and rapidly flashes LED lights to notify them that they are driving the wrong way. So far, it has been installed and is currently operating at several high-risk ramps across Connecticut, and plans to install this technology in dozens more locations over the course of this year. Some of the locations that are targeted to soon receive it are in:
Future installations of this technology will add the ability to notify Connecticut State Police in real time. CTDOT is also exploring additional mitigation measures, such as in-laid pavement reflectors.
The “One Wrong Move” campaign is being funded by previously allocated money CTDOT received from the Federal Highway Administration.
To view the “One Wrong Move” television advertisement, visit CTDOT’s YouTube channel. |
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Update on Salisbury-Sharon Transfer Station food waste diversion program
The number of households separating their food waste and delivering to the Transfer Station has grown to over 350. There is room for more at present, and eventually they will transition from pilot status to permanent program. For the towns of Salisbury and Sharon, your efforts have brought these encouraging year-to-date statistics:
2023 as of mid-February
o 4,700 lbs of food scraps recovered, which is the equivalent of
o 2,867 lbs of CO2 avoided (EPA calculation), which is the equivalent of
o 3,268 miles of driving avoided (EPA calculation)
2022 full year
o over 31,000 lbs of food scraps recovered
o over 19,000 lbs of CO2 avoided
o over 22,000 miles of driving avoided
Thank you to everyone who has spread the word about the residential food waste pilot among friends and neighbors. Special thanks was extended to Joanne Taber who has encouraged Noble Horizon to work with its Cottage residents in a food-waste collection strategy.
To further reduce waste through food-scraps diversion, the next push will be convincing restaurants, schools, and food-generating businesses to get on board by separating food waste and contracting with a food-waste hauler for its pick-up and delivery to a commercial composting facility. |
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| Connecticut Arts Endowment 2023 Grantees
Congratulations to the local organizations who were awarded 2023 Connecticut Arts Endowment Grants, including these local organizations:
- After School Arts Program, Inc. (ASAP!), Washington Depot
- Five Points Center for the Visual Arts, Torrington
- Joyful Noise, Inc. (Chorus Angelicus), Torrington
- Northwest CT Arts Council, Torrington
- Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, Torrington
- Pilobolus, Washington Depot
- Tri-State Center for the Arts (Sharon Playhouse), Sharon
- Washington Art Association ,Washington
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| Sharon Historical Society selected for grant from Museum Makeover Program
The Sharon Historical Society was selected out of 63 applicants to receive a grant from the Museum Makeover Program. Museum Makeover is a new initiative made possible by the CT Cultural Fund, provided through the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts with funding from the Connecticut State Legislature, and administered by CT Humanities. Museum Makeover is managed by Conservation ConneCTion, a program of the Connecticut State Library, and is supported through a partnership with the Connecticut League of History Organizations and CT Humanities.
Museum Makeover provides professional on-site consultation and direct implementation funds for projects that improve the visitor experience at Connecticut museums. In 2022, the Sharon Historical Society was one of 15 organizations across the state that received up to $3,000 apiece for exhibition and collection storage projects. Together, these museums serve more than 85,000 visitors annually, and employ 50 full- and part-time staff members, as well as 713 volunteers from their communities. Another round of organizations will receive funding and assistance in 2023.
To see the Museum Makeover team in action, and hear from some of the organizations that participated in the program in its first year, here’s a short video highlighting a few of the completed projects at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZausUlNADr4. You can learn more about Museum Makeover at https://ctconservationconnection.org/museum-makeover. |
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| Housatonic Youth Services Bureau wants to hear from community members |
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For more than 30 years, the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB) has proudly served the Northwest Corner as the only mental health agency providing FREE clinical services to children and their families.
In addition to counseling services, HYSB offers custom group programming which is based on the unique needs within each community and designed to provide a safe environment where children can connect with their peers and HYSB counselors to discuss sensitive topics and share strategies for overcoming adversity and learning when and how to engage with other adults and authorities.
HYSB continues to grow and expand programs to meet the increasing needs of communities and as part of that process they are turning to our friends, neighbors, donors, clients, and community partners for your feedback.
Your response is important!
Please help HYSB by taking this 3-minute survey which will provide us with important information about our organization and the needs of our communities. |
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| Broadband updates
Burt Cohen of the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel distributes a newsletter on all things broadband, nationally and in the State of Connecticut. This week he had a few items I wanted to share:
- The Town of Sharon and Comcast reached a final agreement on getting infrastructure in place to serve all residents (fewer than 3,000, with over 250 households unserved). Here’s an article about the agreement: https://tricornernews.com/sharon/comcast-contract-signed
- An article showing CT’s awesome data mapping of broadband (unserved/underserved) which is among the best in the U.S. https://ctmirror.org/2023/01/11/ct-broadband-high-speed-internet-access-2/ CT’s broadband mapping hub may be found at https://ctbroadband-ctmaps.hub.arcgis.com/
- CT Department of Social Services is promoting the Affordable Connectivity Program: https://portal.ct.gov/DSS/Communications/Affordable-Connectivity-Program
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| Lakeville Planning Forum on March 18 |
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Saturday, March 18 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
Lakeville Town Grove |
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| Photo from of the Salisbury Historic District Commission |
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| This forum is open to all residents and visitors of Salisbury.
Participants will discuss a planning study commissioned by P&Z in the fall of 2022, which was carried out by Colliers Engineering and Design. The study analyzed the Lakeville village center, focusing on pedestrian and bicycle access, circulation and safety; public greenspaces; traffic circulation and safety; and parking and stormwater management.
Building off this study, P&Z and Colliers are soliciting community feedback on future planning for the village of Lakeville. The forum will feature mini break-out discussion groups and interactive activities.
For those unable to attend in person, a response form will be uploaded to the Town website prior to the event.
For more coverage on this forum, please click the button below to read the Lakeville Journal event announcement. |
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| It is my honor to represent our district. I look forward to hearing from you about the issues raised in this newsletter, or any other topics you think I should know about. You can email me at maria.horn@cga.ct.gov or call me at (860)-240-8585. Thanks for reading, and I wish you a safe weekend.
Click here to forward to forward this email to a friend. |
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| Sincerely,
Maria Horn
State Representative |
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