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| Dear Friend,
This is my State Capitol update for the week of March 20th.
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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| Last week the Northwest Corner got hit hard by a winter storm that left over two feet of snow in some regions. Some towns were nearly 100% without power for periods, and many trees and limbs came down, blocking roads and emergency access. Given what could have happened, things seemed to go relatively smoothly thanks to the town road crews, utilities, and many first responders and town officials—my thanks to all of them for the hard work that kept people safe.
Once the roads had cleared and I was able to make it to Hartford on Wednesday, it was as if I had traveled to a parallel universe. In the capital city, the sun was out, the roads were clear and dry, and there was no snow to be found. It was a physical manifestation of how different life can be for us out in the corner from the experience of people in other parts of the state. I often joke that a significant part of my job is reminding my colleagues that there are another 45 minutes of Connecticut beyond Torrington, and this week, that was palpable.
Last week began with the arrival of daylight savings time, which made mornings pretty painful (and my morning run impossible in the dark), but I did make it back for some sunset walks with my dog this week, which was a nice perk. |
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| Among the many meetings, last week was CT K9 Veterans Day. It was great to see Falls Village Selectman (and former police officer and dog handler) Dave Barger at the Capitol to honor the dogs who work alongside our police and armed forces. They were a very charming and well-trained crew. |
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The week ahead includes Agriculture Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, and I’m looking forward to seeing several FFA students and faculty who will be visiting. If my schedule works, I’m also hoping to join the Canaan Valley Agricultural Cooperative meeting on Tuesday, so there’s definitely a theme to the week ahead.
And I confess that I watched a fair amount of college basketball this weekend as the UConn women and men continue to carve their path forward, with the men beating St. Mary’s in yesterday’s game (70-55) and the women scheduled to play Baylor on tonight at 9 pm. Go Huskies! |
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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
- Expanded Access to Health Coverage for Personal Care Attendants. Click here
- Summer enrichment program will continue in 2023 and 2024. Click here
- Unserved Sharon residents getting access to high-speed internet services. Click here
- Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) orders rate decrease for Aquarion water customers . 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 20 – 24 |
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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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| Expanded Access to Health Coverage for Personal Care Attendants |
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| Personal care attendants (PCAs) will have additional access to affordable health insurance after an agreement was reached to expand the application deadline for PCAs to apply for the first round of the new premium assistance benefit.
PCAs, who provide valuable services and support to more than 7,000 of Connecticut’s Medicaid consumers so they can remain in their homes and communities, may now apply for the premium benefit through April 7. The special enrollment period for coverage through Access Health CT, the state's health insurance exchange, runs until May 15. For those who do not apply for assistance by April 7, another application period will be provided later this year with payment on or around September, in time for the traditional open enrollment period on Access Health CT.
Connecticut is one of the first states to do this, and I encourage all PCA s who are not enrolled in health coverage to sign up for this important benefit. |
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Access Health CT has a special enrollment period and dedicated telephone line with navigator assistance for PCAs so that they can easily find the best health insurance option for them and obtain enrollment support. The Access Health CT navigators also screen the PCAs for eligibility for the HUSKY and Covered CT programs.
PCAs will soon receive communication with instructions on how they can access this important benefit. |
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| Summer enrichment program will continue in 2023 and 2024 |
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The Connecticut State Department of Education is releasing $11.5 million from its share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to continue its highly successful Summer Enrichment Program in summer 2023 and summer 2024.
The governor proposed the creation of the program in 2021 in an effort to connect students whose education may have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to high-quality enrichment opportunities when they are out of school during the summer months, including at summer camps, childcare centers, and other similar programs, with a priority for those in communities that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The state continued the program in 2022. With the release of this additional funding for 2023 and 2024, Connecticut will have dedicated $32 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding over four years for students’ summer enrichment programming. Since its creation, the program has provided funding to more than 400 organizations in Connecticut that offer summer learning opportunities.
Applications from organizations that want to participate in the program in 2023 and 2024 are now being accepted by the State Department of Education. To apply, visit portal.ct.gov/SDE/COVID19/AccelerateCT/Summer-Enrichment. Applications must be submitted no later than April 3, 2023.
Similar to the prior two years, the program will award funding to the most competitive summer programs. For 2023 and 2024, applicants can apply for either two expansion grants (up to $50,000 each, for a maximum of $100,000) or two innovation grants (up to $150,000 each, for a maximum of $300,000) per program site. Camps must use the funds to expand the number of students served, subsidize enrollment costs by providing scholarships, or provide transportation for program participants.
The Connecticut State Department of Education will host a virtual information session for interested grant applicants on March 16, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. Registration is required. A video recording of the session will be published on the Summer Enrichment website shortly after its conclusion.
An independent evaluation of the 2021 program concluded that the initiative successfully connected more than 108,000 Connecticut students with summertime enrichment opportunities. A similar evaluation of the 2022 program is expected to be released soon.
Connecticut families seeking to enroll their children in summer programs this year will soon be able to browse available opportunities online by visiting summerct.org. A listing of opportunities for 2023 will be published on that website in the coming weeks as the summer season approaches.
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| Unserved Sharon residents getting access to high-speed internet services |
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Sharon is in the process of getting access to high-speed internet service to those residents with homes on previously unserved streets. The multi-year effort to close the digital divide in Sharon resulted from a lot of civic engagement, a committed task force, and the town’s political leadership. As this article explains, two women in particular worked tirelessly to get Sharon fully connected: https://tricornernews.com/sharon/two-who-spurred-internet-access-all-sharon
See also this newsletter that explains how construction is beginning. https://mailchi.mp/a7d01882283e/dxzs2lkwic-13608824?e=1f66e9026c |
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| Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) orders rate decrease for Aquarion water customers |
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Last week PURA voted to order a rate decrease for Aquarion Water Customers. The ruling will result in savings to customers of around $67 per year over current rates, when combined with the Water Infrastructure Conservation Adjustment (WICA) surcharge being reset to $0. This compares to Aquarion’s request to increase its revenue requirement by about $37 million. Among other things, the decision rejects Aquarion’s request to recover costs associated with its 2017 merger with Eversource Energy and conditions recovery of executive and officer compensation on the annual achievement of prescribed affordability metrics.
Notably, Aquarion is obligated by law to provide safe, adequate, and reliable service to its customers in exchange for its monopoly granted by the General Assembly in the company’s franchise agreement..
For more information, please see the press release, decision summary document, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). |
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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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