Cristin McCarthy Vahey

With the legislative session underway, there is a tremendous amount of activity happening in and around the Legislative Office Building and in Hartford. Below is a window into some of the work we are doing here on your behalf. You will also find information about the new CT AI Academy available free to Connecticut residents, Fairfield’s One Book One Town Announcement, free dental care for Seniors, and celebrating Muslim Heritage Month.

As Co-Chair of the Public Health Committee, I have led our first two committee meetings to raise bills on topics ranging from guardrails on private equity in healthcare to access to reproductive care and vaping and nicotine use prevention. Raising a bill means that we have voted to hold a public hearing to gather stakeholder input and refine legislative proposals. We want to hear from you.

One of the primary topics we will be covering this year is private equity’s role in funding of healthcare and the Certificate of Need process. I had the opportunity to speak with Mike Savino of NBC CT about this issue. You can watch that interview here. You can see additional coverage of the Public Health Committee’s priorities here.

Last week I joined Governor Lamont and state leaders to announce that $58.6 million will be used to invest in housing and recovery support for residents experiencing opioid use disorder and homelessness. The funds were approved by the Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OSAC), which ensures the funds our state receives from multi-state opioid litigation settlement agreements are put to good use.

From 2015 to 2024, 57 people have died from opioid overdoses in Fairfield and 675 in Bridgeport. As a member of OSAC, I am thrilled that we are investing in housing for those battling opioid use disorder.
 

This week’s announcement of an additional $64 million in settlement funds from the Attorney’s Generals’ settlement with the Sacklers will be used to help those impacted by this epidemic. I am grateful Connecticut has a transparent, evidence-based process to utilize funds and provide Narcan distribution, mobile clinic support, and now housing and recovery support that will help save lives.

I recently joined Attorney General Tong again to announce his efforts with fellow Attorney Generals to crackdown on bootleg and illegal disposable e-cigarette devices appealing to youth.

Our success with decreasing the use of combustible cigarettes is being overshadowed by the fact that vaping rates continue to rise. The number of unique disposable devices has gone up by 1,500% since 2020, and despite having high amounts of nicotine in them, are directly targeted at the youth.

The Public Health Committee will be working alongside the Attorney General’s office to continue to address the increase in youth vaping in our communities. This work to hold those selling products illegally is an important step in the right direction.

One of my favorite events of the year is Fairfield’s One Book One Town (OBOT) event. I was thrilled to join Town Librarian Scott Jarzombek, the OBOT Committee, Friends of the Fairfield Public Library, and other town leaders for the big reveal. Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino is this year’s selection. You can sign up for the event, March 5^th at 7pm at Sacred Heart University Community Theater, here.

I checked out the book that morning and alternated listening to the book on Libby, a free library app you can use to listen to audiobooks or read e-books. Our libraries are charged unfairly for the audio book and e-book licenses and we will continue to level the playing field for them via legislative proposals this session. I loved the book, by the way, and look forward to discussing it with fellow readers.

The Governor, Office of Workforce Strategy and Charter Oak State College recently announced the beginning of the Connecticut Online AI Academy. Free to all Connecticut residents 18 and older, and available online, this is an opportunity to learn more about AI applications and gain skills for the evolving economy. You can read more about the announcement here and sign up to participate here.