State Capitol update for the week of February 28th
March 4, 2022This is my State Capitol update for the week of February 28th.
If you prefer to watch rather than read, click here.
I was reminded this week of the need to be flexible, and the importance of teamwork.
Like many other CT legislators, I had two simultaneous public hearings in my committees yesterday. One was in Public Safety & Security, so I would be chairing at least part of it – that requires full attention. The other was in Energy & Technology – which requires full attention for different reasons. So let’s start with that basic impossibility: to do each well, they both require my undivided attention. I know the Public Safety bills well, so at least that part was easy, while the Energy & Technology bills are often quite technical. Thankfully, I’ve learned who to call on which issues. And for every hearing we need to take the time to read the testimony beforehand – some of that can be read quickly, while others take more time.
Each committee has a clerk, and they do a lot of work in the background. They make sure written testimony is posted in the right place so that it is publicly available and tied to the right bill. They put together the speaker order, so that people can see where they are on the list. In the Zoom era, they are verifying identities as people log on, and let speakers in the virtual “room” to testify, and then back out so that speakers are limited to the person whose turn it is, and committee members. They are timing speakers, so that each is allotted the same three minutes to make their case. They are making sure that meetings are recorded, and broadcast, and that the broadcast is happening in the right place. The people who sign up have busy lives, too, and sometimes poor internet, so there are lots of things that can shift the order in which people testify. All of these things can, and do, go wrong from time to time, so we all have to be patient, and flexible.
While chairing the Public Safety hearing, my state laptop failed, causing my abrupt departure from the hearing. Thankfully this is a team effort, and I not only have a great co-chair (Senator Cathy Osten) who was there immediately to pick up the slack when I disappeared, but she and I had also reached out to committee members to give them the opportunity to chair parts of the hearing, and a couple of them were lined up to take a shift. Thanks to my personal laptop (which I was planning to use for the other hearing), I logged back on pretty quickly, and thanks to my aide Noemi who dispatched IT to my office with incredible speed, I was able to get the state system back up. It’s possible that others listening to the hearing didn’t even notice, but I was paddling furiously beneath the surface.
All committees are now focused on our “JF Deadlines,” which are the dates by which any legislation we hope to pass must have been voted out of committee. My committee’s deadline is March 22. We’re all doing a lot of counting of days on the calendar: the number of days ahead that a bill must be posted before it can be heard, how far in advance an agenda needs to be posted, the days it will take to change language as a result of things learned at a public hearing. And then, of course, the very short number of days in a very short session.
More broadly, another thing that’s going on is that mask mandates are expiring, including in our schools throughout the district. This leaves a lot of people, who want to be respectful, confused. I’ve been in Hartford a lot this week, and I generally have my mask in my pocket, or in my hand, or on my face. Generally, it’s a cloth mask, with a filter inside it. They’re still required in committee rooms, but not in the House chamber. We’re glad to see each other, but also trying to be responsive to those around us who might be vulnerable. Earlier this week, when I learned that a couple of people at a dinner I’d attended had tested positive, I put my N95 mask back on and kept myself socially distanced until I could get myself tested. Fortunately, I tested negative, but it was a reminder that we are not quite done.
As we navigate this, the best we can do is to all try to give each other a break. You never know what’s going on in someone’s life, and that kindness helps all of us.
Finally, several people have asked about Connecticut resources to help the Ukrainian population. Here are a couple of places to start:
https://www.americares.org/
https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/fairfield-county/stamford-connecticut-americares-ukraine-relief/520-323112fc-a86a-455f-ab08-7ade6ced0b79
Here’s a list of today’s topics:
- COVID-19 Weekly Update. Click Here
- Upcoming hearings – schedule. Click Here
- Regional Vaccination and Testing Updates. Click Here
- DEEP to hold virtual meeting on hazard tree removal policy on March 15 Click Here
- Sharon Hospital Update. Click Here
- PURA to conduct Public Listening Session. Click Here
- March is National Women’s History Month.
- Back to the Future: Your Brain on Forests . Click Here
- Request for Information on community health and behavioral health. Click Here
- Clean Up Sharon Day on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Click Here
- Providing information to Connecticut residents. Click Here
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, “Data Tracker.”
Public Hearing Schedule for the coming week
A look at the schedule of public hearings being held this week. 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. You can access the Bulletin here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABulletin/Bulletin.asp
Regional Vaccination and Testing Opportunities
Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) will be hosting Pediatric (Ages 5-11) Vaccination Clinics on Friday, March 11, and Friday, April 1, 3:00 - 7:00 p.m., in partnership with Griffin Health. These are open to the public and no appointments are necessary. Only pediatric (ages 5-11) vaccinations will be administered; no adult doses will be available. A parent or guardian must accompany the child, ages 5-11, and only the pediatric Pfizer vaccination will be administered. A Pediatric Intake Form.pdf must be completed - you may print and complete it in advance, or forms will be available to complete at each clinic.
Also, as a reminder, there are two adult (12+) vaccination clinics currently scheduled at HVRHS: Today, Friday, March 4, and Friday, March 18, 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. All three vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, will be available. All boosters will also be available.
Hartford HealthCare will be conducting a vaccine clinic at Coe Park Civic Center, 101 Litchfield Street, Torrington, on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. Walk-ins are welcome, though online pre-registration is preferred at www.mychartplus.org to schedule an appointment. Contact Tim LeBouthillier at (860) 496-6544 with any questions.
DEEP to hold virtual meeting on hazard tree removal policy on March 15
As a result all of the powerful advocacy coming out of the devastating removal of trees at Housatonic Meadows State Park, the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) is examining its approach to hazard tree removal, including establishing a formal hazard tree removal policy, with input from the public. To that end, DEEP has issued a notice of a scoping meeting and comment period on the policy development. The schedule contemplates issuing a draft of the policy after the session to allow them to incorporate any legislative direction into the policy.
The meeting, which will take place on March 15, 2022 at 6:00 pm, will be virtual. Here is a link to the meeting notice, which includes instructions on how to participate.
Sharon Hospital update
This week the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) denied Sharon Hospital’s petition to avoid a public process and hearing with respect to their proposal to consolidate nine ICU beds into a new Progressive Care Unit ( or “PCU”). In its filing with OHS, Sharon Hospital (the “Petitioner”) argued that this change was merely a reorganization, and not a significant change in services that would require them to file for a new Certificate of Need (or “CON”). OHS, found, however, that “because the Petitioner’s proposal would constitute a termination of Sharon Hospital’s ICU services, a CON is required.”
Sharon Hospital therefore will need to file with OHS for permission to make that change, and a public process will follow.
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to conduct Public Listening Session on performance-based regulation for electric utilities on March 16
As a result of the Take Back Our Grid Act (legislation we passed in 2020), PURA has opened a proceeding Docket No. 21-05-15, PURA Investigation into a Performance-Based Regulation Framework for the Electric Distribution Companies. As part of this investigation, the Authority has issued a Notice that a Public Listening Session will be held on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. The purpose of the Public Listening Session is to encourage non-traditional stakeholder engagement and enhance the understanding of a performance-based regulation framework.
What this means is that, if you are interested in ongoing efforts to make our utilities more accountable to the ratepayers for their performance, both every day and in terms of responding to extreme weather events, I would encourage you to attend on March 16th.
If you cannot attend on March 16th, but are interested in submitting written comments, please send them to PURA.ExecutiveSecretary@ct.gov referencing Docket No. 21-05-15 in the subject line. If you would like to learn more about how to engage with PURA on this, or on other initiatives, please access this recording of a recent PURA 101 Workshop conducted by Chairman Marissa Gillett.
March is National Women’s History Month
Anyone remember the Norton Anthology of English Literature? I still have my copies of both volumes: each is a large textbook (mine are about 2.5 inches thick, with pages so thin you can practically see through them) that I hauled around in high school, and then again in college when I became an English major. It was the canon – it had it all, and my two tattered copies are filled with my notes. When I was in college they published, for the first time, the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. I never bought that one, never carried it around in my backpack, never wrote notes in its pages. It felt like an afterthought: I was in college to study Literature, not women’s literature.
Several decades later, I think about my reaction to that book a lot, particularly on occasions such as National Women’s History Month, which has been celebrated every March since 1987. A quick glance through my Norton Anthology’s table of contents revealed a rough count of 136 men and 16 women who met their standards for inclusion, and yet it’s not the “Norton Anthology of Literature by Men” – it was just “Norton” to all of us. Leaving all of those voices out of the canon - of literature, or history, or science - was a choice many of us didn’t realize we were making. Correcting that error was often met with resistance and derision.
From science to art and politics to sports, yesterday's trailblazers organized, lobbied, marched, and shattered barriers so that generations of women could dream and achieve.
Throughout history, women have provided healing and fostered hope, and they've played an integral role in our country's development.
As we acknowledge everything women have accomplished, we must also recognize the obstacles they still encounter today, in 2022, and think critically about how we can be part of the solution.
Over the past few years, the Connecticut General Assembly has passed legislation that works to close the gender pay gap, encourage more women to run for office, address gender-based discrimination in the workplace and schools, and expand access to women's health care services.
This month, and every month after, let's celebrate women's history and make sure their voices are heard.
Back to the Future: Your Brain on Forests – A Great Mountain Forest Event sponsored by the Norfolk Foundation on March 5
On March 5 (tomorrow), from 4:00-5:00pm, the Norfolk Foundation and Great Mountain Forest will present Back to the Future: Your Brain on Forests, with Dr. Susan A. Masino, Vernon D. Roosa Professor of Applied Science at Trinity College.
Stress, depression, and anxiety are just a few words we associate with mental health disorders that can distort how we reflect on ourselves and our surroundings. These disorders aren’t confined to age, race, socioeconomic factors, or gender. They can affect us all, but there are coping mechanisms all around us. Dr. Masino, who has a joint appointment in Neuroscience and Psychology at Trinity College, will discuss the relationship between forests and brain health. She will emphasize the benefits of natural ecosystems, ranging from medicines to minds, and with special opportunities for veterans, adolescents, and people with mental ill-health. There will be a reception following the lecture.
In-person attendance is at the Norfolk Library (limited to 50 people) or watch via livestream at the Norfolk Hub (limited to 25 people).
Please register here.
Request for Information on community health and behavioral health
The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is interested in learning about potential uses of capital investment to address public health disparities and has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather knowledge, ideas or best practices in the community health and behavioral health industry to strengthen the operations, effectiveness, and accessibility of community health centers and mental health and substance use treatment providers to address disparities in public health and accelerate the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
To view the complete RFI and related information please click THIS LINK, or paste the following into your browser:
https://webprocure.perfect.com/wp-web-public/#/bidboard/bid/97423?customerid=51
Responses are due on 3/14/22 at 5:00 pm. Questions can be sent to OPM.EquityRFIResponse@ct.gov
Clean Up Sharon Day on Saturday, April 23, 2022
Please mark your calendars for an Earth Day weekend event on Saturday morning, April 23, 2022, when the annual Clean Up Sharon Day will take place. Every year Sharon residents gather to collect litter on the roads of their beautiful town. Safety vests, garbage bags and plastic gloves will be provided (though volunteers may also bring their own). This is a fun community event and a great way to do something for the town while getting fresh air and exercise. If you would like more information or if you would like to bring a team of volunteers, please contact the organizers here.
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