Jennifer Leeper

I hope you've been staying cool in this April heat! As you know, each week I like to tell you about what's happening at the Capitol and in our own community. For your convenience, here are some helpful links to all the information included in this email:

• Honoring Patrick Carroll On His 100th Birthday
• Autism Acceptance Month
• Legislative Update with Fairfield Delegation
• Legislative Spotlight: An Act Concerning Extended Producer Responsibility for Tires
• United Illuminating Project
• Fairfield's Earth Day Celebration 2023
• Tax Day 2023

Pat's lifetime of service, dedication, and sacrifice is humbling. He served in WWII, retired from the Army as a Lt. Col., and served 30 years as a Fairfield Police Officer, retiring as a Captain. As a police officer, he went to the FBI National Academy, the second officer to ever be invited to attend the Academy. Pat is now the oldest living retired FBI agent in the world! As if this wasn't enough service to our nation and community, Pat also served as a multi-decade member, and later the Chief, of the volunteer Fairfield Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.

I suspect many of you reading this know Pat and his family as they have very deep roots in Fairfield. If you're able to send some warm birthday wishes to Pat for his 100th birthday, please do! On Thursday, an American flag will be flying over the State Capitol in his honor.

Formerly known as Autism Awareness Month, in 2021 the Autism Society of America changed it to Autism Acceptance Month to promote receptivity and inclusivity.

To learn more about autism and state resources, click HERE.

Next Tuesday, April 25, I will be holding a legislative update with the Fairfield delegation from 7-8:30 pm at the Little Pub in Fairfield. We'll be discussing some of the bills we've been working on throughout the session, and will be there to answer your questions. This event is a great opportunity to connect with us and talk about the issues that matter to you, and I look forward to seeing you there!

This week, I want to highlight Raised H.B. No. 6486, An Act Concerning Extended Producer Responsibility for Tires. The bill was recently passed out of the Environment Committee.

This bill establishes a state-wide stewardship program to manage certain discarded tires that, among other things, provides free access to a collection system and ensures discarded tires are resold or recycled.
Tire producers who do not participate in a program will be prohibited from supplying tires in Connecticut.

The bill also requires tire producers, or their designees, to join a stewardship organization, which must develop a plan to implement the program.

This plan must be submitted to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for approval. Among other things, the plan must detail how the program will be financed, which may be through a fee structure. The bill also authorizes the DEEP commissioner to assess a reasonable fee - up to 10% of the total program costs - on a tire stewardship organization for program administration.

I want to take a moment to tell you about United Illuminating's Railroad Transmission Line Upgrade Project proposal. The project would rebuild UI's transmission lines along approximately 7.3 miles of the Connecticut Department of Transportation's Metro-North Railroad corridor between Fairfield and Bridgeport. The project would remove the existing 115-kV lines and UI facilities, and build them on new double- or single-circuit self-supporting monopoles. According to the proposal, there will be fewer monopoles than current poles and they enhance the grid's resiliency.
You can read more about the project HERE.