State Sen. Martha Marx Outlines Legislative Priorities

NEW LONDON, CT — State Sen. Martha Marx, a Democrat representing the 20th District, is outlining her priorities ahead of the 2024 legislative session.

Below is a statement from Marx on her plans for the coming session:

With just weeks before the start of the 2024 legislative session, my colleagues and I are hard at work aligning our efforts to continue moving our state forward and build on the progress of previous years. The short session, from February to May, is a fast sprint, but I am confident that we will accomplish meaningful advances in policy and in supporting our communities.

As the co-chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee (VMA), I am working to find ways to ease and improve practices and standards for military members and their families. One of my first priorities is to support military members, veterans and their spouses with economic and employment opportunities, working along Department of Defense recommendations to take away the red tape military spouses, soldiers and veterans face in seeking licensing for roles we need in our state. I hope and intend to make reciprocity with licensing easier to access, making qualified workers in social work, audiology, speech language pathology and physical therapy able to work without restriction. In addition to helping military, veterans and their families to get working, this will help provide Connecticut with more qualified professionals ready to work in these vital roles.

Another focus I will hone in on in VMA will involve military interpersonal violence, seeking legislative means to expand protections for victims of interpersonal violence. This is important reflecting serious reports last year regarding the Coast Guard; I know we need to protect members of our military. Legislative procedures will involve providing resources to victims including financial and travel assistance should they need to travel to court.

A third means of support for armed services comes from efforts to aid the National Guard with its acquisition of land to expand Stones Ranch in East Lyme. This military reservation offers the National Guard local opportunities for tactical training and a larger territory would further benefit such efforts. Legislative approval for this purchase would provide significant savings for the National Guard and allow it to move forward without issue, strengthening our military's training resources in the process.

In addition to these important focuses, my foremost priority as a legislator this year will be supporting and protecting our state's health care workers. I knew it would be important to have my experience as a nurse working in Hartford, but the issue of home care safety has grown even more in my eyes since the tragic death of Joyce Grayson in Willimantic last autumn, as well as the death of Otolegile Morulane in a fatal fire in East Lyme this month.

I plan on proposing simple legislation that will keep staff safe. These include health employers collaborating with law enforcement in the name of staff safety. If you go to a construction site, you always need a hard hat to stay safe; imagine a health care worker traveling by themselves to visit a patient who could be violent or combative. They deserve similar protections. If a patient threatens a worker, they should be flagged, and it should be the responsibility of home care providers to determine the need for an escort. Providers should also provide safety assessments of homes, as well as patient history information, to staff before they are sent to provide care. Such protections have never been more important.

Another issue I will have on my mind as I work in the Capitol will be to support those struggling to find housing. Too many people in our communities fall through the cracks and experience difficulties on our streets. We can, and should, do more to aid those needing help.

These will not be my only priorities during the upcoming legislative session. I will continue advocating for policies helping our state and fight for our region to receive the state funding it needs to continue its success. A primary focus on our military and healthcare workers will remind me every day that we need to support everyone in our communities, especially those who give back and make sacrifices without question. I hope to build on that success and look forward to representing the 20th Senate District for my second legislative session.