Rep. McCarty Aims to Make Connecticut Safer, More Efficient and Fiscally Responsible

HARTFORD — State Representative Kathleen McCarty (R-38) has proposed new bill ideas to the General Assembly this year that parallel her interests reflected in her Committee assignments as Co-Chair of the CGA Internship and member on Education, Public Health and Appropriations. To see a full list of these bills, please visit www.repmccarty.com and click on the “Legislation” tab.

Educational reform bills introduced by Rep. McCarty this year include:

• Providing financial relief to towns that educate out-of-district special education students
• Requiring DCF to reimburse towns for the cost of educating non-resident children it places in their school system
• Ensure teacher safety by increasing penalties for assaults committed on school property
• Improving the teacher-to-child ratio at daycare centers
• Including social and emotional learning as part of school personnel training
• Allowing individuals with bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education from an accredited U.S. institution to teach in an early childhood education program
• Reducing the amount of alternative education instruction time schools are required to provide expelled students
• Providing incentives for local and regional boards of education to collaborate on regionalizing transportation services
• Creating an equitable cost education sharing (ECS) grant formula
• Requiring that interdistrict magnet schools operated by a regional educational service center receive the same level of funding as schools that assist the state in meeting its educational goals

As a long-time advocate for mental health services, Rep. McCarty has also proposed to provide guidance on coordinating mental health service delivery and notifying patients of available services for children and young adults. She also introduced bills to:

• Expand elderly access to the Connecticut Home-Care Program
• Video-monitor the safety of nonverbal nursing home residents
• Phase out hospital and ambulatory surgical center taxes over three years
• Require pharmacists to review a patient’s record on the electronic drug monitoring system before dispensing an opioid medication
• Allow livery permit holders to transport persons with physical disabilities using a stretcher van
• Maintain, instead of consolidate, the existing health authority and health district
• Require the Department of Developmental Services to create a strategy for reducing wait lists
• Allow more nonambulatory nursing home residents to visit their families’ homes

Two financial-related bill proposals from Rep. McCarty include:

• To study state taxes that cost Connecticut more to administer than is gained in revenue
• To distribute aid to municipalities before March 1st every year to help towns in their own budget-writing process

One final bill of interest introduced by Rep. McCarty, one of few representatives that have been recognized for their excellent voting record on environmental issues, is An Act Concerning Zero-Carbon Electric Generating Facilities and Achieving Connecticut’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mandated Levels, which would provide both incentive and means for zero-carbon generating facilities to sell power to electric utilities.