Eleni Kavros DeGraw

Hot time in the valley! I hope you’re checking on your elderly neighbors and hydrating yourselves and your pets!

You may have heard that even though we finished session two weeks ago, there is already talk of a special session next month. More info on that is below.  As you may have already seen, both Avon and Canton will host Memorial Day Parades this weekend. Stay tuned to the weather forecast as there may be rain on Monday. As a reminder, this is the day we remember all of those who have died while serving our country. 

I want to call your attention to the section I included today regarding police chases and the false narrative that our police can’t chase because of the legislature. I’m also including some recent and startling data about police chases and civilian casualties. 

Stay tuned for an announcement soon on my end-of-session legislative update coffees and in the meantime, check out our Office of Legislative Research report on some of what passed this session. 

Have a great week!

Eleni

• MDs and DOs in Family Practice, General Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN
• APRNs, including Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, and Psychiatric Nurse Specialists
• Physician Assistants
• Registered Nurses
• Dentists and Dental Hygienists
• Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Core Behavioral Health Providers, including Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, Licensed Professional Counselors, and Substance Use Disorder Counselors
• Pharmacists

This great program will recruit and retain new healthcare workers, forgive the student loans of these heroes, and reduce health disparities across our state - a major win for all Connecticut residents. The state began accepting applications today. You can click here to learn how to apply.

HB5172 AAC THE ASSESSMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES FOR PROPERTY TAXATION, passed the house in a bipartisan manner. It was then amended in the Senate in such a way that, with only less than six hours left in session, it rendered the bill dead. Why? Because when you tack on an amendment after a bill has already passed one of the houses and there are very few hours left, it’s incredibly challenging to send it back to the originating chamber, pass it with the amendment, and then send it back to the other house to pass both chambers with the same exact bill.
 
The underlying bill was to implement the law we passed in 2022. It included technical fixes paramount to making the bill work effectively. This bill matters to cities and towns. It matters to taxpayers. And that’s most likely why we must have a special session. Click on the image below to read more about the possibility.

There is a common misconception, even sometimes among our wonderful police departments, that the legislature “told the police they can't chase any criminals.” 

The truth is, the legislature required that the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST-C) and develop a model policy, but did not require what that policy would be -- we left it to the professionals. POST-C is made up of police chiefs, officers, and members of the judicial system. They determined that chasing is only appropriate based on the crime committed, if someone is in life-threatening danger, due to safety concerns for pedestrians, other drivers, and the officers themselves. 

Interestingly, for the first time ever, a new report shows just how dangerous, to the public and to law enforcement, chases can be. You can read that article here, but a couple of important pieces jump out. Nationally, 3,336 people died as a result of chases between 2017 and 2022. There were 16 deaths in Connecticut during that same time period, one of the lowest numbers in the nation. And directly from the CT Insider article, “More than half of the people killed in the cases we reviewed in detail weren’t drivers seeking to get away. They were either passengers in fleeing vehicles or bystanders. Officers accounted for just under 1% of those killed.” To read the article in its entirety, please click HERE. I’m grateful that POST-C developed a policy that saves lives!

The 79th anniversary of the Memorial Day Parade in Avon begins at the Board of Education Annex at 34 Simsbury Road at 11 a.m. Please note. In case of rain, there will be a smaller ceremony inside the Avon Senior Center with limited attendance at 11 a.m. For more details, please click HERE.