Capitol News from State Senator Don Williams

Winter 2010

Capitol address
Legislative Office Building
Room 3300
Hartford, CT 06106-1595

On the Web
www.SenatorWilliams.cga.ct.gov

Phone
Capitol: 860-240-8634
Toll-free: 1-800-842-1420

Addressing the Nursing Shortage and Growing Jobs at the Same Time

The latest unemployment numbers in Connecticut prove that growing and protecting jobs must be our top priority. That’s why I just announced the formation of a bipartisan group of House and Senate legislators to consider various ways to reinstate Connecticut’s Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) adult education program, which graduates approximately 350 students every 16 months into a high-demand medical field.

Unfortunately, Governor Rell unilaterally eliminated the program as part of her most recent round of state budget cuts. We all agree we have to cut spending but eliminating a program that grows jobs isn’t the way to do it.

The 17-member bipartisan group held its first meeting last week and will spend the next few weeks looking for solutions. Connecticut’s LPN program was an adult education program that was run in 10 of the state’s vocational-technical high schools-including Windham Tech.—including Windham Tech.

Senators Williams and Prague at Windham Tech Last week I joined Senator Prague and Roger Adams, Executive Director of the Windham Region Chamber of Commerce, as well as instructors at the Windham Tech nursing program to highlight how important the LPN program is to our economy.

According to the state Labor Department’s “Connecticut Statewide Forecast by Industry, 2006–2016”, jobs in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector are expected to increase 17.3 percent in the decade between 2006 and 2016 — one of the largest areas of job growth of the more than six dozen employment sectors listed.

Positive Changes to ConnPACE Rx Program

prescription bottles Changes are here for ConnPACE — Connecticut’s prescription drug assistance program for some Medicare-eligible seniors and the disabled. These changes will save both seniors and the state money as the federal government steps up to cover more of the costs of this important program.

The Medicare Savings Programs, approved last year, should save the state between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 per year. The new program lowers co-pays for generics to $2.25 and for brand-name drugs to $5.60. Additionally, the state Department of Social Services (DSS) will pay some of seniors’ Medicare Part B premiums under the program, saving many seniors approximately $1,000 per year.

If you’re already enrolled in the ConnPACE program, you should automatically receive information about the new Medicare Savings Programs. If you have any questions, please call DSS toll-free at 1-800-423-5026 or contact me at my office using the information above.

Helping Families and Businesses Save Money on Electric Bills

It’s possible you can reduce your electric bill by 10 percent! How? While CL&P is the utility company for Eastern Connecticut, consumers have the right to choose who they actually buy electricity from. Since the legislature enacted electric choice, more than 177,000 customers have chosen their electric supplier and experienced savings on their electric costs. That, however, only represents about 11.5 percent of all Connecticut’s electric customers.

Learn more about choosing an electric supplier and contact one of the many licensed electric generation service providers to see how shopping for electricity could equal savings in your home energy costs.