Tel.: (860) 354-3590	P.O. Box 704, Southbury, CT 06488
Cell: (203) 206-4282	Email: info@nheld.com
Fax: (860) 354-9360	Web: www.nheld.com

Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson, Executive Director

UPDATE ON SENATE BILL 162 - APRIL 7, 2008

As you know, Senate Bill 162 was given a joint favorable decision by the legislature’s Education Committee in a form that was substantially different from the original bill proposed by Rep. Arthur O’Neill and approved unanimously by the Select Committee on Children. As you also know, parents across the state have written their legislators asking them to support amending the bill on the floor of the Senate or the House to strike in its entirety the version approved by the Education Committee and to adopt the original version proposed by Rep. O’Neill.

As a result of the efforts of many of Senator Gaffey’s constituents, Senator Gaffey, the co-Chairman of the Education Committee, has agreed to meet with them on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. to discuss Senate Bill 162. Senator Gaffey was largely responsible for changing the bill to its current unacceptable form. Liz DePalma spearheaded the effort to engage in conversation with Senator Gaffey and in obtaining the meeting with Senator Gaffey. She and Sue Cox, in addition to others of his constituents, will be attending the meeting. While we are hopeful that the meeting will be productive, we cannot be certain that it will be.

In addition, NHELD has met with, and/or spoken with, other legislators and we have significant bipartisan support for SB162 in its original version proposed by Rep. O’Neill and for striking the version promoted by Senator Gaffey.

Senator Gaffey has indicated that it is his belief that the changes he made to SB162 were at the advice of attorneys and that the changes will accomplish what parents sought. At the meeting, it is our hope that his constituents can inform Senator Gaffey that the changes he made to the bill, indeed, will not accomplish what parents sought, and will make the situation worse for parents in the long run. We hope that Senator Gaffey has misunderstood the advice of those attorneys, and we hope that he will have a clearer understanding of the issues following the meeting with his constituents.

Representative James Amann, the Speaker of the House, also has agreed to meet with some of his constituents this week. At this time, we are uncertain as to the date and time of that meeting.

As soon as we have any further information about the outcome of these meetings, we will let the parents of the state know.

NHELD advises all parents to stand firm in their opposition to the changed version of this bill, in its entirety, and to continue to call and write your legislators to encourage them all to vote to change the bill back to its original version proposed by Rep. O’Neill. It is NHELD’s position that if the bill is not changed back to its original version, it must be killed. No compromises will be acceptable.