These news briefs were originally written for CT Politics, The Connecticut Mirror’s weekly newsletter providing updates on the 2025 legislative session. To sign up for CT Politics, click here.

‘Penguin Day’ returns to the Capitol

Just before gaveling into session on Monday, state lawmakers had a chance to meet with a delegation of visitors from South Africa — by way of Mystic.

Green/blue and Blue/blue, two African penguins from the Mystic Aquarium, served as animal ambassadors for the aquarium’s annual “Penguin Day” at the state Capitol. The names of the pair derive from colored beads on their wings that staff use to identify individual birds.

Each of the penguins took turns with a caretaker outside of their mobile enclosure, posing for pictures with staff and lawmakers. Petting was not permitted, for the animal’s safety. State Rep. Mary Welander, D-Orange, beamed as she leaned in for an up-close greeting with Green/blue. “What a great day,” she exclaimed.

Welander said her eldest son, who recently graduated high school, is planning to study marine biology in college. “If I missed Penguin Day, he’d never forgive me.”

The penguins’ visit also offers aquarium staff a chance to engage with lawmakers about various legislative issues and to raise awareness for their animal rescue program. Lobbyists for the aquarium were also on hand, answering questions and snapping photos.

“We advocate for a lot of the positive environmental measures, things like decreasing plastic pollution, public education, encouraging public advocacy and responsible environmental stewardship along the coastlines,” said Allison Tuttle, the aquarium’s chief zoological officer.

While wild penguins live almost exclusively south of the equator, Mystic’s animal rescue program fields over 100 calls each year for stranded seals, sea turtles and other marine animals in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.

— John Moritz, Environment & Energy Reporter

Special Education

The Special Education Committee on Tuesday approved two identical bills that would adjust the funding model for special education across the state and provide more oversight of the programs.

The bills are the newly formed committee’s signature pieces of legislation this session and aim to address what districts say is a lack of state investment in special education and problems for students in the programs. The committee passed a House and Senate bill, which will next be considered by the Education Committee. Lawmakers will decide later which is the best avenue for passage.

The bills had some changes following a public hearing last month. The Office of the Child Advocate would have a bigger role in oversight of special education programs and cost-setting. The costs would also be set on an individualized rate rather than a universal rate. A previous moratorium on new special education providers has been removed, and there is a requirement for the state to conduct randomized audits of restraint and seclusion use for special education students.

— Ginny Monk, Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter

Gun violence prevention

U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal held a press conference Friday after President Donald Trump removed federal funding for programs supporting gun violence prevention. Though Connecticut gun reform and mental health organizations are not currently on the list of programs that are receiving the funding cuts, Murphy and Blumenthal expressed concern that funding removal could affect Connecticut.

“You are not serving any constituency by cutting funding to these groups,” Murphy said, adding, “We are going to litigate this issue.”

They were joined by Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, Rev. Henry Brown of Mothers United Against Violence, a gun violence support group, and Andrew Woods and Johanna Schubert of Hartford Communities that Care, a nonprofit focused on community support and violence prevention.

“This is a defunding of public safety in communities like Hartford,” Arulampalam said, adding “any one shooting in the city is too many.”

— James Watson, Reporting Intern

Contraception for minors

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill enabling minors to receive contraceptives, prenatal care and pain management during labor without the consent of an adult. The bill has undergone significant changes since its original draft, which was met with fierce criticism by organizations like the Family Institute of Connecticut. Originally, the bill would have removed state regulations on abortions and abortion clinics — which, among other things, required doctors to report data on abortions to the state, prohibited third trimester abortions and allowed healthcare providers to refuse to perform an abortion for moral or religious reasons. All of these provisions were removed.

“There is no longer anything about abortion in this particular bill,” Democratic Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey of Fairfield, co-chair of the Public Health Committee, said Thursday. McCarthy Vahey cited the 2023 Connecticut school health survey, which shows that 28% of high schoolers have had sexual intercourse. While over half used a condom, only 1 in 10 used both a condom and some form of contraception.

Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, said the goal of the bill was to ensure that young people could get medical care without being afraid of repercussions. “I would venture to say this bill is going to prevent pregnancies. It will prevent abortions because it’s going to enable our minors to get contraception to prevent pregnancies,” she said.

The bill also precludes medical personnel from sharing information about the services a minor received without the consent of the minor patient. Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, said the bill’s open-ended language could open the door to preventing doctors from sharing information about other issues. He proposed an amendment that would require a parent or guardian — or, in some cases, another trusted adult over the age of 21 — to be notified after a minor received an abortion. The amendment was rejected, and the bill was adopted 117-27.

— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter

Birthing centers

The House this week voted to pass a bill that requires the state’s Office of Health Strategy to craft a strategic plan for increasing the number of birthing centers and hospitals in areas with high percentages of Medicaid recipients and limited access to facilities.

The OHS commissioner must report to legislators by Jan. 1, 2027 on recommendations and state appropriations needed to stand up more birthing centers and hospitals in underserved areas.

An amendment adopted during the bill’s debate eliminated a mandate that the state Department of Social Services increase Medicaid reimbursement for doulas as part of the Connecticut’s bundled maternity payments.

The issue of maintaining or adding birthing services in underserved areas has received considerable attention. In late 2023, state officials approved the closure of Windham Hospital’s labor and delivery unit, ending a three-year saga that pitted community members against one of Connecticut’s largest health systems. A study this year concluded that opening a freestanding birthing center in that area is not feasible because there isn’t enough demand to sustain it.

In 2023, the legislature passed a law to allow freestanding birth centers in the state, and to date there is just one, located in Danbury. Each center needs about 115 annual births to break even and 500 births to be financially viable, according to industry benchmarks.

— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter