Connecticut committee votes to raise concepts for five health bills; one item receives no action

A Connecticut General Assembly committee on a procedural roll call voted to "raise concept" on five health-related acts and took no action on a sixth item, committee staff recorded during the meeting.

The votes to raise concept covered: funding neuromodulation treatments for veterans at the University of Connecticut; regulation of medical device representatives; licensure of internationally board-certified lactation consultants; Office of Health Strategies (OHS) recommendations to revise the health care cabinet; and OHS recommendations regarding the certificate of need program. The committee did not act on recommendations from the Transforming Children's Behavioral Health Policy and Planning Committee.

Raising a concept is an early procedural step that allows a proposal to be drafted and considered; it is not final approval of a bill. Committee members confirmed there were no amendments to these items and that the roll-call covered items 1 through 5, with item 6 left without action.

Senator Kushner recorded a yes vote on the listed concepts. Senator Cushniak and Representative D'Amico likewise were recorded as voting yes. Committee staff confirmed members were "all set" after the roll call and that no amendments had been filed for the five items that advanced as concepts.

Item 6, listing recommendations of the Transforming Children's Behavioral Health Policy and Planning Committee, was explicitly noted as an agenda item on which the committee "took no action." A committee participant who asked about that item was referred to Senator Anwar for background details.

The measures affect a range of stakeholders: veterans and the University of Connecticut for the neuromodulation funding concept; medical device manufacturers and facility purchasers for device representative rules; lactation professionals for the licensure proposal; and hospitals and health systems for the OHS certificate-of-need recommendations. The committee did not set final votes or enact statutory changes during this meeting.

Next steps for the five concepts are procedural: concept language may be drafted and bills prepared for future committee consideration. The committee did not provide a timetable for drafting or scheduling of future hearings during the recorded roll call.