1 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING CHAIRPERSON: Representative Jonathan Steinberg SENATORS: Abrams, Anwar, Lesser, Somers REPRESENTATIVES: Arnone, Betts, Borer, Candelora, Carpino, Comey, Cook, Demicco, Genga, Hennessy, Kennedy, Klarides-Ditria, McCarty, Michel, Petit, Ryan, Scanlon, Tercyak, Young, Zupkus REP. STEINBERG (136TH): Good morning. This is the meeting of the Public Health Committee. This is a public hearing in which we will be discussing only two bills today. I am State Representative Jonathan Steinberg from the 136th district which is Westport and I am co- chair of the Public Health Committee. And I'm here with Senator Mary Abrams who's the Senate co-chair. We'll also hear from our Ranking Members and our vice chairs if so interested. We're going to start today with some basic process discussion. For those of you who are new to visiting our Capitol, we offer you our welcome. I imagine some of you are watching from the overflow rooms that we have available today which apparently are rooms 1A and 1D as well as 2A and we'll have additional rooms available in roughly 45 minutes. 2 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING We have a lot of people who are interested in speaking on this topic and we want to afford every individual that opportunity even if it means it's going to take us many hours to get to that point. We start as we traditionally do with testimony from public officials, particularly agencies of cognizance. And after roughly one hour, we will alternate between the public and elected officials and we'll go as long as we have to go. Now, when we get to the public, your testimony is limited to three minutes and we're going to enforce that pretty rigorously because we want to give everybody a chance to speak. We ask that when you come up to speak that you identify yourself and tell us where you're from and then you can launch into your remarks and we'll let you know when that three minutes has expired. A couple other rules that we want to make sure that everybody is aware of. We want this to be a welcoming and friendly environment which means that we will not tolerate people yelling out, hissing, booing or displaying signage for or against this particular bill. If people speak out of turn and interrupt the testifier or members of the legislature, we will call you out at that moment. And if you repeat the activity, we will have no option but to see that you're not in the room with us for the remainder. We don't think that needs to happen. We expect everybody to be courteous. And you may disagree but we ask that you keep those thoughts to yourself until you have a chance to testify. What else. 3 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING Please do not block the entrances. We obviously have done a real nice job so far in making sure that's the case. We do have fire rules. Those are the two main exits should there be a case of fire. If there is a fire alarm, we ask you to proceed in an orderly fashion out of this -- this public hearing room and then out of the building and the Capitol Police will tell you when it's safe to come back in. Just let me finish, okay. I should add that this is not the only bit of governmental business going on today. There are other hearings and meetings going on. So, you will see legislatures coming and going to attend other meetings. Just because they're not present doesn't mean they're not paying attention. Many of us will watch when we have some free time on CTN as well. The only other thing I would do is suggest to my colleagues that we consider everybody's time precious and focus on asking questions as opposed to making comments or speeches because there will be time for that later. Representative Betts. REP. BETTS (78TH): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to add to your list of things to keep order in this hearing today. Applause is also part of the request we make to the public, not to applaud when somebody is speaking because it is disruptive. And we did have that happen last night and it really is something that's not very respectful of everybody who participates in this. So, I would just ask that people restrain themselves from making an applause one way or the other. REP. STEINBERG (136TH): Thank you, Representative. I'll add to that. In the past, there have been 4 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING occasions where some members of the public have chosen to take photographs or video the proceedings. This is your House, that's perfectly fine. But if you get up in somebody's face to the point where they feel intimidated, we're going to ask you to back off. Because it's very important that people feel the freedom to speak freely. And that if anybody feels intimidated by somebody getting a little bit too close to them, that probably includes the media as well but we do cut the media a little slack. We want to make sure that people do not feel in any way pressured or intimidated. So, we'll call you out on that. Senator Abrams. SENATOR ABRAMS (13TH): Thank you, Representative Steinberg. I think you did an excellent job setting the tone for this meeting today. I would just like to add that with three -- with only three minutes, I would urge people, if they have not already done so, to submit written testimony. And when you come up, you're certainly welcome to read that testimony. However, as I said, three minutes can go very quickly. So, you might want to submit your written testimony and just come up and speak freely and we will look at both. If you can't stay for whatever reason, you don’t get a chance to speak in front of the hearing today, know that we do read the written testimony and that part is important as well. REP. STEINBERG (136TH): Thank you, Senator. Any other comments from our Rankings or from our vice chairs? If not, we'll get to the matter at hand. Our first speaker today from elected officials and 5 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING agencies, it will be Commissioner Coleman-Mitchell of the Department of Public Health. Welcome. MS. COLEMAN-MITCHELL: Good morning, Committee Chairs, Senator Abrams and Representative Steinberg, Ranking Members, Senator Somers and Representative Petit and the members of the Public Health Committee. My name is Renee D. Coleman-Mitchell. I am the Commissioner for the Department of Public Health. At this time, I would like to introduce my team. First, we have Dr. Matthew Carter, our state epidemiologist. We also have Kathy Kudish, our immunization program manager and we also have Antony Casagrande, our legal counsel. I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to address the Public Health Committee on this critical issue of immunization and legislation before you that repeals the religious exemption from mandatory school-based vaccinations. In 1959, the Connecticut General Assembly included the religious exemption and public act 588 and act requiring poliomyelitis vaccinations for each public school child. Even though Connecticut and many other states were in the middle of a polio epidemic. All that was required was a statement from the parents or guardian of such child that such vaccination would be contrary to the religious beliefs of such child. So, religious exemptions for vaccinations has remained part of the Connecticut law for more than 60 years. The legislators in 1959 could not, did not foresee the rise in vaccine hesitancy that began in the late 1990s and continues to this day. 6 February 19, 2020 ac PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE 10:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING Today at this hearing, you will hear about the science, the beliefs and philosophy not only about vaccines but also about the role of government in protecting the health of the public. The debate over this issue elicits very, very passionate responses on all our sides. And I want to acknowledge, I truly do, everyone in this hearing room today as well as in the overflow rooms. Though many may not agree, I think I can safely say that we all want the same thing. The good health of our children and our communities. I also must state that public health is about every child. Not one child, not one community. As I stated last September when Governor Lamont and I announced our support for repealing the religious exemption to mandatory vaccination for school attendants, I believe strongly that children in Connecticut are entitled to learn in an environment that is safe from harmful infectious diseases such as measles. Our declining overall immunization rate from measles among our school age population and pockets of under immunization in more than 100 schools in Connecticut, it threatens our ability to protect our children from this potentially perilous infectious disease. Numerous published studies indicate that higher rates of vaccine exemption in a school community drive lower immunization rates and increase the risk of vaccine preventable disease in that community. This is true for those who get their shots as well as those who don't.