State Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107), member of the General Assembly’s Young Legislators Caucus, this week is applauding legislation intended to protect students and young adults against debt and public safety threats.
H.B.6907, co-sponsored by Rep. Harding, would safeguard Connecticut’s students against crippling debt by enabling the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA) to refinance eligible loans and establish a maximum rate of interest for authority loans made to finance attendance at an institution of higher education.
The bill, which passed the House unanimously May 18 and is now headed to the Senate, also:
- Allows CHESLA to issue education grants and taxable revenue bonds
- Revises the membership criteria of CHESLA’s board of directors
- Requires the board chairperson to report to the Banking and Higher Education committees on the authority’s progress toward targeting lending to individuals with a demonstrated financial need, and effectively serving the highest number of such individuals.
“I can understand first-hand the struggles our young graduates are facing with student debt,
said Rep. Harding. “Graduating from college in 2009 and Law School in 2012, I continue to be burdened with paying off these costly loans.”
Another bill that Rep. Harding co-sponsored, and has since been signed into law by the governor, is S.B. 966. This law further protects Connecticut’s youth by allowing Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners (SAFE) to provide immediate care and treatment of victims of sexual assault at health care facilities operated by an institution of higher education. The facility must be a licensed outpatient clinic by the Department of Public Health, and participate in the SAFE program.
Rep. Harding, in addition, co-sponsored two bills – if passed by the Senate – establish studies to analyze the impacts of safety threats on students before they reach college. The first, H.B. 6976, would require the Department of Education to study the efficiency of recovery high school programs for students recovering from substance abuse and dependence. The second, H.B. 6975, would establish a task force to study the management of life-threatening food allergens, and the support of students with such food allergies, in grades K-12. These studies will provide the legislature with a greater understanding of these issues, so that they can be revisited next session if proposing corrective legislation is necessary.
“As someone living with celiac disease, I feel reassured knowing that our state is doing everything it can to ease the social and emotional anxiety that many Connecticut students face with a (possibly anaphylactic) allergy at school,” said Rep. Harding. “I want all students to feel safe and included. I hope this study will provide us with the information we need to accomplish that security.”