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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1098
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 6635
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND
BONDING
Introduced by:
(FIN)
AN ACT AUTHORIZING B ONDS OF THE STATE FO R PEDIATRIC
EARLY LITERACY PROGR AMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Office of Early Childhood 1
shall provide a grant to fund the provision of pediatric early literacy 2
programs in alliance districts, as defined in section 10-262u of the 3
general statutes. Any such program shall: 4
(1) Include a two-part model under which the program (A) assists 5
health care providers trained in research-based methods of early 6
language and literacy promotion to provide, at health supervision well-7
child visits, encouragement to parents and guardians to read aloud to 8
their children and developmentally appropriate recommendations and 9
strategies to assist such parents and guardians in such efforts, and (B) 10
provides to each child in an alliance district the program serves, who is 11
between the ages of six months up to and including five years, with a 12
new, developmentally appropriate children's book for the child to keep; 13
(2) Demonstrate, based on research published in peer-reviewed 14 Raised Bill No. 1098
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journals, effectiveness in (A) positively altering parent and guardian 15
behavior regarding reading aloud to children, and (B) improving 16
expressive and receptive language in children; and 17
(3) Be endorsed by nationally recognized medical associations and 18
academies. 19
(b) Any pediatric early literacy program receiving a grant under this 20
section shall provide, through private contributions, matching funds in 21
an amount equal to not less than fifty per cent of the grant, up to five 22
hundred thousand dollars of the grant. 23
(c) The provider of any pediatric early literacy program receiving a 24
grant under this section shall submit a report, in accordance with the 25
provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the Commissioner 26
of Early Childhood and the joint standing committees of the General 27
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to children and finance, 28
revenue and bonding, in the calendar year following any year such 29
program received a grant under this section. The report shall include a 30
description of the program, an assessment of the effectiveness of the 31
program in achieving its goals and data to support such assessment. 32
Sec. 2. (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) For the purposes described in 33
subsection (b) of this section, the State Bond Commission shall have the 34
power from time to time to authorize the issuance of bonds of the state 35
in one or more series and in principal amounts not exceeding in the 36
aggregate two million dollars, provided one million dollars of such 37
authorization shall be effective July 1, 2021, and one million dollars of 38
such authorization shall be effective July 1, 2022. 39
(b) The proceeds of the sale of such bonds, to the extent of the amount 40
stated in subsection (a) of this section, shall be used by the Office of Early 41
Childhood for the purpose of funding the provision of a pediatric early 42
literacy program as set forth in section 1 of this act. 43
(c) All provisions of section 3-20 of the general statutes, or the exercise 44
of any right or power granted thereby, that are not inconsistent with the 45 Raised Bill No. 1098
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provisions of this section are hereby adopted and shall apply to all 46
bonds authorized by the State Bond Commission pursuant to this 47
section. Temporary notes in anticipation of the money to be derived 48
from the sale of any such bonds so authorized may be issued in 49
accordance with section 3-20 of the general statutes and from time to 50
time renewed. Such bonds shall mature at such time or times not 51
exceeding twenty years from their respective dates as may be provided 52
in or pursuant to the resolution or resolutions of the State Bond 53
Commission authorizing such bonds. None of such bonds shall be 54
authorized except upon a finding by the State Bond Commission that 55
there has been filed with it a request for such authorization that is signed 56
by or on behalf of the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management 57
and states such terms and conditions as said commission, in its 58
discretion, may require. Such bonds issued pursuant to this section shall 59
be general obligations of the state and the full faith and credit of the state 60
of Connecticut are pledged for the payment of the principal of and 61
interest on such bonds as the same become due, and accordingly and as 62
part of the contract of the state with the holders of such bonds, 63
appropriation of all amounts necessary for punctual payment of such 64
principal and interest is hereby made, and the State Treasurer shall pay 65
such principal and interest as the same become due. 66
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To fund the provision of pediatric early literacy programs in alliance
districts.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]