submitted by Tom Buckley, RPh, MPH, CSHP Legislative Chairperson

The Connecticut General Assembly is entering their "short session" year, meaning the regular session will run from February 7 through May 9; however, a special session is being held in January to tackle restoring funding for the Medicare Savings Program. Given that this is a short session year and the state's current fiscal situation, there will not be many, if any, opportunities to offer new legislation affecting pharmacy practice, unless there was a fairy tale promise of saving the state millions of dollars.

CSHP will continue to be active, however, in monitoring any legislation that has an impact on pharmacy practice through our "bill book" reviews done by our lobbyist Fred Knous. If you would like to see the bill book as it's produced (initially every few weeks, then weekly as the session produces proposed legislation), please notify the CSHP office.

Note: Our legislative chair, Tom Buckley, is on sabbatical in Cambodia until June 2018, organizing a grant project for patients with diabetes and mental health conditions. In his absence, Eric Tichy has graciously offered to be the local liaison with our lobbyist, Fred Knous, to coordinate any local responses should the need arise. Please contact Eric Tichy anytime with questions on either state or federal legislative activities.