Saud Anwar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe O’Leary | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov | 508-479-4969

May 1, 2026

HARTFORD — State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, today joined final passage of legislation to protect and strengthen the state’s health care workforce. Sen. Anwar praised the bill’s health care provisions that will support workers, patients, and the communities that depend on them.

“This legislation is a meaningful step forward for Connecticut’s health care workforce on three fronts,” said Sen. Anwar. “Health care workers and teachers deserve to know that if they are assaulted doing their jobs, they will be made whole financially, not penalized on top of being hurt. Expanding certified nursing assistant training in Hartford and in our rural communities addresses a workforce shortage that affects patient care every single day. Requiring hospitals to report how often they deviate from their own nurse staffing plans brings long-overdue transparency to an issue that matters enormously for both workers and patients. Connecticut’s health care workers deserve all three of these protections, and I’m grateful to see this legislature deliver them.”

The bill’s provisions include strengthening financial protections for health care workers and teachers assaulted on the job. Under current law, workers injured on the job generally receive workers’ compensation equal to 75% of their after-tax average weekly earnings, subject to a cap tied to the average weekly wage. For health care providers and teachers assaulted on the job, the bill raises that benefit to 100 percent of their average weekly earnings with no cap on the benefit amount. It also covers medical expenses and lost wages for court appearances connected to the assault, and ensures the absence cannot be charged against an employee’s sick leave, vacation time, or personal leave.

The bill also invests in expanding the health care pipeline by creating a new grant program growing certified nursing assistant training in the greater Hartford area and rural communities across the state. The program will provide grants to organizations training prospective CNAs.

To strengthen accountability in hospital staffing, the bill requires the DPH Commissioner to produce a public report tracking how often hospitals have deviated from the nurse staffing plans they are required by law to develop. The report must detail both hospital-wide and unit-level variations and will be submitted to the Public Health and Labor and Public Employees committees, giving legislators and the public a clearer picture of staffing compliance across Connecticut.

The health care worker assault protections apply to anyone directly or indirectly employed by, or volunteering for, a hospital, nursing home, home health care agency, community health center, urgent care facility, outpatient clinic, or similar institution who is involved in direct patient care or has direct contact with patients or their families. State-operated facilities are excluded, with the exception of the UConn Health Center.

In addition to House Bill 5003’s provisions for health care workers and teachers, it includes dozens of measures supporting workers ranging from disclosure of wage ranges and benefits in job advertisements to bolstering the Fallen Heroes Fund to support families of the deceased and developing a police officer and firefighter cancer pipeline program.

It passed the House by a 117-29 tally on April 28 and now heads to Governor Lamont’s desk to be signed into law.