Saud Anwar

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

March 23, 2026

Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, cheered and welcomed the passage of several key bills seeking to improve public health. With the bills moving through the committee, their potential passage could help identify and prevent heart issues among young athletes, advance new steps to identify and treat cancer and ensure parents and guardians receive legal information about their children in certain circumstances.

Senate Bill 194, “An Act Concerning Cardiac Screening and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention For Certain Student Athletes,” would update state law to include sudden cardiac arrest screenings for youth athletes involved in intramural athletics or interscholastic athletics in a high-intensity endurance of power sport.

This is intended to reduce situations where students may push themselves during competition not knowing if they have a potential heart problem; nationally, as many as 100 high school students die each year from sudden cardiac arrest, about one death every three days.

The screening form will ask whether a student experiences chest pain with exertion, unexplained syncope or sudden cardiac arrest or a family history of sudden cardiac arrest or death. Any student who answers yes to the questions will be required to undergo an electrocardiogram test and receive written clearance from a medical professional.

“In the past, we’ve lost too many student athletes to heart conditions discovered too late. This bill directly counters that,” Sen. Anwar said. “This new screening form will connect students with medical histories indicating they could have certain conditions with the testing they need to stay safe. It’s a simple but effective step that I know will save lives.”

Senate Bill 451, “An Act Establishing An Advisory Council on Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy And Other Gene Therapies,” would put a body in place to better monitor gene cell therapies for the treatment of cancer, including rare cancers. Gene therapy and chimeric antigen receptor t-cell therapy are currently in use to save lives and better treat deadly diseases like leukemia, sickle cell disease and hemophilia, with potential to expand them to more rare genetic disorders previously considered untreatable.

The advisory council will advise and make recommendations to the state Public Health department regarding availability of CAR-T therapy, its delivery, education into its use and opportunities to coordinate with researchers, largely with the intent of expanding its overall availability. While the upgrades exist, the council’s aim is partially to ensure expanded access and awareness of the new medical therapies.

“Gene therapy and CAR-T therapy used to be ideas from science fiction, but they’re reality today – and we need to make sure more people can access them,” said Sen. Anwar. “This advisory council would be better able to monitor gene cell therapies for many important rare diseases, advocate for their use and make them more accessible to all patients around Connecticut who could benefit. Lives are in the balance and this will give us opportunities to save more every year.”

Among the changes made by House Bill 5514, “An Act Concerning Various Revisions To The Public Health Statutes,” is an adjustment to how abuse or neglect of individuals with intellectual disabilities are reported. Currently, parents and guardians whose children are abused or neglected by the Department of Social Services may not receive results of investigations into their child’s care.

Under the bill’s changes, if parents or guardians are determined not to be involved with abuse or neglect, they will gain access to reports and investigations regarding their child’s condition.

“As we update and adjust our current laws, we need to account for potential improvements to current standards,” said Sen. Anwar. “This change, brief but meaningful, would simply ensure parents of children who are abused or neglected will receive information regarding the child’s condition.”

With the bills’ passage through the Public Health Committee, they will now head to the Senate and House floor for further consideration.