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Ellington State Representative Round-up
Big Wins For Senior Citizens in Conn. in 2023 In the 2023 session, my colleagues and I worked hard to protect Connecticut seniors. This session saw several big pieces of Jaime Foster legislation pass, often with bipartisan support. Protecting our seniors in their golden years is important to all of us. Here are some of the things we did: Public Act 23-161 allows banks to freeze transactions when they suspect a senior is being scammed, including financial fraud, scams, and exploitation by a person who is taking care of an older adult. The law authorizes financial institutions to temporarily suspend or hold transactions involving an account of an adult over the age of 60 if there is a reasonable suspicion of financial exploitation. The law permits banks and credit unions to suspend or hold transactions on the account for up to 45 days. Public Act 23-48 establishes a new coordinator of state services for people
with dementia. The coordinator will work out of the Department of Aging and Disability Services. Among the tasks of the dementia services coordinator is to coordinate dementia services across state agencies. Public Act 23-48 also strengthens a patient's involvement in homemaker care plans and streamlines the process for filing complaints. We eliminated more taxes on retirement through the passage of the biennium budget, HB 6941. Current law exempts 100% of pension and annuity income from the state’s income tax and we are halfway to phasing out 100% of IRA income for those making $75,000 or less annually, or $100,000 for joint filers. We extended these exemptions to individual taxpayers making up to $100,000 and $150,000 for joint filers by phasing out the deduction between 2.5% and 100%, depending on the individual's income. We restricted more types of telemarketing calls, texts, and social media solicitations and limited the hours that telemarketing can take place in Public
Rep. Foster speaking on the floor of the House in 2023. Act 23-98. We expanded eligibility for Medicaid long-term care services and supports. The new law expands access to HUSKY C, which provides Medicaid coverage to people who are age 65 and older, blind, or living with a disability. It does so by increasing the program’s monthly income limit from 143% of the
Photo courtesy: House Dems
Temporary Family Assistance, or TFA, cash benefit to 105% of the federal poverty level, or PFL, after any authorized income disregards. Currently, 143% of the TFA monthly cash benefit amount is $700 for an individual and $946 for a two-person family. For 2023, 105% of FPL is $1,276 per month for an individ-
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12 North Central News October 2023
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