State Sen. Derek Slap of West Hartford has been reappointed chair of the Aging Committee.

Submitted

Democratic State Sen. Derek Slap of West Hartford will continue in his role as Senate chairman of the Aging Committee and will take on a new role as Senate vice-chair of the Environment Committee, Senate President Martin M. Looney announced Dec. 2.

The Aging Committee deals with all matters relating to Connecticut’s rapidly growing senior citizen population: Connecticut is one of the Top 15 fastest-aging states in the nation, with one out of every 5.5 residents age 65 or older. The Environment Committee makes public policy pertaining to Connecticut conservation, recreation, pollution control, fisheries and game, state parks and forests, water resources, flood and erosion control, farming, dairy products, and domestic animals.

“As Senate chair of the Aging Committee, my primary focus in 2021 will be to protect our seniors from the coronavirus and help them recover both physically and mentally from this terrible pandemic. Nearly 94% of Connecticut’s 5,000 COVID-19 related deaths have been in residents age 60 or older. This virus has been a terrible plague on our senior population, and they are going to continue to need a great deal of state attention and intervention,”Slap said.

“I’m also committed to re-introducing my workplace age discrimination bill, which would help older residents from being shut out of the job application process before they’ve even had a chance to be interviewed,” Slap added. “This bill passed unanimously out of the Aging Committee earlier this year before the pandemic brought a halt to all regular legislative work, and I look forward to bringing up this landmark legislation once again in 2021, and I look forward to working with my new House co-chair, state Rep. Quentin Phipps, to get this bill passed.”

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