HARTFORD, CT – The House of Representatives spent most of Thursday afternoon debating two bills – one that would prohibit the sale of energy drinks to children age 16 or younger and another that would require the licensure of lactation consultants.
Several other bills that were technical in nature passed easily.
The day began with House Bill 5261 on the sale of energy drinks to children 16 years of age or younger. The bill would create a working group to study the health effects of energy drinks on children, the effects of a possible ban, and make recommendations for a public awareness campaign to share the risks of energy drinks.
The committee would consist of at least nine people including parents, industry professionals, medical professionals and advertisers. Their report would be due by Nov. 1.
Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, noted that between 2007 and 2011 more than 11,000 children visited hospitals across the country due to complications from consuming energy drinks. She said that the energy drink market was much smaller back then, and as the market has grown, the potential for negative health consequences for children has grown as well.
“The concern is, many people don’t know what’s actually in those energy drinks. Why don’t they know? Because they’re not regulated by the FDA,” Linehan said. “A lot of these ingredients aren’t spelled out, so if a parent goes to look at an energy drink and sees that it only has 80 milligrams of caffeine, the problem is that it also probably has an additional stimulant.”
While they generally agreed that the overuse of energy drinks by children is a serious concern, Republican members of the House attacked the bill on several fronts, from questioning the necessity of the working group to decrying more regulation on small businesses and restrictions on personal responsibility.
“Given the fact there have been numerous studies about the dangers of drinking too many energy drinks, and may of the pediatricians, sports coaches and the like talk to children about this, I think this working group is unnecessary, and I also think it’s very unbalanced [in terms of membership],” said Rep. Anne Dauphinas, R-Killingly.
Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, took issue with the bill’s potential for usurping the role of parents.
“I would agree that we want to make sure parents have all the information they need to make better choices for their children. But what happens here in this chamber, many times, does the opposite,” she said. “We have taken choices away from parents to make for their children … If we truly care about letting parents make the proper choices for their children, we need to be consistent and stop taking parental rights away from them.”
After an at-times contentious debate, the amendment was passed on a 97-52 vote with two absent, and the amended bill cleared the House on a 85-64 vote with two absent, sending it on to the Senate.
The other bill which garnered discussion was House Bill 5318, which would require the licensure of lactation consultants. Lactation consultants would be licensed by the Commissioner of Public Health only after earning a certification as an international board-certified lactation consultant from the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
“An international board certified lactation consultant is to provide support to those who breastfeed and their babies,” said Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, co-chair of the Public Health committee. “And in particular, these clinical services are, in many cases, needed where we have the most vulnerable infants.”
Republican reaction to the bill was mixed.
“The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners is clearly focused on this one profession, while the Department of Public Health involves many different professions. It is my belief that the management of complaints or enforcement would be best left with the governing body that is the expert on this profession,” said Rep. Steve Weir, R-Hebron, in opposition to the bill.
Later, Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditra, a Seymour Republican and ranking member of the public health committee, praised the bill.
“Currently, anyone can call themselves a lactation consultant, even with minimal training and without a board certification. The public has no means of identifying a qualified lactation consultant, and no protection from unqualified practitioners. So in the state of Connecticut, licensure would assure customers, employers, hospitals and other health care providers and organizations that they’re engaged with qualified, educated providers,” she said.
An amendment to the bill passed on a 109-37 vote with five absent, and the amended bill passed the House on a 110-35 vote with six absent, sending it on to the Senate.
House Bill 5232, which would encourage the development of solar power across the state, saw a brief debate where several Republican members decried the bill as an unfunded mandate the would require municipalities to amend planning and zoning laws to allow for a “simplified” process to build solar canopies. The bill passed the House on a 98-49 vote with four absent.
Several bills, listed below, passed unanimously or nearly unanimously:
HB 5153 An Act Concerning Project Eligibility for the Workforce Housing Opportunity Development Program (as amended): 147-0-4
HB 5155 An Act Concerning the Legislative Commissioner’s Recommendations for Technical Revisions to the Housing Statutes: 147-0-4
HB 5352 An Act Concerning Minor Revisions to the Tire Stewardship Program (as amended): 149-0-2
HB 5467 An Act Concerning Firearms Background Checks: 148-1-2
HB 5258 An Act Requiring the Criminal Justice Response and Enhancement Advisory Council to Study State Court Processes Upon Receipt of a Military Protection Order: 148-0-3
The House is scheduled to reconvene Monday at 11 a.m.
