Amid a growing concern for the safety of home health care workers, state lawmakers are proposing a nine-month study to find solutions to the lack of parking for providers whose cars are sometimes ticketed or towed while they treat their patients. The bill, discussed Monday during a public hearin g before the state Transportation Committee, calls for the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to lead the group and make recommendations to the legislature by next January.  The bill calls for the committee to assess parking restrictions, time limits, permit requirements and enforcement practices affecting home health care service providers and to review parking accommodation programs in other states. The sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Rebecca Martinez, D-Plainville, a home health care worker for 26 years, said she is concerned about how difficult it is to safely get to and from her car because of a lack of parking. More than 15 nurses, home health care advocates and lawmakers submitted written testimony in support of the bill and six people testified  at Monday’s hearing. “One of the most significant and overlooked barriers to safety is parking because it is often extremely difficult to find legal parking anywhere near a patient’s home,” Martinez said. “This often results in parking tickets, even while workers are actively providing essential medical care.” Martinez, who testified at Monday’s public hearing, also said she was motivated by  the death of Joyce Grayson, a visiting nurse  who was murdered by a patient  in Willimantic in 2023. While Grayson’s murder had nothing to do with parking, Martinez said it heightened attention to factors that put home care workers in danger. Martinez and several other advocates suggested at the hearing the study should also include social workers, occupational physical therapists, personal care aides and mental health providers. The study attempts to address a problem identified in June by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica about unaddressed problems in an overhaul of the state’s towing law. That story featured a home health care worker in Hartford whose car was towed while she was picking up her client to take her to an appointment.  Legislators passed a landmark towing bill overhauling the state’s 100-year-old law in 2025 after CT Mirror and ProPublica exposed how it allowed tow truck companies to apply to the state Department of Motor Vehicles to sell towed vehicles after 15 days, one of the shortest time frames in the country, particularly affecting residents of low-income housing complexes.  In the case of the home health care worker whose car was towed, her patient used a cane, so the worker tried to park close to her home but couldn’t find a spot. Instead, she stopped in front of the building, turned on her hazards and went inside to get her patient. When she returned, however, her car was gone and other residents said it had been towed. It cost her almost $400 to get it back.  Her story is not uncommon, according to several home health care executives.  Marlene Chickerella, chairwoman of Home Care Association of America’s Connecticut chapter, said in written testimony that “many assisted living complexes and condominium communities have very limited guest parking spaces available and limited nearby on-street parking, so designated spots for homecare workers would be extremely helpful.”  They said it’s an important issue for the state to address because while the state is shifting funding from long-term care facilities to home health care, the workers providing that care fear for their safety because they have to park far away from their clients’ homes.  Tracy Wodatch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, said because “their workplace changes with every hour and every visit,” parking is a big issue, especially in cities.  “In urban areas, they face limited street parking, resident‐only zones, strict meter limits, and high‐risk ticketing areas,” said Wodatch, whose organization represents hundreds of local home health care businesses in the state. “In some communities, there are no reasonable legal options available within walking distance of a patient’s home.” “The result?” she added. “Health care workers are routinely issued parking tickets and their cars are sometimes being towed simply for providing care.” Both Martinez and Kimberly Sandor, executive director of the Connecticut Nurses Association, proposed a statewide placard program administered by the state Department of Public Health. Under this program, placards would be placed on top of the dashboard to specify workers are providing medical assistance and prevent their cars from being towed. New Jersey passed a law in 2018 allowing home health care workers, visiting nurses and others to apply for a placard similar to an accessible parking tag to place in their cars. But Transportation Committee co-chair Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, D-Ridgefield,  said some workers may not want to advertise their profession with a placard especially if they are carrying narcotics, such as prescription painkillers, for clients.  Berger-Girvalo suggested CT should do what some other states do – allow medical providers to use free parking at nearby universities if applicable. No one spoke in opposition to the bill at the hearing, and of the 17 written submissions, only one person opposed it, an anonymous one sentence statement that said “it does not fix the actual problem.” Towing companies have said that regardless of why someone is there they need to ensure that cars aren’t parked in fire lanes or blocking emergency access, especially in housing complexes that cater to older adults where a few minutes could be critical. ...read more read less