Task force readies testimony as athletic-trainer draft is folded into larger public-health workforce bill

A task force working on athletic-trainer workforce and licensure issues said the draft language it prepared has been incorporated into a larger public-health workforce bill, and members are organizing testimony and outreach in advance of a public hearing.

The group said it does not yet have a bill number because the task force’s draft “is being morphed into one of the bigger public health bills on workforce development,” Nicole, Public Health staff, told the meeting. She said the bill should be raised within a few weeks and that the task force will circulate the assigned bill number and the version of the language when it becomes available.

Task force members described several lines of planned work between now and the public hearing: compiling written testimony and templates, recruiting people to testify live or virtually, organizing a shared folder of materials and coordinating outreach to legislators, superintendents, athletic directors, physicians and students.

Eleni, co-chair of the task force, described the financial strain on newly graduated athletic trainers and said she had surveyed recent graduates. “The first two: one was $61,000, the other one’s a hundred thousand dollars,” Eleni said, citing student-loan totals reported by her students. She said one more recent response showed about $55,000 in debt and that other graduates reported debts as low as about $40,000 depending on undergraduate costs and in-state tuition. Members cited those figures as part of their case for legislative relief aimed at recruitment and retention.

Members said the Connecticut Athletic Trainers Association (CATA) and the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) will assist with templates, talking points and coordination. Jess, a CATA representative, said CATA’s annual legislative day is March 26 and recommended using that event to meet legislators if the bill is raised in time. The group also said NATA’s legislative arm had offered draft materials and an advocacy campaign the task force could adapt.

Speakers emphasized broad outreach beyond athletic trainers to show cross‑sector support: physicians and the Connecticut State Medical Society’s Sports Medicine Committee offered to supply written or in-person testimony; athletic directors, superintendents, parents, student athletes and officials were identified as additional potential witnesses. Gary, a task force member, urged that testimony represent “the entire gamut of the profession,” including collegiate, high-school, occupational and nontraditional employers.

The task force agreed to create a shared drive for templates, one‑pagers and suggested testimony and to give members about a week to review materials once they are posted. The group also discussed running a Google form to collect who can testify and in which format (written or live). Nicole said public hearings may accept both in-person and virtual testimony.

There were no formal votes or motions during the meeting. The conveners tentatively scheduled a follow-up meeting for March 20 at noon and planned to circulate the shared folder “by the middle of next week.”

The meeting included repeated references to coordination steps rather than final policy changes; members said the next key milestone is when the larger workforce bill is formally filed and given a bill number, at which point the task force will refine testimony and propose edits or amendments if needed.