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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | William A. Hamzy |
| Address |
Terryville, Connecticut , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
January 04, 1966
(58 years)
|
| Contributor | Joshua L. |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Dec 08, 2021 01:08pm |
| Tags |
Married -
|
| Info | State Representative William A. Hamzy takes pride in his service to the people of Bristol and Plymouth and in his legislative achievements.
Recognized for his leadership abilities, Representative Hamzy was chosen by House Minority Leader Robert M. Ward, R-Northford, to serve as an Assistant Minority Leader for the 2003 and 2004 legislative sessions.
Representative Hamzy previously served as the House Ranking Member (Republican Leader) on the General Assembly?s Insurance and Real Estate Committee (1999 ? 2000) and as the House Ranking Member on the Government Administration and Elections Committee (2001 ? 2002).
Representative Hamzy also served as House Ranking Member on the Select Committee on Aging during his second term (1997 - 1998). Most legislators are not selected for leadership positions until their third terms. He is a former member of the Transportation and Public Safety committees.
He currently swerves on the Judiciary and Insurance and Real Estate committees and on the Select Committee on Aging.
Representative Hamzy also helped secure a variety of state grants for Bristol and Plymouth projects during the 2001 and 2002 legislative sessions. They include:
A $2 million grant for Bristol to help fund its downtown renovation project.
A grant and a low-interest loan totaling $2,006,168, to help pay for design and construction costs for further rehabilitation of old sewer lines in Bristol. Once completed, the project will prevent groundwater from seeping into sewer lines through cracks in pipes. It will increase the capacity of the sewer lines and help eliminate copper toxicity in the Pequabuck River.
A grant totaling $825,000, which to help pay for completion of the Plymouth Industrial Park, Phase III. The project is very important to Plymouth?s economic future. It will create hundreds of new jobs, increase the tax base and make the town a more attractive place to live, work and raise families.
A $565,568 grant to help pay for the acquisition and preservation of the 55-acre Chizinski property off Marsh Road, which will give added protection to the Bristol Water Department?s Reservoir # 7 and provide Bristol-area residents with additional recreational opportunities.
Funding totaling $1,625,000 for the realignment of Route 6 at Scott and Seymour roads; funds totaling $2,500,000 for the reconstruction of Canal Street, including new bridge over Pequabuck River and new rail crossing; and $500,000 for rehabilitation of bridge on Route 72 over Poland River, all in Plymouth.
A $100,000 grant to the Bristol Boys and Girls Club to help pay for day care expansion and renovation. The project involves dividing a room into two smaller rooms, renovations to the kitchen and entrance and conversion of the pool into child care gym space. The center?s childcare slots will increase from 26 to 36.
Improvements to and expansion of athletic fields at the Harry S. Fisher School in Plymouth, $200,000.
Law enforcement grants for Bristol and Plymouth that can be used for a variety of purposes. Bristol, $58,485 (federal funds); Plymouth, $4,000 (state funds).
A $7,768 grant for restoration of the Plymouth/Terryville Library front door and correction of a fire code violation.
Funding in the amount of $2,000,000 for installation of pollution control equipment at the Bristol trash to energy plant to bring the plant into compliance with Department of Environmental Protection emission regulations.
A $200,000 grant to develop a plan for closing the Plymouth landfill off Tunnel Road.
A $488,700 grant to fund improvements to prevent sewer line backups at Bristol Housing Authority?s Dutton Heights moderate income housing complex.
Representative Hamzy co-sponsored or supported several laws of importance to veterans during the 2000, 2001 and 2002 sessions. They include:
A law exempting certain resident wartime veterans from having to pay fees to obtain town hawker and peddler permits. The law also requires that military discharge documents filed by veterans with public agencies be kept separate from their other records and remain confidential for 75 years.
A measure that allows local boards of education to award high school diplomas to World War II veterans who did not receive them because they left high school to serve in our country?s armed forces.
An act adding veterans who served in time of war and received service-connected traumatic brain injuries to the list of individuals eligible to register their vehicles without paying a fee. T.B.I.-afflicted veterans also receive free special license plates and identification cards under the law.
During the 2001 session, Representative Hamzy strongly supported a law that increased the income eligibility limits for the ConnPACE prescription drug program for the elderly to $20,000 for singles and $27,100 for couples beginning April 1, 2002. Enrollment in the program is expected to increase by about 14,000 because of the changes.
Representative Hamzy also strongly supported a law enacted during the 2001 session that requires school boards to specify the basic skills students in the Class of 2006 and thereafter must master to graduate from high school. Boards also will have to put in place a process for assessing students in those skills.
They must use the 10th Grade Connecticut Academic Performance Test as one (but not the only) means of determining whether students have acquired those basic skills.
All school boards are required to ensure time is made available during each school day for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, under a law Representative Hamzy supported. The act does not require individuals to recite the pledge. School boards also are required to develop policies addressing bullying.
During the 1999 General Assembly session, Representative Hamzy served on a working group that laid the groundwork for a new law that targets hard-core, repeat drunk drivers.
The law provides for hefty fines, long mandatory minimum jail sentences and permanent revocation of the worst offenders? drivers licenses.
Representative Hamzy also supported a law that will encourage more residents to join local volunteer fire departments or ambulance companies such as those in Plymouth.
The law authorizes towns to enact ordinances providing property tax abatements of up to $1,000 for residents who volunteer as firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and ambulance drivers.
Rep. Hamzy co-sponsored the 1999 Managed Care Accountability Act, which addresses serious concerns about health insurance plans, protects patient rights and closes important coverage gaps.
It also requires individual and group insurance policies to cover Lyme Disease treatment, including at least 30 days of intravenous antibiotic therapy, 60 days of oral antibiotic therapy or both.
Managed care organizations and other health insurers are further required to cover laboratory and diagnostic tests to screen for prostate cancer in men who are symptomatic, whose biological father or brother has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and all men aged 50 or older.
Representative Hamzy supported a variety of tax relief measures during the 2000 and 1999 legislative sessions.
Among them were: an increase in the property tax credit you can take against your state income tax liability to $500; a seven-cent cut in the gasoline tax; elimination of the state income tax on Social Security income for thousands of Connecticut seniors; and the establishment of a sales tax free week in August when clothing is exempt from the six percent sales tax.
During his second term, Representative Hamzy co-sponsored several laws including the open space act, which have helped preserve valuable open space properties. For example, it could be used to help expand the Hoppers in Bristol by providing matching funds to help the city acquire adjacent lots.
Representative Hamzy co-sponsored or strongly supported several other measures that were enacted during his second term, including a law expanding access to the Home Care Program for seniors, which accommodated those on the waiting list; and an act providing $2.5 million to sustain Dial-A-Ride after federal funds for the program were cut.
Representative Hamzy co-sponsored legislation that strengthened Megan?s Law, which makes it easier for residents to obtain the names and addresses of recently-released sex offenders who live in their towns.
Representative Hamzy was selected by his colleagues in the state House of Representatives as one of seven legislators who show ?the best promise for the future? in a poll conducted in 1998 by Connecticut Magazine.
Representative Hamzy was elected to his first term in the state House of Representatives Nov. 8, 1994. He was re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002.
Nationally, Rep. Hamzy is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council?s Information Technology and Telecommunications Task Force.
He is a 1984 graduate of Terryville High School. He received a B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut in 1988. He received his J.D. in 1992 from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H. He is a partner with the law firm Hamzy & Conlin of Bristol.
Representative Hamzy continues to serve on local panels and is actively involved in community affairs.
He is a member of the Plymouth Republican Town Committee (1992-present) and is a past town committee secretary. Rep. Hamzy is a member of the Terryville Fire Department?s Deferred Compensation Board and a former member of the Plymouth Board of Fire Commissioners.
Representative Hamzy is a member of the Greater Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Terryville Polish-American Political Club. He is a former member of the Terryville Rotary Club and the West Central Connecticut United Way Board of Directors.
He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Bristol Bar Association and the Connecticut Bar Association.
He is a member of the Bristol Federal Hill Association; the Friends of the Terryville Public library and the Friends of the Bristol Public Library.
Representative Hamzy coaches Biddy Basketball. He also coached Babe Ruth baseball for 12 years. He was a member of the 1983 Terryville High School state championship basketball team. He was co-captain of the 1984 state championship team.
He and his wife Anita live in Terryville. They are the proud parents of a son, Zachary William, and a daughter, Gabriella.
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