BY PAUL HUGHES

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD — State legislators are considering naming a state dog, state pet and state candy, and legislation to name pizza as the state food is back on the legislative menu, too.

The Government Administration and Elections Committee raised a bill proposing to name the Siberian Husky as the state dog, a shelter pet as the state pet and the lollipop as the state candy. All three proposals have been introduced before but have not been adopted.

Some fourth-graders from Timothy Dwight Elementary School in Fairfield had a sweet idea to name the lollipop as Connecticut’s official state candy. The initial effort fell short. Legislation to name the Siberian Husky, the mascot of the University of Connecticut, was first proposed in 2021. The shelter pet idea was first floated last year.

The Senate in 2021 boxed a House bill to declare pizza the official food of Connecticut.

Boxing is a motion for final action to defeat a bill in committee.

The House approved the pizza legislation 131-9 after 15 minutes of debate. But the brief House debate exposed deep-dish divisions among state legislators over the best pizza in Connecticut.

The annual bill proposing to name various days, weeks and months also was published Wednesday. One provisions proposes to proclaim May each year as Bone Health and Osteoporosis Month to raise public awareness of this women’s health issue. In addition, May would be designated Mental Health Month to raise awareness about maternal mental health. Also, May 5 would be named Maternal Mental Health Day.

Another provision designates the first week of May as Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week to raise public awareness about this neurological involuntary movement disorder and available treatments for it.

The legislation proposes to name May 10 as Ann Petry Day after the Connecticut author who was the first African-American female author to sell more than 1 million copies of a novel. In addition, May 16 would become Trinity College Day to recognize the private college’s contributions to the state on the date it received its charter on May 16, 1823.

A more somber provision would name July 11 as Bosnian Genocide Remembrance Day to remember the more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians killed in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war.

Under Senate Bill 1158, Sept. 14 would be celebrated as Free Enterprise Day to recognize the contributions free enterprise has made to the state’s economy, and Sept. 17 would be Constitution Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

The legislation proposes to proclaim Oct. 9 as PANS and PANDAS Awareness Day to raise awareness about the autoimmune disorders of pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, and pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections and available treatments for them.

The period between Nov. 20 and Dec. 20 would be designated as Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month, and March would be named Peace Corps Month to recognize the service provided by the volunteers of the Peace Corps in supporting the global community.