As her first year as a State Senator comes to a close, Julie Kushner of Danbury is taking time to reflect on the past twelve months.  She is touting enactment of a paid family leave program that will soon allow workers to take up to twelve weeks off from work with job protection and a wage replacement benefit of up to $900 per week. When the program comes into effect in 2022, Kushner says Connecticut workers will no longer have to choose between caring for a sick family member and paying their bills.  She also touted raising the minimum wage for 332,000 Connecticut workers, about a quarter of the state’s workforce.  Kushner says she's also proud of legislation making sure that police officers, firefighters, and state troopers were afforded workers’ compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress injuries, and expanding the coverage to EMS and Department of Corrections employees.