The 2017 legislative session teetered on the brink of gridlock Friday as House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz accused Republicans of unfairly dodging all tough choices amidst a huge state budget crisis.
June 2017
Posted inMoney, Politics
U.S. House ready to gut Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms
WASHINGTON — When Congress returns from its Memorial Day break next week, the U.S. House will take up a massive bill that will repeal much of the Dodd-Frank Act, a law aimed at reforming Wall Street after the 2008 collapse of the housing market that set off a free-fall in the stock market.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why keep a ‘promise’ that hurts birth mothers?
One of the most persistent myths surrounding adoption is that birth mothers like me were “promised” privacy to hide the shame of having had sex (and getting caught at it). Single pregnant women like me had few viable options, and did not consider the relinquishment of our child an exchange for the promise of privacy. Senate Bill 977 extends an existing 2014 law to pre-1983 adult adoptees to restore the right to an original birth certificate to all Connecticut adoptees. Let’s keep it in the family, between those personally affected, where it belongs.
Posted inEducation
Landmark CT desegregation case heads back to court
The administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, which is under a court order to desegregate Hartford schools, is attempting to redefine a segregated school – from one that is more than 75 percent minority to one that is more than 80 percent minority. The change would raise the threshold at which the state is responsible for stepping in to desegregate a school but also might allow more minority students to attend some magnet schools.
Posted inMoney
Union ad: Stop favoring the wealthy in CT budget
Connecticut’s largest healthcare workers’ union launched a new online ad Friday charging state officials with favoring the wealthy and urging higher taxes on capital gains in the next state budget.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The government is us and taxes and tolls are not theft
A triumph of the conservative movement was getting citizens to think of government as something separate and distinct from the citizenry. In reality, government is not a lurking entity waiting to tax us and give nothing in return. As Abraham Lincoln said, the government is of, by and for the people. The government is us.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Let Hartford go bankrupt
Connecticut is in the midst of a financial crisis. The decisions made now will determine whether our state returns to its former glory days, or whether it continues on its present path of job contraction and depopulation as young people and retirees flee. The first step in bringing back Connecticut is to allow Hartford to go bankrupt. This will send a message to other big spending municipalities and the state itself that the party is over.
Posted inTransportation
How much do drivers pay at tolls across the country?
With tolls being eyed in the state legislature, we took a look at some data on how much tolls cost drivers nationwide. Interstate toll roads typically cost drivers about 6 cents per mile, about the same cost as a mile’s worth of gasoline in a late-model passenger car.
Posted inHealth
Connecticut Senate takes out insurance against ACA’s repeal
The Connecticut Senate voted unanimously early Friday morning to essentially take out an insurance policy to protect women and children against the possibility President Donald Trump succeeds in repealing or significantly weakening the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inTransportation
With GOP opposed, tolls stall in divided House
By taking up the issue of highway tolls late in the session and linking it to the state’s desperate need for revenue, the House Democratic majority has muddied a complex public-policy debate over how Connecticut might maintain crumbling infrastructure as its Special Transportation Fund staggers towards insolvency.
Posted inMoney
Klarides: GOP won’t back new budget that extends benefits deal
Bipartisan negotiations to solve the next state budget crisis may be running on borrowed time since Republican legislators say they will bring few votes — if any — for the next state budget as long as it relies on a concessions plan that extends a costly employee benefits program five more years.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT environmentalists vow to go it alone after Trump’s Paris exit
WASHINGTON — Connecticut environmental groups and the state’s Democrats decried President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement on climate change and vow to keep up their efforts in the state to cut greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy to legislators: Don’t force me to run CT without a new budget
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave legislators a clear message Thursday: Don’t force him to run Connecticut after July 1 under the very tight restrictions the law mandates when a new budget is not in place.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
We need higher standards of high school competence, not looser
It is truly sad that the legislature has voted and sent to the governor a bill to loosen graduation standards. Frankly, I am aghast that the children who will most likely suffer are low income and minority children. If we look statewide at test results either on state measures of proficiency or national measures, the children who have the lowest scores are often the same children.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Online contact lens ban is protectionism, not patient protection
The Connecticut legislature is currently considering legislation HB 6012 that would radically restrict emerging telehealth technologies and would set a dangerous precedent by legislating standards of care. Physicians go through rigorous schooling, training, licensing, and certification, and ultimately, we trust doctors to make the best treatment decisions for their patients. In the case of HB 6012, optometrists, who are not medical doctors, are trying to use legislation to dictate how doctors treat their patients.