In promoting the Transportation and Climate Initiative, Lamont is working to succeed where he failed two years ago on tolls.
March 30, 2021
COVID hospitalizations rise at Yale; Younger people account for more cases
The state’s COVID test positivity rate on Tuesday increased to 5.26%.
Senate extends Lamont’s COVID-19 emergency powers
The bill ratifies Gov. Ned Lamont’s pandemic declarations and extends his authority by one month until May 20.
Proposal to eliminate CT’s religious exemption for mandatory vaccines is headed for a vote. Here’s what’s in the bill.
Although the legislature’s public health committee has until April 7 to advance the bill, a vote is expected Wednesday.
The Connecticut affordable housing agenda is not about equity
The CT affordable housing agenda has little to do with even handedness. Rather it is a tacit admission that no one has the appetite nor interest in improving urban conditions. There is plenty of housing stock in our cities at very reasonable prices. But these areas also have high crime rates and low school test scores. So no one wants to live there.
Driving Connecticut’s economy and fiscal recovery with legalization of recreational marijuana
Connecticut never recovered from the Great Recession. Employment recovery stopped 17,000 jobs shy of its previous peak; the value of gross state output (GSP, similar to national GDP) fell for years, contracting 9.1%, before a modest recovery. In February 2020 it was still about six percent below its previous peak. In sum, Connecticut had the worst economic performance of any state.
Seeking viable solutions, not bigger problems
A question I always ask myself on pending legislation is: “What problem does this solve?” The answer should be concise, clear and offer a viable solution. To me, our biggest responsibility as lawmakers is finding pragmatic solutions to current issues.
PLAs are just schemes to box out non-union competition
In an opinion piece appearing in the CTMirror on March 18, authors John Harrity of the CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs and Samantha Dynowski of the Sierra Club of CT argue in favor of a proposal, SB 999, which would ensure government mandated Project Labor Agreements (PLA) be used on renewable energy construction projects. They argue the use of PLAs would usher in a “just” transition to a green economy. Nothing is further from the truth.