There is a shortage of good ideas at the Capitol this summer as lawmakers try to put together a budget for Connecticut, but there is no shortage of bad ideas. One of those bad ideas is a plan to allow cities and towns to levy a new tax on restaurant meals as a means to increase tax revenues to municipalities. There is no rhyme or reason to this concept, it is just another random scheme to help lawmakers pay for the promises they have made in the past to get themselves elected.
The 1 percent tax on restaurant meals is a bad idea
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Community colleges move the people and can move the state
I am not forgetting about or unsympathetic to the state’s demanding financial situation and the complex challenges of addressing the projected shortfalls in the next biennial budget. At Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC), we know about increasing pressures to meet the needs of our constituencies while available funds keep decreasing. I say proudly that NVCC has remained in the black during each of the past nine years.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Even with Obamacare’s survival, a shakeup in CT healthcare system threatens
WASHINGTON – Even though the U.S. Senate failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, some Connecticut residents might lose subsidies that would help pay their premiums while others could see sizable increases in their premiums or a smaller choice of plans.
Posted inPolitics
Ganim to sue over bar to public financing of campaign
Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim intends to file a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court challenging the constitutionality of a law that bars convicted felons like him from seeking public financing for a potential run for governor in 2018.
Posted inMoney, Politics
After day of drama, Senate Democrats unite to back concessions
On a tie-breaking vote by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, the Senate gave final approval Monday to a state-employee concessions deal after Democratic leaders mollified three dissenting colleagues with a promise to make a good-faith effort for fiscal reforms.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
On concessions deal: Why the same powerless position?
As Connecticut senators vote on a labor “concessions” deal, the irony is that even greater savings can be achieved without any deal at all. Gov. Dannel Malloy claims to have extracted $715 million in wage savings over two years through a “wage freeze.” Yet, without any deal, he could achieve $770 million in wage savings. The simple truth is that wages can only be raised by contract. No contract, no raises.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The state employee concession agreement is not just legal — it’s moral
The state House of Representatives took a significant step July 24 toward solving Connecticut’s fiscal crisis by ratifying a concessions deal with the state workforce. The State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) agreement now heads to the state Senate for further consideration. If passed by the state Senate, the savings achieved by this historic deal are substantial and unprecedented.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
How clean energy can help save Connecticut’s budget
As the state’s budget battle continues, debate over cutting costs and raising revenue has not focused on a promising strategy – ramping up clean energy efforts to grow our way out of the budget problem. Deploying solar and increasing building energy efficiency cuts air pollution, reduces energy costs, creates jobs, and stimulates the state’s economy – all while putting more tax revenue in state coffers. We can help plug the budget gap by strengthening our clean energy economy. The two work together. What we absolutely should not do is raid clean energy funds.
Posted inMoney, Politics
With 3 still hedging, Senate to vote on concessions today
The trio of Democratic state senators moved as a tight knot through the State Capitol and Legislative Office Building, their mood seeming light when a reporter tried to press them on what comes next should they vote today to reject a state-employee concessions deal worth $1.57 billion to Connecticut’s overdue two-year budget. Yes, they can kill the deal, but then what?
Posted inEducation
In their words: English learners share their stories about school
One in 14 Connecticut students understand so little English, they are considered English learners, and the state has the largest gap in achievement in the country between its English learners and its English-speaking peers. As part of its recent exploration of issues surrounding English-language learners, the Mirror wanted to hear what these students feel is helping them. Here is what some of them had to say.
Posted inHealth, Money
Toubman: ‘If we don’t raise revenue somehow, we shred the safety net’
Attorney Sheldon V. Toubman of the New Haven Legal Assistance Association is one of Connecticut’s most ardent advocates for social services. In this week’s Sunday Conversation, he speaks with The Mirror about efforts of social service advocates to press for state tax increases to help close projected budget deficits and proposals to increase the income and sales taxes.
Posted inNews
Consternation over healthcare, the state budget and the president’s pronouncements
For many in Connecticut, it was hard to say which was the more confounding issue last week: federal health care legislation, the development of a state budget, or the behavior of the president of the United States.
Posted inHealth
Follow the money: Drugmakers deploy political cash as prices, anger mount
This year, a critical and risky one for drug companies, the industry as a whole is ratcheting up campaign donations and its presence on Capitol Hill, a new database compiled by Kaiser Health News shows.
Posted inEducation
Six problems the NAACP has with charter schools
After calling for a temporary ban on new charter schools last year, the NAACP has revealed what it would take to get the civil rights group to support the privately run, publicly funded sector.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Blumenthal, Murphy join Dem chorus on bipartisan ACA fix, but that may be elusive
WASHINGTON — After the collapse of GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare, Democrats, including Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, called for bipartisan efforts to shore up the ACA. “Now we have an amazing opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to actually work together …” Murphy said. But whether bipartisanship can grow out of the bitter partisan fight over Obamacare remains to be seen.