In  2011 , Gov. Dannel Malloy promised that consolidating community colleges and the state universities to form the Board Regents and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities would save millions of tax and tuition dollars and support investments in classroom instruction and services for students at the colleges and universities. In 2019 legislative hearings, while discussing further consolidation, the current system president, the man behind the 2011 consolidation, admitted the promised savings were never realized.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s reconsideration of the $1.2 billion Walk Bridge replacement is welcome on several fronts. First, such a huge sum warrants review when facing a $2.5 billion state budget deficit with a reported 200 highway bridges/structures needing major attention amidst proposals for highway tolls required for needed maintenance. Second, our state has only two industrial harbors — New Haven and Bridgeport. Neither has a lift rail bridge even though they have very substantial and lengthy upwater industrial waterfronts extending from their fixed rail bridges.

On March 25, the general law committee passed house bill HB 7371, moving Connecticut one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana. Although the bill is comprehensive, there is something strikingly absent: limits on the amount of THC in commercial products, including marijuana edibles.

Unless you are close to someone with autism, you may not realize that April is Autism Awareness Month. It’s a time to put the spotlight on a unique, special and growing population and discuss how we can make every day more about recognizing the value of everyone’s abilities.

Sexual violence, domestic violence and human trafficking impact thousands of Connecticut residents each year. And yet, many of our state laws remain antiquated, while other protections are simply non-existent. Culturally, we have come far in our understanding of gender-based violence, but our policies must keep pace.  

It has been 30 years since the General Assembly enacted Connecticut’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That law, in combination with the federal FMLA passed four years later, provides some Connecticut workers with the right to unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child, in order to care for a seriously ill child, spouse or parent or because of the worker’s own serious health condition. When the law passed, supporters said no worker should have to choose between their job and their health, or the health of their family.

As my home, Hartford has made me into the individual that I am today. Because I have been fortunate enough to rise to an office that allows me to serve the people that made me who I am, I am truly a product of my environment. Growing up in Hartford not only gave me a local perspective, but I also gained a more inclusive perspective because of the experiences I had in my youth, which were unique from any other area of Connecticut. These diverse experiences I speak of range from gentrification, to the wage gap, to mass incarceration.