Secretary of the State Denise Merrill opened a campaign Tuesday for Connecticut join the vast majority of U.S. states allowing early voting, an idea that requires a state constitutional amendment to implement.
Bob Duff
Posted inEducation
School funding reform: Three tough questions facing lawmakers
Leaders at the state Capitol agree that changing how the state distributes public school aid is necessary – but that consensus quickly crumbles when specific changes are floated.
Posted inEducation, Money
Two legislative leaders proposing sweeping school funding changes
A plan backed by two Democratic legislative leaders to boost state spending for public schools by $53 million next year and shake up how the state funds charter and magnet schools is causing disagreements among members of their own party and with the leader of the state’s largest teachers union.
Posted inPolitics
Control of the CT Senate at stake in battleground districts
If the GOP can gain four seats, it will turn a 21-15 Democratic advantage into a 19-17 Republican majority, giving them control of the chamber for the first time in 20 years.
Posted inPolitics
Tesla sales ban in Connecticut stands as Duff pulls plug on bill
The effort by Tesla to win legislative approval to directly sell its electric cars to consumers in Connecticut has failed for the second consecutive year in the face of opposition from car dealers and competing manufacturers, a Senate leader said early Saturday.
Posted inPolitics
General Assembly’s shrinking agenda frustrates progressives
A prominent pollster gave House and Senate Democrats a private rundown on the mood of the Connecticut electorate Thursday. The news surprised no one. Voters are unhappy with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, and they see pretty much every issue paling in importance next to the state’s business climate.
Posted inPolitics
Well, one Senate is willing to give Merrick Garland a vote
The Senate voted Wednesday to endorse holding confirmation hearings and taking a vote on President Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, a step unlikely to gain notice in Washington, D.C. You see, it was the Connecticut Senate.
Posted inMoney
Sharkey, Malloy clash over UConn deal, hospital cuts
House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy engaged in an extraordinary exchange of criticism Friday over two fiscal controversies, ratcheting up intra-party tensions over how to resolve a worsening budget shortfall.
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Auto retailers, makers call on Tesla to apply for franchise
Car manufacturers and Connecticut auto retailers pushed back at a bill that would allow electric car makers like Tesla to sell cars in the state without opening a franchise. The bill is being put forward again after being considered last year and dying as the legislative session expired.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Close juvenile jails? Legislators leave it up to the governor
Democratic legislators Tuesday retreated from a plan to move legislatively toward closing the controversial state-run jail for young offenders and decided to leave that decision up to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Senate Dems break with House, go own way on deficit
Senate Democrats issued their own deficit-mitigation plan Thursday, pressing for a retirement incentive plan opposed by House Democrats and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as damaging to the state’s overburdened pension system.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s budget problems are just getting started
Today’s state budget crisis is as structurally deep as the Grand Canyon. I have watched this closely since 1991. It is the result of financial negligence in every budget adopted over two decades. It is insane that our budget has increased 255 percent since 1991. And we haven’t even paid all our bills along the way. To have $65 billion in unfunded liabilities, an amazing three and a half times our annual budget, and an increase of outstanding bonded debt from $9 billion to $21 billion since 1991, is criminal in my mind. And believe me folks, this is just getting started.
Posted inPolitics
CCM director pokes Senate leader, gets poked back
The new leader of the state’s largest municipal lobbying group told his members Thursday to expect a more aggressive stance at the General Assembly. Then he proved it with criticisms of the Senate’s majority and minority leaders that were not well received in Hartford.
Posted inEducation
Senate votes to drop Smarter Balanced test for high school students
The Senate voted Thursday to do away with the requirement that every high school junior take the Smarter Balanced Assessments, the controversial exams aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Instead, every student would take either the SAT or ACT college-entrance exam. But not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea.
Posted inPolitics
Strategic retreat: No final casino vote until 2016
Rather than authorize immediate construction of Connecticut’s first casino outside tribal lands, the state Senate is set to vote on a bill creating a complex approval process requiring passage of a second law next year.