Regulating the use of absentee ballots long has confounded Connecticut lawmakers. Now, it is part of the president’s campaign.
Connecticut Citizen Action Group
Posted inPolitics
They love public financing. The oversight, not as much.
Campaign laws are about transparency, but the Senate reminded Connecticut once again this year that the process by which they are created is opaque.
Posted inMoney
FOI complaint seeks documents delving into fiscal stability panel’s work
Two progressive policy groups have charged the state’s fiscal stability commission with failing to disclose documents — including those tied to a nonprofit that funded key budgetary consultants for the panel. They are asking the legislature to put off acting on the panel’s recommendations until their request for the documents is resolved.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Wade faces subpoena in Cigna conflict of interest question
The Office of State Ethics is taking the rare step of seeking authority to subpoena personal financial information that Insurance Commissioner Katherine L. Wade has failed to provide the lawyer responsible for determining if Wade has a conflict of interest ruling on the merger of Anthem and Cigna. Wade’s lawyer says she has been responsive and suggests the conflict question is moot, because the state’s review is suspended until a federal anti-trust suit is resolved.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Anthem-Cigna controversy exposes gaps in ethics rules
Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade’s controversial refusal to recuse herself from ruling on the Anthem-Cigna insurance merger has provoked a reappraisal of ethics regulators, who heavily rely on the self-reporting of public officials, and an ethics code that may be clearer to lawyers than lovers of English.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Merger opponents ask DOJ to block Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna deals
WASHINGTON – Opponents of the planned Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna mergers have asked the U.S. Justice Department to block them in a letter that alludes to the controversy over Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade’s lead role in state regulatory approval of one of the deals.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Consumer group demands Wade recuse herself on Cigna merger
WASHINGTON — A consumer group says Gov. Dannel Malloy should avoid “going back to the days of Corrupticut” and replace Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade as the key state regulator on a proposed mega-merger between Anthem and Cigna insurance companies.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy says there is ‘consensus’ on tax hike rollbacks
One day after House Democratic leaders said they had just began to discuss Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s last-minute budget proposals, the governor declared Wednesday there already is a “consensus” agreement to roll back two controversial tax hikes.
Posted inMoney
The tricky business of measuring business climate
Forbes ranks Connecticut 36th among the states as a place to do business. Others peg it as low as 47th. On the plus side, Bloomberg places it fourth on its list of innovative states. And Connecticut ties for second-lowest business tax burden measured against productivity. Does it matter?
Posted inPolitics
Donna Parson, longtime Connecticut activist, dies
Donna Parson, who organized grass-roots efforts that helped stop construction of an interstate highway, pass a bottle bill and elect progressives in Connecticut, died Tuesday after heart surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. She was 73.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Waterbury says regulators endanger hospital deals
Waterbury’s mayor and the state’s hospital industry say that Connecticut regulators are jeopardizing plans by a national for-profit hospital chain to buy the city’s two struggling hospitals and others in Bristol, Manchester and Vernon.
Posted inPolitics
Higher electric rates could jolt General Assembly
Stunning jumps in monthly electric rates as the Connecticut General Assembly convenes its 2015 session next month create a market opportunity for electric retailers and a political opportunity for those who would regulate them.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
CT Senate passes consumer protections, but advocates balk
The Connecticut Senate unanimously passed consumer protections for electric customers Tuesday that advocacy groups say are inadequate and should be strengthened once the bill comes before the House of Representatives.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Will consumer protections match the promises?
A bipartisan compromise, the product of negotiations with the much-maligned retail electric industry, has been drafted and is expected to be approved by the Senate today or Wednesday.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Malloy promises consumer protections — details to come
Consumer advocates responded cautiously Tuesday to a promise by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other top Democrats to deliver far-reaching consumer protections to thwart misleading marketing by electric suppliers.