House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz was skeptical Tuesday that the legislature would resolve any major gaming issues or the legalization of marijuana this spring. Continue Reading →
Speaker: Gaming issues, pot legalization likely to wait until 2019
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Joe Aresimowicz
Recent Posts
Speaker: House will uphold Malloy’s budget veto
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House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz predicted late Monday the chamber would uphold Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s veto of the Republican-crafted state budget when it meets today. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, Politics, Joe Aresimowicz, veto
Legislature musters enough votes to override Malloy housing veto
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The General Assembly dealt a blow to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s housing agenda Monday after legislators voted narrowly to override his veto of a bill that loosens the state’s affordable housing standards. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Housing, Politics, 8-30g, affordable housing, Brenda Kupchick, Dannel P. Malloy, Gary Winfield, Gayle Slossberg
Malloy vetoes looser affordable housing rules, may face override vote
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Updated at 3:27 p.m.
Malloy, in a three-page veto message, said the legislation would perpetuate the harmful effects of bad economic policy and institutional segregation. It is Malloy’s first veto of the session. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Housing, 8-30g, affordable housing, Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Dannel P. Malloy, Joe Aresimowicz, Partnership for Strong Communities
House, Senate Democrats unable to agree on provisional budget
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Connecticut’s prospects of enacting a state budget — even a provisional one — before the new fiscal year begins July 1 appeared to slip away late Monday night as House and Senate Democrats were unable to agree on a path forward. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, Labor, Politics, budget2017, Joe Aresimowicz
School funding reform: Three tough questions facing lawmakers
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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. Continue Reading →
Filed under: K-12, Schools/Child Welfare, Bob Duff, CCJEF vs. Rell, education cost sharing, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Joe Aresimowicz, school funding
Activist’s arrest sets back college aid for undocumented students
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One activist’s arrest has offset months of lobbying for a bill that would have allowed undocumented students to receive financial aid at Connecticut’s public colleges. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Higher Education, Politics, Schools/Child Welfare, Beth Bye, Dreamers, Eric Cruz López, financial aid, Joe Aresimowicz
Voting in your employer’s interest? No conflict in Connecticut
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The House speaker is an AFSCME employee. A freshman senator used to lobby for a water company. Neither is barred by Connecticut’s narrowly drawn ethics rules from using their elected positions to advocate for their employers. In a state with a part-time, citizen legislature, almost anything goes so long as elected officials or their families don’t end up with money in their pockets as the direct result of legislative action. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Politics, conflict of interest, George Logan, Joe Aresimowicz, Office of State Ethics
Concessions draw Democrats’ praise, Republicans’ skepticism
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Top Democrats in the House and Senate praised the deal and said trying to close a $5.1 billion deficit in the next budget without the $1.5 billion in potential savings from concessions would be the worst-case scenario. But their GOP counterparts had a very different perspective. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, Labor, Politics, budget2017, Concessions2017, Joe Aresimowicz, Len Fasano, Martin M. Looney
Campaign finance, minimum wage bills in the mix despite budget crush
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With a little more than two weeks remaining until the session’s June 7 adjournment deadline, dozens of bills unrelated to the state’s budget are certain to be voted upon. Legislative leaders say campaign finance reform and a minimum wage increase are among the contentious issues that could come up in the session’s final days. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Politics, Blue Lives Matter, budget, campaign finance reform, citizens election program, Citizens United, Department of Children and Families, Joe Aresimowicz
Aresimowicz offers phase-in compromise on pension bills for CT towns
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House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz offered a compromise Wednesday on one of the stickiest points in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget: asking communities to gradually assume a portion of skyrocketing teacher pension costs. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, Labor, Politics, Schools/Child Welfare, Ben Barnes, budget2017, Connecticut state budget, Denise Nappier
Malloy begins making a case for changes to local school funding
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Malloy, a Democrat, has been reminding everyone that Connecticut covers the entire cost of municipal teachers’ pensions in both affluent and impoverished school districts, and those costs are escalating quickly. This has left many local leaders worried their overall state aid may be cut to help close the 8 percent deficit in the next state budget. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, K-12, Politics, Schools/Child Welfare, CCJEF vs. Rell, Joe Aresimowicz, Martin Looney, school funding
House Democrats block GOP bid to require votes on labor deals
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In the first partisan fight of 2017, Democrats in the House of Representatives blocked a Republican proposal Wednesday that would have ended a longstanding practice of approving state employee contracts without a vote. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy, Labor, Politics, Connecticut state budget, House of Representatives, Joe Aresimowicz, labor contracts, Matt Ritter
Subtle GOP protest expected as House elects Aresimowicz speaker
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Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, can expect to be elected speaker of the House on the first day of the 2017 legislative session Wednesday without either opposition or support from the growing Republican minority – a calculated, if subtle, protest of Aresimowicz’s continued employment by a major public-sector union, AFSCME Council 4. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Politics, AFSCME, AFSCME Council 4, conflicts, Joe Aresimowicz, Office of State Ethics, Themis Klarides
Ethics opinion: Aresimowicz can be House speaker, union staffer
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The Office of State Ethics has advised Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, that nothing in the state ethics code bars him from continuing his job with AFSCME, an influential public-employee union, as he becomes speaker of the House of Representatives next week. Labor costs are certain to be a major issue in 2017. Continue Reading →