Scorecard: Wage Wins; Weed, Tweed Stall

A $15 minimum wage. Paid family and medical leave. Black and Latino studies in public schools. More school aid.

But no major property tax reform. No marijuana legalization. No Tweed airport runway extension.

Those are among the local legislative wins and losses during the state General Assembly’s latest regular session.

New Haven and Hamden state legislators, emboldened by positions of leadership and Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state assembly as well as a newly elected Democrat in the governor’s office, introduced over 650 bills during the regular session, which ran from Jan. 9 to June 5. (That’s over double the total number of bills that local representatives and senators had introduced by Feb. 1, when the Independent first wrote about the raft of New Haven legislator-sponsored proposals.)

New Haven Democratic State Sen. Martin Looney, the president of the state Senate, told the Independent that the past six months were ​“one of the most successful and progressive and productive sessions that we have had in many years.”

A minimum wage increase that will rise to $15 by 2023 and then will be tied to the cost of living index thereafter, he said, represents the culmination of five years of progressive advocacy for a higher bar for the state’s lowest income earners.

And 12 weeks of compensation provided by the new paid family and medical leave program will lessen the financial impact that working people feel when they have to take time off to tend to their own health or to that of loved ones.

Robert Reed, the city’s special assistant to the mayor for legislative & intergovernmental affairs and the city’s chief lobbyist in Hartford, said he’s not quite ready to give a final grade on this session.

“I left Hartford with an auspicious feeling,” he said Thursday. ​“But I think there was a feeling of work still to be done.” He said the city began the general session with an aggressive policy agenda focused on ​“viable economic initiatives for the city, fiscal stability, neighborhood development, public safety, affordable housing, transit oriented development, and industrial district development,” among other areas.

He singled out the the budget’s $2.3 million increase in Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) Alliance Grant funding for the city as a big win, all the more so because half of that increase can be used towards addressing the local school system’s gaping general operating deficit.

While also praising the minimum wage hike and paid family leave bills as ​“trickle-down economies of scale” that will benefit working people throughout the state, including in New Haven, he lamented that several New Haven-specific priority bills didn’t get a full vote by the assembly. That llist includes a proposal to expand Tweed New Haven Airport’s runway beyond 5,600 feet and another proposal to require suburbs to reimburse cities at higher rates for hiring city-trained police officers.

After New Haven was cut out of a continued casino talks between Bridgeport and Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, Harp sent a letter to the legislature on the last day of the session in a last minute plea for millions of dollars worth of infrastructure and affordable housing investments in New Haven. None of those long-shot asks seem to have been granted in the final budget approved by the legislature. (Click here and here to read Hearst articles on the casino deal that cut out New Haven, and on Harp’s letter to the legislature.)

Now that a biennial budget has passed through both chambers and is about to be signed by the governor, he said, hopefully the governor and the state legislature will take up some of these items in one or multiple special sessions that may take place in the coming months.

“The budget is passed,” he said. ​“Now let’s take a look at some of these municipal subsidy programs.”

New Haven-Hamden State Rep. and Labor Committee Chair Robyn Porter, who was instrumental in pushing the minimum wage and paid family leave bills through the state assembly, said that she too sees much work still to be done on behalf of the Democratic majority’s most progressive causes.

“I’ll go out and people will literally stop me in the street and let me know how much the minimum wage increase will help them,” she said, lauding the legislature for increasing the minimum wage by 50 percent over the next four years. But, she said, she is disappointed she wasn’t able to muster the political consensus around including tip-wage workers in that minimum wage increase. ​“That was a real disservice to them,” she said.

She also singled our cannabis legalization, the elimination of cash bail, the creation of a public option, greater protections for domestic workers, and increased taxes on the state’s wealthiest as causes that progressives failed to get passed this session. ​“The more money you make,” she said, ​“the more taxes you should pay. I really want to see us move in the direction of equity.”

Following are some of the 44 New Haven and Hamden legislator-sponsored bills that cleared both chambers of the assembly during the general session and have been drafted as Public Acts or Special Acts, ready for the governor to sign. Nine of those bills have already been signed by Gov. Ned Lamont. After that are some of the 600-plus locally sponsored bills that either died in committee or made it out of committee but didn’t get or pass a final floor vote.

Working Class Wins

Two of the biggest local legislative accomplishments of the general session were an increase to the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023 and the creation of a new paid family and medical leave program. Both bills were championed by and ushered through the assembly by New Haven State Rep. and Labor Committee Co-Chair Robyn Porter.

The minimum wage bill, also known as House Bill (H.B.) 5004 / Public Act No. 4, was co-sponsored by all nine New Haven and Hamden state reps and was signed into law by Lamont on May 28.

The bill gradually increases the minimum wage to $15 by June 1, 2023, with stops at $11 in October, $12 in Sept. 2020, and $13 in Aug. 2021, and $14 in July 2022. The law then locks in future annual adjustments based on changes in the employment cost index.

That indexing post-2023 is a critical component of the law, Looney said, because the economy’s lowest-wage workers won’t have to wait for the legislature to act again in order to see minimum wage increases commensurate with economic growth after 2023.

The bill does carve out an exception in years of economic stagnation, allowing the state labor commissioner to recommend a suspension of regularly scheduled increases after two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the state’s gross domestic product.

The paid family and medical leave bill, also known as S.B. 1 / Public Act No. 25, was co-sponsored by all local reps and senators except for Hamden Republican State Sen. George Logan.

The bill would establish a Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program to provide up to 12 weeks of compensation to covered employees during a 12-month period, as well as two additional weeks of compensation for covered employees who experience a serious health condition during a pregnancy. Covered employees must contribute half a percent of their wages towards the program’s.

The program would be administered a 15-person Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority, to consist of a mix of state staffers and gubernatorial and legislative appointees.

And on June 13, the governor signed into law Senate Bill (S.B.) 5 / Special Act No. 6, which was co-sponsored by Looney, Porter, and New Haven State Sen. Winfield.

The bill calls for the creation of a ​“workforce pipeline and job creation task force to prepare the state’s future workforce for well-paying manufacturing and technical jobs and to study the availability and location of apprenticeships located in Connecticut.” The task force shall submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than Jan. 1, 2020.

Public Education Updates

Local legislators also helped pass a new law requiring public schools to offer courses in African American and Latino Studies, won a few more million dollars in educational funding for the city’s deficit-facing school system, and may get a reprieve from magnet school non-compliance penalties, pending the governor’s signature.

Both chambers of the assembly passed H.B. 7082 / Public Act No. 12, which was co-sponsored by New Haven Reps. Porter, Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, and Pat Dillon, would require the inclusion of black, African American, Puerto Rican, and Latino studies in public school curricula. 

“For the school year commencing July 1, 2021,” the new law reads, ​“and each school year thereafter, each local and regional board of education shall include African-American and black studies and Puerto Rican and Latino studies as part of the curriculum for the school district.”

Starting in July 2022, the state Department of Education shall start conducting an annual audit to ensure that the new black and Latino studies courses are being offered by each local and regional Board of Ed.

Both chambers of the state legislature also passed H.B. 7113, which would give New Haven a two-year reprieve from being penalized for almost all of its magnet schools not being in compliance with required diversity ratios. Click here to read a New Haven Register article about the bill, and here for an Independent article about the controversial magnet funding standards.

Another locally backed education bill that cleared both houses of the legislature and has been sent to the governor to be signed into law is S.B. 1022, which would require school boards throughout the state to hire a total of 250 new teachers of color every year. Click here for a Connecticut Mirror article about the bill, and here for Lamont’s praise of the legislature action.

The state legislature also passed S.B. 935 / Public Act No. 61, which was co-sponsored by Hamden Rep. Josh Elliott. That bill orders the state Office of Early Childhood to develop a recommended minimum salary and a property compensation scheduled for early childhood education employees.

Reed, the city’s lobbyist, also drew attention to the legislature-approved budget’s inclusion of $2.3 million in educational funding for New Haven. While that boost is entirely to Alliance Grant funds, which are typicallyrestricted for specific projects such as training educators or supporting high-needs students or investing in technology and school operations, the budget allows municipalities to dedicate up to 50 percent of their respective Alliance increases towards general operating funds. That means the city can put over $1 million towards the Board of Ed’s projected $30 million deficit. ​“That was a huge, huge impact for us,” Reed said.

New Anti-Discrimination Legislation

The state assembly also passed several new anti-discrimination policies designed to protect women, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Although the assembly and the governor did not strike a deal on a new public health insurance option, Looney singled out a few healthcare reforms that he said would protect patients from financial exploitation.

S.B. 3 / Public Act No. 16, co-sponsored by Winfield, Looney, and Elliott, extends the statute of limitations by which people can file sexual assault lawsuits.

S.B. 58 / Public Act No. 27, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Looney and Reps. Canedlaria and Walker, would prohibit defendants from claiming temporary insanity or self-defense based solely off of the discovery of the victim’s sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

And S.B. 992 / Public Act No. 20, co-sponsored by Sen. Winfield and Reps. Elliott, Candelaria, D’Agostino, Dillon, Porter, and Walker, prohibits police officers and school security officials from arresting or detaining individuals because of a civil immigration detainer, unless if that detainer is accompanied by a warrant issued by a judge.

The amended bill also prohibits police officers and school security from use any ​“time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel or other resources to communicate with a federal immigration authority regarding the custody status or release of an individual targeted by a civil immigration detainer” unless if that individual has a warrant out for their arrest.

No Tweed, Cannabis Legalization, Major Property Tax Reform

One of the major New Haven legislative priorities, the proposed removal of the 5,600-foot runway limit on Tweed New Haven Airport, made it out of the Transportation Committee but never secured a full floor vote.

“The mayor’s position is the same,” Reed said. The city, Yale University, Yale New Haven Hospital: ​“We’re all in support of Tweed” expansion. He said he hopes the governor, who has frequently expressed his support for the proposal, will include it in a special session focused on economic development or transportation.

Other locally proposed bills that didn’t clear the assembly during the general session include:

• S.B. 1085, which would legalize and regulate the recreational use of cannabis. The bill would allow people aged 21 and older to possess up to one-and-a-half ounces of cannabis. The bill would also allow people with past possession convictions to petition the state judicial system to erase that record if the conviction related to the possession of less than one-and-a-half ounces.

• S.B. 431, which would establish a $50,000 homestead exemption to the assessed value of one-to-four family, owner-occupied homes. It would also establish a 1 mill state-wide tax on on real property, and would replace all municipal car taxes with a single state-wide car tax set at between 15 and 19 mills.

Looney pointed out, however, that the budget does include a new ​“mansion tax,” which increases the conveyance tax rate on sales over $2.5 million.

• S.B. 475, which would increase the state sales tax rate from 6.35 percent to 6.85 percent, and then send that new revenue back to the municipalities where the sale took place.

• S.B. 454, which would regionalize school districts fewer than 40,000 students each;

• H.B. 6073, which would expand a local housing authority’s domain to include a thirty-mile radius of the municipality where the authority was created.

The 2019 Agenda

Bill #	Status	Summary	Sponsors
SB 431	Committee Denied	To reform the property tax system.	Martin Looney
SB 788	Committee Denied	To create more revenue options for municipalities with a large percentage of properties that are exempt from property tax.	Martin Looney, Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Al Paolillo, Michael DiMassa
SB 475	Committee Denied	To increase municipal revenue by raising the sales tax.	Martin Looney
SB 454	Committee Denied	To create a more efficient educational system by consolidating small school districts.	Martin Looney
SB 27	Committee Denied	To reduce prescription drug prices under the Medicaid program.	Martin Looney
SB 30	Committee Denied	To prohibit copayment accumulator programs.	Martin Looney
SB 34	Committee Denied	To prohibit the delivery, issuance for delivery or renewal of short-term health insurance policies in this state that do not provide coverage for essential health benefits.	Martin Looney
SB 48	Sent to the Floor	To require manufacturers of brand name prescription drugs to provide samples of such drugs to manufacturers of generic prescription drugs.	Martin Looney
SB 32	Committee Denied	To establish a public health insurance option.	Martin Looney
SB 1	Passed	To create a paid family and medical leave program.	Martin Looney, Gary Winfield
HB 5004	Gov. Signed	To provide more economic security to Connecticut families by increasing the minimum fair wage.	Robyn Porter, Juan Candelaria, Josh Elliott, Alphonse Paolillo, Michael D’Agostino, Michael DiMassa, Patricia Dillon, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker
SB 64	Sent to the Floor	To prohibit an employer from coercing employees into attending or participating in meetings sponsored by the employer concerning the employer’s views on political or religious matters	Martin Looney
SB 496	Attached to Different Bill	To provide for the legalization, taxation and regulation of the retail sale, personal growth and recreational use of cannabis by individuals twenty-one years of age or older.	Martin Looney, Gary Winfield
SB 25	Sent to the Floor	To restore the electoral privileges of convicted felons who are on parole.	Martin Looney
HB 6073	Committee Denied	To allow a housing authority to expand its area of operation to include high and very high opportunity census tracts within a thirty-mile radius.	Roland Lemar
HB 5273	Committee Denied	To establish as of right multifamily housing zones within one-half mile of all fixed route transit stops.	Roland Lemar
HB 5722	Committee Denied	To establish a public health insurance option.	Roland Lemar, Pat Dillon, Josh Elliott
HB 5595	Attached to Different Bill	To authorize and regulate the sale and adult use of marijuana in this state.	Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Pat Dillon, Josh Elliott
HB 6705	Committee Denied	To prohibit the Department of Correction from using solitary confinement in its facilities.	Gary Winfield, Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Josh Elliott
HB 6715	Committee Denied	To eliminate cash bail.	Robyn Porter, Josh Elliott
HB 7203	Committee Denied	To promote the safety of pedestrians by requiring motorists to grant the right-of-way to pedestrians who affirmatively indicate their intention to cross the road in a crosswalk.	Cristin McCarthy Vahey
HB 6590	Sent to the Floor	To allow local traffic authorities to establish lower speed limits on streets under their jurisdiction by holding a public hearing regarding such speed limits and providing notification of such speed limits to the Office of the State Traffic Administration.	Julio Concepcion
HB 7141	Passed	To define and regulate the use of electric foot scooters.	Roland Lemar
HB 7205	Sent to the Floor	To require a percentage of the cars, light duty trucks and buses purchased or leased by the state be zero-emission vehicles or zero-emission buses, establish a Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate Program and fund such program.	Roland Lemar
SB 969	Committee Denied	To provide basic labor standards for transportation network company drivers.	Matt Lesser, Peter Tercyak