Mothers For Justice Buttonhole Frosh Josh

Hartford — Ingrid Sanchez wrangled a promise out of a first-term state legislator, then received a challenge in return: talk to people who don’t necessarily agree with you.

Sanchez is a member of Mothers for Justice, a New Haven advocacy group of low-income women who seek to influence public policy changes at the grassroots level while emerging from welfare or homelessness.

Last Thursday, six of the group’s members headed to Hartford to talk to meet with lawmakers at the beginning of a new state legislative session. They ended up receiving an audience Hamden State Rep. Joshua Elliott. The trip was intended, according to Mothers for Justice Advocacy and Education Director Merryl Eaton, to let Elliott ​“know what we stand for” as he navigates his first term.

“Most people just need a little help getting back on their feet,” Eaton said as the group climbed four flights of stairs to Elliott’s office. ​“He’s new, and we want him to know we’re here.”

Filling Elliott’s white-walled office just past 11 a.m., members got right down to business: They wanted to know that they had Elliott’s support on bills they were behind, from a proposed extension of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits to a bill that would raise the cost of marriage licenses and use the extra money for domestic violence prevention. After a few introductions, Sanchez raised her hand to suggest that she’d like to have the floor. The other members of the group quieted.

Clara Loyd, who is working two jobs and had boarded a bus between 6 and 7 a.m. to get to Hartford, closed her eyes and leaned back a little as Sanchez spoke.

Sanchez and her 17 year-old son are hardly making it in New Haven, she told Elliott. Working over 40 hours a week, she’s able to bring in $1,066 per month — which leaves her $40 in discretionary spending after making rent at $1,025 a month.

“I have to choose between electricity and food,” she said, adding that federal benefits didn’t cover what she needed in terms of food, clothing for her son, and utilities.

To complicate matters, she said, her husband has tried to find steady work — but has been unable to, because of a prior criminal offense. That included work as a barber, for which Sanchez noted there is a proposed bill on the table. 

“It’s not true that we don’t want to better ourselves,” she said. ​“It’s that we can’t.”

Elliott, who won his seat last year as an insurgent, largely through grassroots organizing and door-to-door campaigning last year, perked up as if he’d heard a small bell go off. 

“What was that bill?” he asked Sanchez, turning to his computer screen and placing his hands on the keyboard.

She referenced her notes. She found the answer: HB 5764, a bill that would remove criminal history for licensing of barbers or hairdressers in the state. Elliott’s fingers flew across the keyboard. He clicked something with his mouse.

“Okay, I’m now supporting it,” he said. ​“What are some other concerns?”

A Challenge For The Mothers

As members of Mothers for Justice unspooled their stories around him, Elliott pledged that ​“I genuinely don’t think there are issues where I won’t support you.”

But he also offered them some advice.

“I’m a campaigner, not a politician,” he said. ​“I see myself as an organizer and activist. My thing is electoral politics … and that’s how you change minds.”

His hands waving over his desk, Elliott painted three groups ​“of political players” for the Mothers. First, he said, there are those who want to raise taxes on the wealthy; he sees himself in that group, as well as New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield and State Rep. Robyn Porter. They’ll always have the interests of the working poor in mind, he said. Then there are Democrats in the middle, who feel less enthusiastic about taxing Connecticut’s uber-wealthy. Then there are those who are further to the right.

The Mothers, he said, need to do a better job of appealing to Democrats who fell on the more moderate end of the political spectrum. He said that in addition to meeting with likely allies like him, the Mothers need to get face-to-face meetings with those other lawmakers in order to accomplish their goals.

“When you push Democrats who are in the middle, they stop raising taxes on the working poor and middle class,” he said. ​“Every time they need to get something, we [Democrats] give so much in return. The fact is, workers create the economy.” They have to remind legislators of that, he said.

“I think you’ll be most successful spending time talking to them,” he added.

Following is a status report on bills of particular interest to New Haven before the state legislature this session:

The 2017 Agenda

Bill #	Status	Summary	Sponsors
SB11/ HB5539	Committee Denied	Would legalize, tax recreational use of marijuana.	Candelaria Dillon Lemar Walker Porter et al
SB 17	Committee Approved	Would make certain undocumented immigrant students (DREAMers) eligible for state college financial aid.	Looney
HB 5434	Committee Approved	Would have CT join with other states to elect the President based on popular, rather than Electoral College, vote.	Winfield, Porter Albis Elliott D’Agostino et al.
HB 5458, HB 6058	Committee Approved	Would establish electronic tolls on state highways.	Genga
HB 5575/HB 7126	Passed Senate	Would regulate companies such as Uber and Lyft.	Scanlon
HB 5589	Passed House	Would expand disclosure requirements for contributions to campaign funds.	Dillon Lemar D’Agostino Elliott et al.
HB 5591	Passed House	Would require equal pay for employees doing comparable work.	Dillon Walker Lemar Albis D’Agostino Elliott et al.
HB 5703	Committee Denied	Would have CT enter into an agreement with other states to limit ​“poaching” of each other’s businesses.	Lemar
HJ 13/HJr 95	Passed House	Would amend the state constitution to permit early voting.	Lemar
HJ 16	In Commitee	Would amend the state constitution to permit absentee voting for all voters.	Lemar
SB 1/HB 6212	Committee Approved	Would require employers to provide paid family and medical leave for their employees.	Looney
SB 2	Committee Approved	Would make the education funding formula more equitable.	Duff
SB 8	Committee Denied	Would allow municipalities to adopt a 0.5% sales tax.	Looney
SB 10/HB 5743	Passed Senate	Would strengthen hate crime laws.	Winfield
SB 13/HB 6208/HB 6456	Committee Approved	Would increase the minimum wage.	Looney Winfield et al. Albis Candelaria D’Agostino Elliott Lemar Paolillo Porter Walker
SB 137	Committee Denied	Would expand birth-to-three and provide universal pre-school, among other things.	Gerratana
SJ 5/HJ 1	Passed House	Would amend the state constitution to create a ​“lock-box” for transportation funding.	Duff
HB 5588	Committee Denied	Would limit certain bond allocations.	Dillon Lemar Albis Walker Elliott et al.
HB 5912HB 6127	Committee Denied	Would establish a 1‑cent/ounce tax on sugared beverages.	Lemar Elliott et al.
HB 6554	Committee Denied	Would tax carried interest as ordinary income.	Porter Albis Lemar Elliott Winfield Candelaria Dillon D’Agostino et al.
HB 5831	Committee Denied	Would provide bonding for transitional housing for NH female ex- offenders.	Porter Candelaria Lemar Winfield Looney Paolillo
SB 631	Committee Denied	Would provide bonding to make structural improvements to the Shubert Theatre.	Winfield Looney Walker Porter Lemar Candelaria Paolillo
HB 6863	Committee Denied	Would authorize bonds for renovating the Barbell Club as a youth/ community center.	Canelaria Porter Paolillo Lemar Winfield
SB 649	Committee Approved	Would allow local building officials to impose fines for building w/o a permit.	Looney Winfield Walker Candelaria Lemar Porter Paolillo Et al.
SB 590/591	Committee Denied	Would limit police ccoperation w/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (590); establish an immigrant’s bill of rights	Winfield
SB 20	Committee Denied	Would require affordability to be considered in reviewing proposed health insurance rate hikes.	Looney
HB 6352	Committee Approved	Would establish a deposit system for car tires.	Ritter Gresko McCrory
HB 6901	Committee Denied	Would impose a surtax on large employers that pay an average wage less than $15/hour.	Elliott
HB 7278	Passed Senate	Would convey various parcels to New Haven, among other things.	Gov’t Administration and Elections