Largest transportation investments in Connecticut history, launching a new era of infrastructure improvements:

• The adopted state budget includes the largest transportation investments in Connecticut history, which will launch a new era of infrastructure improvements to give Connecticut a best-in-class transportation system.
• This will include a $2.8 billion increase for infrastructure over the next five years, including $1.77 billion for rail, $613 million for highways, $281 million for bridges, $101 million for bicycle and pedestrian trails, and $43 million for bus service.  In total over the next five years, approximately $10 billion will be spent on transportation between this budget, planned capital spending, and federal funds.
• Projects include fixing the “Mixmaster” on I-84 in Waterbury, as well as the Hartford I-84 Viaduct.  For rail, it will allow Connecticut to complete the Hartford Line running from New Haven to Springfield, and also to increase service on the New Haven Line with improvements to all branch lines including New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury.  It also includes historic, first-of-their-kind investments in local bike and pedestrian improvements throughout our state.
• In recent decades, Connecticut has not kept up with a needed modernization of its transportation systems.  With the adopted state budget, Connecticut is entering into a new era that will deliver a best-in-class transportation system.  (House Bill 7061)

Improving access to affordable and reliable energy for Connecticut families and businesses:

• A major energy initiative was adopted that will serve as an important means to secure a cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy future for Connecticut families and businesses.
• A lack of gas pipeline infrastructure is threatening the reliability of the New England electric grid, and causing us to rely on dirtier, more expensive coal and oil to generate power in the winter months. As a result, the cost of electricity has skyrocketed in recent winters, adding an average of approximately $2 billion inadditional wholesale electricity costs in each of the last two winters.
• Governor Malloy has committed, and as Chair of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors is working withall of the New England Governors, to pursue a regional solution to the winter reliability problem facing the region.
• Adopted legislation, with the goal of alleviating winter price-spikes and reliability concerns, will authorize the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to issue at least three separate solicitations for energy resources, which includes clean renewable resources and natural gas capacity that would compete with one other to provide the best solution for ratepayers in Connecticut.  (Senate Bill 1078)
• Another piece of adopted legislation creates the Solar Home Renewable Energy Credit (SHREC), which will serve as a cost-effective solution to meet increasing homeowner demand for residential solar energy.  The policy sets a pathway to deliver on a 300 megawatt goal for the deployment of solar photovoltaic systems on homes throughout Connecticut that will result in the creation of thousands of jobs, an increase in economic activity by hundreds of millions of dollars, and a decrease in clean energy policy costs for all ratepayers.  (House Bill 6838)

Creation of a coordinated strategy for the future use of Long Island Sound:

• Approved legislation will establish the Long Island Sound “Blue Plan,” which will convene relevant state agencies, academic institutions, and stakeholders to compile an inventory of the natural resources and the human resources of the Long Island sound.
• This information will be used to develop a plan to guide future uses of the Sound’s waters and submerged lands.
• The Long Island Sound is a critical component of Connecticut’s economy and quality of life – this legislation plans for its long-term future so that we can protect its environmental resources while making smart economic decisions.  (House Bill 6839)

Protecting consumers by increasing protections in the event of business data breaches:

• As more services become offered electronically, hackers have become more and more sophisticated, resulting in the number of reported business data breaches skyrocketing in recent years.
• Legislation that Governor Malloy will soon sign into law will increase protections for consumers to provide increased protections when it comes to the handling of their personal information.
• Under the bill, consumers must be notified no later than 90 days from the discovery of the breach, unless an exception applies.
• Upon a breach, companies who experience breaches will also be required to provide no less than one year of identity theft prevention services.  (Senate Bill 949)

Combating prescription opioid and heroin abuse to prevent drug addiction:

• Adopted legislation aims at curbing heroin and prescription opioid abuse by increasing the tools health care professionals utilize when handling prescriptions.
• The legislation streamlines the process to help practitioners identify potential abuse by requiring them to check to see if patients seeking certain prescriptions have recently received these medications from multiple other prescribers or pharmacists.
• Further, in cases of overdose or medical emergency, the legislation saves lives by making naloxone – a drug that reverses overdoses – more widely available, allowing pharmacists, after being trained and certified, to prescribe it to Connecticut families, first responders, and the treatment community across the state.  (House Bill 6856)

Improving access to higher education opportunities for Connecticut residents to improve our economy:

• As jobs become more and more modernized, businesses are finding a growing need for a workforce that is trained with the tools necessary to compete in a 21^st Century economy.
• Legislation was adopted that improves access to higher education opportunities for Connecticut residents by allowing the children of undocumented immigrants to attend state institutions of higher education and pay the in-state tuition rate if the student has attended a Connecticut high school for at least two years and has graduated from a Connecticut high school.
• This population of students currently does not quality for any for any federal financial aid, which is often the deciding factor for needy students as they assess whether they will be able to pursue higher education.
• By making in-state tuition available to more students, we will be bolstering Connecticut’s labor market by adding new workers, helping to stem the rate of loss of retiring workers leaving the workforce.  (House Bill 6844)

Halting “pay secrecy” to encourage equal pay for equal work:

• Governor Malloy will soon sign into law legislation that halts the practice of “pay secrecy” among Connecticut’s workforce, which frequently hinders pay discrimination from being pinpointed.
• Pay secrecy practices perpetuate income discrimination and allow the gender wage gap to persist.
• It will soon become illegal for employers to prohibit their employees from disclosing their own compensation information or inquiring about the wages of another employee.
• The legislation does not require employers to employees to disclose wages, but rather prohibits rules that prevent employees from disclosing that information on their own accord.  (House Bill 6850)