Month: February 2017

Democrats Blame CBIA In Shooting Down Minimum Wage Raise

In their First Act of Power Purchased for them by CBIA, Senate Republicans Kill Senate Minimum Wage Bill Senate Republicans Choose Lobbyist Money Over Working People Reacting to the Connecticut Senate Republicans blocking legislation to raise the minimum wage, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) today released the following statements:

“Today, we learned that the detached and divided public spirit of President Donald Trump is alive and well right here in Connecticut, as the Connecticut Senate Republicans’ first official act under our new, bipartisan power-sharing agreement was to turn their backs on some of the hardest working and most needy people of Connecticut by dividing the Labor and Public Employees Committee to block the Senate version of the minimum wage bill. Fortunately, the House version was adopted on a party-line vote with all Democrats in support and all Republicans opposed.” said Senator Looney.

“Thousands upon thousands of Connecticut families work minimum wage jobs. For parents trying to make ends meet, for the blue collar workers hanging sheetrock or changing your oil, for single moms working two or three jobs to provide the basic necessities for their children, there may be no more important and pressing issue than earning a fair, adequate and more ‘livable’ hourly wage. A sufficient minimum wage for the working people of Connecticut is not some sort of luxury — it is an absolute necessity,” Looney continued. “Year after year, the public’s voice on this matter has been made crystal clear; now Republicans have turned a deaf ear,” said Senator Duff. Senator Duff continued, “Today is not a proud day for the Connecticut General Assembly. In fact, it is a very sad day. Senate Republicans have failed their first real test of leadership for the people of Connecticut who they claim to represent: Republicans have put pure political calculation ahead of a popular and demonstrable public need. “If this is the Connecticut Republicans’ definition of leadership, if these are the public policies that they will kill and dismantle if given some greater opportunity to govern, then Connecticut residents face a very sad and dismal future.” Poll after public poll has shown deep and bipartisan public support for minimum wage increases in Connecticut.

A March 2016 poll showed 61 percent of Connecticut residents supported increasing Connecticut’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. The measure was especially popular with unaffiliated voters, women, and people under age 50; they argued that employees who are paid wages too low to live on often end up relying on government assistance, and that means that every single Connecticut state taxpayer ends up personally subsidizing the profit margins of private corporations that pay poverty-level wages. An April 2012 poll showed 90 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of unaffiliated voters and half of Republicans supported increasing in Connecticut’s minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.  80 percent of residents with incomes less than $50,000 a year – and 80 percent of residents with income exceeding $100,000 a year — supported increasing the minimum wage. Three-quarters of women in that poll supported increasing Connecticut’s minimum wage.

(Connecticut State Democrats Press Release)

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Having Lost Presidential It’s Party’s Election- Governor Wants To Change Rules

HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman today added their voices to the growing number of citizens across Connecticut urging lawmakers to adopt legislation joining the state to a national compact that would elect the President of the United States by a national popular vote.

 

The legislation is having a public hearing today in the General Assembly’s Government Elections and Administration Committee.

 

Governor Malloy said, “Last November, our country saw one of the largest disparities in the popular vote since its founding.  If we as a nation want to increase voter turnout, we need to not only combat attempts at voter suppression and gerrymandering, but we must also sign onto this compact creating a coalition of states that will award all of their electoral votes to the candidate chosen by the people.  Every American deserves to have their vote counted equally for the highest office in the country.  A citizen’s vote from one state should not be worth more than that of another citizen who lives in a different state.  An equal vote for every American citizen, regardless of which state they happen to live in, is the fairest and most democratic way to go.”

 

Lt. Governor Wyman said, “Residents must trust that they have a voice in choosing our elected leaders – it’s the foundation of our democracy.  Young people going to the polls for the first time should come away inspired that they helped steer their nation and shape their future.  Voting is a fundamental responsibility and one of the highest forms of civic engagement.  Every vote should count.”

(Press release)

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Governor Happy About Unused Drugs

HARTFORD, CT – Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that the State of Connecticut saw a dramatic increase in the amount of  used prescription medications that residents dropped off at collection boxes during 2016, with the state collecting a total of 33,803 pounds worth of various medications throughout the year.  That amounts to a 43 percent increase compared to the amount that residents dropped off in 2015, when 23,651 pounds of unused drugs were collected by the state.

 

“The increasing amount of unwanted medication that’s being collected at our drop-off boxes is a good sign that people in our state are taking the epidemic of prescription drug abuse seriously,” said Governor Malloy, who this year has introduced a legislative package of initiatives to further the state’s efforts with combating opioid addiction and overdoses.  “We all know how common it is to have extra, unneeded prescription drugs in your medicine cabinet, and you may think that they present no harm.  However, you never know who could gain access and potentially misuse them.  Whenever medications are no longer needed for their intended purpose, it’s best to remove them from your home safely and securely, and these drop boxes are a good way to dispose of them.  The misuse of prescription drugs is a nationwide problem impacting people of all ages and backgrounds, and we must do everything we can to tackle it.”

 

The state’s prescription drug drop box program is administered by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) in cooperation with state and local police departments and provides a convenient location for residents to safely discard unused medications from their homes in an effort to decrease the possibility of prescription drug misuse while also preventing the substances from contaminating water supplies.  The drop boxes can be found in the lobbies of every State Police barrack in Connecticut, as well as at a growing number of local police departments.  Unwanted medications can be dropped off any time that the departments are open – no questions asked – and they will safely be destroyed.

 

A list of every prescription drug drop box location in Connecticut can be found online by visitingwww.ct.gov/dropbox.

 

Since the program launched in 2012, the amount of unused prescription medications collected at the boxes has steadily increased each year.  In 2012, 3,639 pounds were collected; in 2013, 8,149 pounds were collected; and in 2014, 15,930 pounds were collected.

 

“I want to thank all the residents who have already participated in the drop box program – you are ensuring that unused meds don’t end up in the wrong hands,” said Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman.  “I encourage everyone to clean out medicine cabinets periodically – it’s a good way to be involved in the efforts to tamp down addiction and an important step in ending the opioid epidemic.”

 

“Addiction starts in different ways, and that means we need to fight the opioid epidemic with many different tools, including encouraging safe and regular drug disposal by Connecticut families,” said DCP Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris.  “We’ve grown our program to include 75 drop boxes in the state that are accessible to families 24-hours-a-day and guarded securely in many of our State Police barracks and local police departments to protect from diversion.  At DCP, we’re pleased to see the significant growth in drug disposal in 2016, but know we all can do more.  Police departments who are looking to have a drop box in their community should contact our Drug Control Division, and we’ll be happy to work with them to get it done quickly.”

 

Local police departments that do not have a drop box and are interested in participating in this program should contact DCP’s Drug Control Division at 860-713-6065 or dcp.drugcontrol@ct.gov.

 

In December, Governor Malloy announced that Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals donated to the state approximately 80,000 drug deactivation kits that are capable of destroying unused prescription medications at home.  The state has distributed the kits to nearly every pharmacy in Connecticut, where consumers can continue to obtain them, free-of-charge, while supplies last.

 

Families looking for alternative methods for safely disposing of unwanted medications at home can visit DCP’s website for a series of helpful instructions.

(Office of the Governor Press Release)

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