CT lawmakers ditch plans for special session on EV mandate.
Consideration of a proposed ban on sales of new gas-powered vehicles in Connecticut could happen in regular legislative session, but will not happen in a special called one.
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A public hearing pertaining to rising health care costs is the focus of a new call from Connecticut’s Senate and House leadership.
Republican legislative leaders in both chambers renewed a call for a public hearing to be held at the Capitol that would focus on proposed health insurance rate filings next year for individual and small group markets.
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Gov. Ned Lamont (D) this week approved the Municipal Accountability Review Board’s (MARB) request to heighten state oversight of the city of West Haven which is alleged to have misspent COVID-19 relief money, but Republican lawmakers are arguing that the move falls short.
The state now deems West Haven a Tier IV municipality, subjecting it to the most rigorous financial scrutiny for which state law provides. This comes as a result of an audit MARB issued last month which detailed numerous fiscal-management problems the city has incurred. Earlier in April, a separate review by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management found that the city misused nearly four-fifths of over $1 million in funds it received as part of COVID response efforts.
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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) indicated Thursday he plans to sign the $24 billion Fiscal Year 2022-23 state budget passed by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.
Democratic representatives and senators likewise hailed the fiscal plan, noting the nearly $600 million in tax reduction it contains.
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Providing financial relief to state residents is the focus of a tax relief plan introduced in the state Senate, Republican officials said.
The Connecticut Senate and House Republicans announced a $1.2 billion tax relief plan that would cut income taxes, reduce sales taxes, and extend the gas tax holiday.
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Connecticut Republican legislators said on Saturday they want the state to challenge a part of the American Rescue Plan Act which limits states’ ability to cut taxes.
GOP senators and representatives are calling for tax reduction beyond the targeted relief backed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D). A major roadblock to greater decreases will be the COVID-relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law last year. The act included $195.3 billion in recovery funds for states and barred states accepting allocations from using them to “directly or indirectly offset a reduction in net tax revenue… or delay the imposition of any tax or tax increase.”
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Gov. Ned Lamont (D) this week signed legislation suspending Connecticut’s 25-cent-per gallon gasoline tax.
The gas-tax holiday passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously and will last through the end of June. Also to ease Nutmeggers’ economic woes in light of skyrocketing inflation, the state is also providing free bus service to residents throughout April.
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At a Connecticut General Assembly hearing Thursday, state lawmakers clashed on visions of tax policy, with Republicans pressing for sales-tax reduction and Democrats advocating a mix of tax increases and targeted relief.
According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, 12.8 percent of Connecticut residents’ income goes to government coffers, making the combined state and local tax take the second-highest in the U.S., just behind New York’s 14.1 percent overall burden.
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Connecticut Senate Republicans are proposing measures to help stem the tide of drug overdose deaths, particularly from fentanyl.
Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Monroe, told the The Center Square the opioid epidemic is a public health and safety crisis in the state.
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