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The millionaire migration myth The Hearst Connecticut Media editorial board recently published an editorial parroting refuted Republican talking points of a supposed ‘millionaire migration’ if the legislature dares demand Connecticut’s highest earners pay their fair share. Republicans have resorted to sound bites because they fall short on alternate solutions, or an actual budget, of which they have failed to propose for three consecutive years. Instead, Republicans hope to convince us of this boogeyman tale of all the state’s tax revenue catching the next private jet to Florida. But ...

Time to recognize the human right to housing in Connecticut Homeless rights activists at an October 2018 affordable housing rally Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Connecticut residents faced the unthinkable tragedy of potentially losing their homes in the middle of a public health crisis. Even in normal times, over 10,000 Connecticut residents are evicted every year. Although both the state and the CDC have implemented moratoria on evictions, these policies contain significant exceptions, which have allowed for over 6,000 eviction filings over the course of the pandemic....

HB 6551: Connecticut’s take on environmental justice: A step in the right direction Connecticut continuously ranks as one of the greenest and most environmentally friendly states in the United States. In 1973, Connecticut enacted its first environmental policy called the Connecticut Environmental Policy Act (CEPA), which is an evaluation of how the state’s operations affect the environment. This policy was a crucial step forward in environmental preservation for the state. This policy is important because of its requirement for public review. This primarily allows the citizens of Connec...

Physician perspective: Advance public health through the legalization and regulation of cannabis Physician perspective: Advance public health in Connecticut through the legalization and regulation of cannabis This year, Connecticut has the opportunity to join the 15 states that have replaced the failed policy of cannabis prohibition with sensible and effective regulation. Now that the bill has advanced from the Judiciary Committee, we urge the Finance Committee to support Senate Bill 888, “An Act Responsibly and Equitably Regulating Adult-use Cannabis” and send it to the General Assembly ...

Keep little children in the classroom The chart shows the reasons for out-of-school suspensions for students in preschool through Grade 2. As shocking as it sounds, children as young as pre-school and kindergarten can be and are suspended from school each year, and in fairly sizable numbers. Despite the legislature’s effort in 2015 to largely eliminate the suspension and expulsion of children in preschool through second grade, during the 2018-19 school year (the last full school year before COVID-19 closed the school house doors for so many), there were still almost 1,000 very young childre...