Lamont: Restrictions soon will be lifted, but masks stay
With Connecticut continuing to be among the top states in the country in COVID19 vaccine distribution, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that he plans to lift all remaining restrictions on businesses — except a requirement to wear masks indoors — on May 19.
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The big story
Lamont to eliminate all COVID-19 rules except masks:
Connecticut will lift all COVID-19 restrictions in the state, except an indoor mask mandate, on May 19, Lamont announced Monday. That means bars that do not serve food will be able to reopen for the first time since March 2020, and restaurants and other businesses will no longer have to adhere to social-distancing rules.
Event venues and stadiums will be allowed to open at full capacity. Lamont said it will be up to businesses going forward to decide what precautions they want to keep in place. He credited restaurants and other establishments with being diligent about following the rules over the past 13 months.
The announcement was made as the state continues to press forward in its COVID19 vaccination effort, with more than 60% of residents 16 and older having received at least one vaccine dose. The one exception is the mask rule, which will remain in effect.
“I think we’re going to mandate that you continue to wear the mask in school … probably we’re going to require indoor masking a little longer, until you’re vaccinated,” the governor said.
Connecticut’s COVID-19 metrics have been on the decline, but there are more than 500 people hospitalized statewide, down from a peak in April 2020 of nearly 2,000.
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Legislative Democrats propose tax hikes on the wealthy:
Democrats who control the General Assembly’s finance committee Thursday approved a tax package that would increase capital gains taxes on the wealthy and institute a new consumption tax on the rich. Lamont, who has resisted boosting taxes on high-income earners, arguing that would drive residents and businesses out of Connecticut to lower-tax states, said the proposal is “not something that I would sign.” Moderate Democrats on the finance committee also opposed the new taxes, along with Republicans, as the measure was narrowly advanced.
The new taxes on the wealthy would help pay for tax cuts for poor and middle-class families through an expansion of the state earned income tax credit from 23% to 40% of the federal credit and a new state child tax credit of $600 per child.
“I view this package as cutting more taxes than raising them,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, co-chair of the committee.
Appropriations budget would boost spending beyond Lamont’s plan:
On the spending side of state finances, the legislature’s appropriations committee Wednesday approved a budget plan that would slightly boost expenditures beyond Lamont’s February proposal, with the extra funds financing debt-free community college and increased state aid for K-12 schools and nonprofits. The co-chairs of the committee said they left about 80% of Lamont’s proposals intact and recommended changes to the remaining 20%.
Like the finance package, a spokesman for Lamont said the governor “has concerns with this Appropriations Committee budget,” including exceeding the state spending cap. Among the changes the committee proposed: $30 million over the next two years from the state’s budget surplus to fund debt-free community college, an additional $108 million in aid for K-12 schools and a seven-year plan to boost reimbursement rates for nonprofits that contract with the state for services such as running group homes.
Aid-in-dying bill not expected to receive a vote this year: Legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to get a doctor’s help to end their lives is not expected to receive a final vote in the General Assembly this year. The bill advanced out of the public health committee earlier this year, but even supporters at the time said the measure needed work. It was sent to the judiciary committee, where it was not acted on during a Tuesday meeting, and both opponents and supporters of the measure say it is unlikely to be revived.
“We believe we had the bipartisan support to pass the bill, and we are bitterly disappointed by this outcome,” said Tim Appleton, Connecticut campaign director for Compassion & Choices, a national advocacy group supporting the measure.
Nine states and the District of Columbia have passed aid-in-dying laws. The measure has been raised at least 14 times in the Connecticut legislature since 1994.
Lawmakers vote to declare racism a public health crisis: Taking aim at existing racial health disparities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature’s appropriations committee voted Wednesday to declare racism as a public health crisis and create a special, 28-member commission to study the issue.
The new Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health will examine health disparities across sectors, including air and water quality, affordable housing and access to health care and social services. State statistics show Black and Latino residents have been far more likely to contract COVID-19 and die from it since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, a medical doctor, said: “If you go to any of the hospitals, it was the Black and brown communities that were in the intensive care unit.” He said the $350,000 in funding for the commission “is miniscule compared to the challenges ahead.”
Public option health care bill moves forward despite industry opposition:
Ignoring opposition from Connecticut’s powerful insurance industry, the legislature’s finance committee Thursday voted by a 2-to-1 margin to advance a bill that would draw state government more deeply than ever into providing health insurance for Connecticut residents under a so-called public option. Executives of five insurers wrote to Lamont last week warning that the plan could drive businesses out of Connecticut. Insurance companies oppose a $50 million tax to fund subsidies for low-income residents who purchase plans.
Lamont has said he supports making health care more affordable, but not if state taxpayers will be on the hook as a backstop if the plan pays out more in claims than it receives in premiums. Sen. Matt Lesser, a Middletown Democrat and key supporter of the bill, said Thursday’s vote gives the legislation “clear momentum as we head into the home stretch of the legislative session.”
Odds and ends
Rocker Steven Van Zandt has been enlisted by the state Department of Education to bring music and pop culture curriculum into Connecticut classrooms through his TeachRock program. The partnership, free of charge, will begin in 10 school districts and expand from there. Van Zandt, best known as a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, said the program is designed for all students, not just music students. … George H.W. Bush is being honored by his alma mater, Yale University, where the baseball field has been renamed in his honor. Long before he went on to become president, Bush was captain of the Yale baseball team his senior year in 1948. “He was a distinguished student-athlete at Yale, and he remained a supporter of Yale athletics and was a champion of student-veterans throughout his life,” Yale President Peter Salovey said in a news release announcing Yale Field would now be called Bush Field . ... Bobby Valentine, the former Major League Baseball manager who is now athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, hasn’t made up his mind yet on whether he’ll run for mayor in his hometown of Stamford, according to The Boston Globe. Valentine told The Globe, “It’s a real tough road to hoe because I don’t have a ground game, but I’m figuring it out. I wouldn’t do it unless I really thought I could win.” If he runs, Valentine has said he would do so as an independent. … Muad Hrezi, a 26-year-old former staffer for U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy who is challenging U.S. Rep. John Larson from the left in a Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District, raised an impressive $89,000 in the quarter since he launched his primary campaign earlier this year. Larson, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, has for the most part not faced a significant challenge in either a primary or general election since. Mary Fay, Larson’s GOP opponent in 2020, raised less than $27,000 during the entirety of her campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.