Reps Hold Forum to Discuss New CT Laws

Connecticut representative Gail Lavielle (R-143), Senator Toni Boucher (R-26), and Rep. John Hetherington (R-125) held an open forum Thursday, June 23 in the Wilton Library to discuss a number of the  in Connecticut that will soon go into effect.

Sick Leave Law

Perhaps the most contentious issue for many republicans has been the  that applies only to Connecticut.

The sick law bill “has been viewed by businesses as a bill that hurts them” said Lavielle, citing her own experience with “250 businesses” which she said gathered before the Labor Committee to protest the bill.

“As a concept, it sounds good,” said Hetherington. “It’s in the details” where the problems happen. He said that lack of need for a doctor’s note, and no defined requirement for treatment, may cause some workers to take off from work to simply “meditate,” or to treat an ‘illness’ by “going to the beach” to be healed.

“Theoretically, it would be okay under the bill,” he said.

“When a business comes to Connecticut, it’s not a certainty; it’s high stakes gambling,” said Lavielle, voicing her discontent with the repercussions the bill might have on future business prospects. She said the bill was written with “gray, fuzzy,” and “hard-to-define” language.

The sick leave bill requires businesses of more than fifty employees to provide for its workers one hour of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked.

Live Here, Learn Here

Boucher praised the  which allows students who have graduated from a state college  and have been a state resident for five years to deposit up to $2,500 of state income tax liability, annually for 10 years. The bill is seen as one part of curbing young people's  flight from the state.

“Eighteen to 34-year-olds leave Connecticut in much larger numbers than other states, and that’s a serious problem,” she said.

Early Prisoner Release 

Hetherington criticized the good behavior legislation that permits the reduction of an inmate’s prison sentence and allows inmates to be eligible for early release for good behavior.

Hetherington said the bill , providing as an example that offenders involved in crimes — including the “sexual abuse of children” and “several kinds of rape” —would be eligible for early release. 

In-the-Works Transgender Anti-Discrimination Law

 Hetherington broke from the Powerpoint script to talk about a new transgender anti-discrimination legislation in the works.

According to Hetherington, a person who doesn’t have a sex change operation but who feels to be a member of the opposite sex would be included in the bill.

“What if I woke up today and I feel like a Native American—I just know somewhere inside I’m a Native American?” he said. “Where does that lead us?”

Hetherington also said the bill would possibly affect “locker rooms” and “bathrooms,” because it might include those who have not had a sex change operation.

 Public Space Immunity Laws

Lavielle praised the passing of legislation protecting towns from law suits against certain town-owned public properties when injury results from using those properties.

“The whole reason [that these laws were enacted] happened in Wilton 15 years ago,” said Lavielle. “In 1996, someone fell over in a tennis court, sued the town, lost, appealed it and won. A precedent was set.”

“This immunity will now be restored. That’s great for things like the Norwalk River Valley Trail, and further acquisition of open space for the town,” she said. She said the law would aid in “protecting our states from frivolous law suits.”

Under current law, Land Trusts are still protected by immunity and this does not appear to be changed.

 In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

Boucher said a bill  who have attended high school or received a GED in the nutmeg state was “not cost neutral.” She said there are “about 200 people” who would benefit from the law.

She criticized the act, saying that “if someone is illegal” they can receive emergency room health care and receive a college education.

 “We are becoming more and more a state of dependent people…. And fewer and fewer [people are] paying for what that dependence costs.”