Sen. Martin Statement on Feb. 25 “Emergency” Session

For Immediate Release

Sen. Henri Martin issued the following statement regarding the Feb. 25 emergency session in the CT General Assembly.

“We have heard from municipalities: They are in crisis in terms of special education funding.  Approving additional funding for special education is the right thing to do, and we did so on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.

At the same time, we will work with the governor’s office to find efficiencies throughout state government which will enable us to abide by our smart bipartisan fiscal guardrails and spending cap.  Those guardrails have enabled us to pay down out state credit card debt and helped to lower taxes. To unravel that spending discipline would be highly irresponsible and will lead to tax hikes.

Republicans continue to be focused on causes that help our neediest residents: Programs like Meals on Wheels and low income heating assistance, as well as property tax relief for veterans.

We should not be directing taxpayer money to political organizations, especially when so many in our state cannot afford to pay their electricity bills or afford groceries for their family.

Finally, many of the items that were voted on during the ‘emergency’ session had no public hearing. The public’s voice was silenced.  The majority called each of these measures ‘an emergency’, which prevented citizens from speaking out. That is not good government.

And speaking of ‘emergencies’ and crises: Why is nothing being done by CT Democrats to LOWER the cost of our electric bills? We are now ranked #2 in the USA for the most burdensome electric bills, behind Hawaii, which is an island. At this ‘emergency’ session, there was no appetite by majority Democrats to help ease those burdens. That was very disappointing.”