Joint Special Edition Column: ‘Connecticut Can Do Better’

By: State Senator Rob Sampson and State Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco

Open your electric bill. Open your property tax bill. Look at what it costs to fill your tank or keep the lights on. Then ask a simple question: after nearly forty years of Democratic control in the state House and thirty in the Senate, are you better off?

These costs did not arrive by accident. Spending & taxes have grown faster than paychecks. Mandates have multiplied. Fees have been layered on. Public-policy costs that should have competed to be included in the regular budget were tucked onto your utility bill and labeled “public benefits.” You pay them every month. The majority that put them there has treated every problem as an excuse for another program, another regulation, or another charge on the people who already pay the bills.

Who pays when the majority expands driver’s licenses and government benefits to people who are in the country illegally? Estimates put the number of illegal aliens in Connecticut in the range of 150,000 to 200,000. The state issues drive-only licenses. It provides state-funded health coverage to children and postpartum women regardless of immigration status. That coverage is not paid by the federal government. Connecticut taxpayers cover the full cost. Enrollment has already run well beyond original projections. The majority has also adopted policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and protect criminal aliens from detention and removal.

Does that raise the cost of health insurance for everyone else? Does it increase demand for housing and push rents higher in towns that already cannot keep up? Does it add students to classrooms whose local property taxpayers and state aid must cover the expense? The answer is yes. Someone always pays. That someone is you.

We have had a front-row seat to watch this damage being done to our state and its residents, and we have repeatedly offered alternatives: tax relief, spending restraint, protection of local control, and concrete proposals to take those hidden charges off electric bills and force them into the regular budget where they can be defended or rejected in public. The majority votes no.

On the other hand, the two of us have never voted for a tax increase or a state spending increase. When we support something that costs money, we identify an offset. Passing bills is only part of the job. Sometimes the most important work is stopping government from doing something harmful before it becomes permanent.

We helped stop highway tolls. We helped stop a new tax on real-estate transactions. We helped stop proposals that would ban gas-powered vehicles. Those fights matter. Outnumbered in the chamber, we have still forced debate, offered amendments, and brought the public into the argument. When people see what is actually being proposed, bad ideas become harder to pass. That is how a minority can still protect taxpayers.

In 2022, when gas prices spiked, we pushed for relief and called for suspending the gas tax. Public pressure and that push produced a temporary suspension. It was a start, but not enough, and we said so at the time. We held rallies and kept pressing for more. Temporary relief is not the same as changing the policies that keep driving costs higher year after year.

On electric rates we have fought the same fight for years. We have introduced legislation and offered amendments to move public-policy charges off your bill, separate the utility regulator from the agency that advances the state’s energy agenda, and stop the practice of locking ratepayers into long-term contracts priced far above available market power. The majority has had the votes to change course. It has repeatedly chosen not to. Your bill keeps arriving.

This past year the majority created a $500 million fund under the label of an emergency response to federal actions. Once the stated emergency passed, the money remained available for the governor to spend with almost no oversight. Senator Sampson offered an amendment on the Senate floor to return that money directly to the taxpayers who paid it in the first place, roughly $300 to $400 per person. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote. The fund stayed. That is what one-party control looks like when the priority is keeping the money in Hartford rather than sending it back to the people who earned it.

Governor Lamont has lately begun talking about lowering the cost of living and addressing electric rates. He says he will “roll up his sleeves.” Of course, he says that now. It is election season. The same administration that has overseen the policies driving these costs is now presenting itself as the solution. Democrats often campaign as if they share the everyday concerns of working families. When they govern, the record has been more spending, more mandates, and higher costs. The gap between the campaign and the votes is not subtle.

Their opponents are now desperate for you to blame Republicans for problems the majority created and controlled. They have held the levers of power for decades. The facts are on the record. Ignore the slogans and the name-calling. Look at who voted for the policies, who blocked the alternatives, and who is now asking for credit for fixing what they built. Do the research.

One-party rule for decades produces a particular confidence. Public hearings are held, then cut short. Amendments that would add basic safeguards are rejected on party lines. Large bills appear late, with little time for review. When voters notice the results, the response is often to change the subject or promise to fix it “later.” You are already living in that “later.”

Our view is that government belongs to the people who pay for it. A legislative majority is not permanent. No party is entitled to support simply because it has held power for a long time. If the last several decades have not produced the Connecticut you want, the remedy is the same as it has always been: look at the record, examine the proposals, and choose differently.

We have done the job of standing up for you when the majority would not. We will keep doing it. Trust the people who have been willing to say no to higher costs and yes to accountability. Vote for the check against one-party control. Connecticut can do better. That begins when you hold those in power responsible for what they have actually delivered and choose the direction that puts you first.

Senator Rob Sampson and Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco represent Wolcott and surrounding communities in the Connecticut General Assembly.