Protecting the Public’s Health from Toxic Bisphenol-A (BPA) in Thermal Receipt Paper: SB 210
SB 210 does two things. It proposes to ban BPA from thermal paper receipts like those found in ATM machines, gas pumps and cash registers with a safer alternative. It also moves us toward a sustainable framework for listing chemicals of high concern such as carcinogens, developmental toxins and reproductive toxins.
Background: BPA, a known endocrine disruptor, is linked to several diseases including breast and prostate cancer, reproductive disorders, insulin resistance, diabetes and learning/behavioral disorders. Recent reports show that BPA is present in many thermal paper receipts. BPA in thermal paper is unbound and readily transmits to hands and money. Our exposure to BPA is much higher than previously imagined and is of particular concern for workers in check-out lines. This is one more example of why we need a framework to prioritize the most toxic chemicals and, with federal reform stalled, states like Connecticut are taking the lead.
Preventing Mercury Contamination from Old Thermostats: SB 205
There are over 1,700,000 mercury thermostats in Connecticut homes; each contains between three to five grams of mercury. That means that Connecticut mercury thermostats contain over 11,500 pounds of mercury. A single gram of mercury is enough to contaminate a 20 acre lake.
Mercury thermostats were built to last about 30 years. As they reach their end-of-use, only about 5% are properly recycled; the others end up in landfills where they are often burned, releasing mercury into the atmosphere.
SB 205 would require manufacturers to finance a collection and recycling program paying a $5 incentive for each mercury thermostat returned. Similar laws in Maine and Vermont increased recycling by a factor of 10. Connecticut needs to step up and require manufacturers to dramatically increase collection rates.
On March 22nd, substitute language was inserted into SB 205 rendering it ineffective. We are now fighting to reinstate the original language.
Bank of America - Profiting without pitching in:
It’s time for Bank of America and all of the big banks in CT to pay their fair share. When big banks profit without pitching in, it hurts every tax payer in Connecticut. Although it holds more than $1 of every $5 of deposits in Connecticut, Bank of America pays virtually no taxes to support our local economy, while their foreclosures drive down home values and cost our communities millions of dollars. Bank of America is stifling job creation by refusing to lend to small business. CCAG will continue to pressure the bank to ease up on foreclosures, increase lending to job-creating small businesses, and increase efforts to work with homeowners who need mortgage modifications.
Equality is fundamental to representative democracy. Everyone's vote should be equal when electing the President. Our current Electoral College system, grounded in state law, leads presidential candidates to concentrate their resources on voters in a handful of swing states, relegating the majority of the country to spectator status. CCAG is advocating for direct election of the President. The National Popular Vote plan ensures that every vote for President is equally valued no matter where it is cast.
Last year, this bill passed the house but was never taken up by the Senate. CCAG is fighting to see that HB 6163 gets passed in both chambers and is signed by the Governor this year. Passing this legislation would add Connecticut's voice to the national dialogue and give every voter an equal chance to let their voices be heard.
No Excuse Absentee Ballot/Early Voting: SB 941
In Connecticut, a registered voter seeking an absentee ballot must provide an excuse as to why they cannot vote at their polling station on Election Day. Connecticut should join the other 30 states that have eliminated this unnecessary barrier to voting. For any host of reasons (transportation, inclement weather, illness or work schedule) it may be difficult for voters to reach the polls on Election Day. This measure would help ensure a greater participation in our elections.
CCAG supports a strong, progressive energy policy for Connecticut
Create an Energy Department and disband the DPUC. The current DPUC Commissioners have consistently sided with power producers and Wall Street speculators over consumers and small businesses. The current DPUC structure needs to be dissolved. We need a clear, coherent energy policy in Connecticut with an emphasis on conservation and renewables. Administration actions need to match its rhetoric. For instance, dedicated funds for conservation and renewables have been the first casualties during budget shortfalls. This raiding must stop.
Hire a Procurement Manager within the Energy Department or create a Public Power Authority to lower energy rates in Connecticut by 15% to 20%. A study in 2009 concluded that a Public Power Authority in Connecticut could lower electric rates by 15% to 20% over several years. Illinois lowered their rates by 9% in 2009, the first year of their Public Power Authority. We need to end the closed auction procurement system Connecticut currently has (the same one California had that Enron manipulated) and replace it with one that benefits consumers.
End so-called “Retail Competition”. The legislature had good intentions when it decided to spur competition among electric suppliers. The system has clearly failed. Connecticut ratepayers have subsidized fake competition to the tune of over $150 million dollars over the last 10 years. It’s time to end this deceptive charade and lower everybody’s electric rates, not prop up companies who couldn’t survive if we weren’t paying higher electric rates.
Reducing Energy Costs for Consumers: HB 5699 and HB 6026
CT needs to pass one of these two bills as we work to lower energy prices
HB 5699 Seeks to provide relief to electricity consumers. CCAG believes that the Federal pricing rules create an inequity for consumers. A windfall profits rebate would restore some balance as we work to lower energy prices in Connecticut. The windfall profits rebate would be assessed only on profits above a 20% rate of return-on-equity. Corporations would keep 100% of their profits under the 20% rate of return, and 50% of their profits over the 20% rate of return.
HB 6026 is another proposal that would reduce costs to consumers by implementing a straight tax on output. A one cent per kilowatt-hour tax on coal, and a 2 cent tax on nuclear generation would capture almost $330 million in revenue. There is way too much ratepayer money going to fatten corporations’ bottom lines at our expense. These generation facilities have been paid for many times over; we should not be paying for them over and over and over.
SustiNet + Federal Health Care Reform = A Win-Win for Connecticut
Connecticut’s landmark 2009 health care law, SustiNet, uniquely prepares our state to benefit from the new federal Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. SustiNet put Connecticut at the front of the line for new federal dollars that will enhance state-based health care initiatives while helping to boost the economy. Connecticut and federal laws will work together to make good, affordable health care choices available to individuals, families and small businesses. You can track the Board’s progress at: www.ct.gov\sustinet
State Prescription Drug Purchasing: HB 6322
The state is the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in Connecticut. Through an initiative with the Department of Social Services, HB 6322 will allow the Office of the State Comptroller to procure prescription drugs for the Connecticut Medical Assistance Programs. This would strengthen the state's purchasing power, yielding at least $66.5 million in savings (according to State Comptroller Kevin Lembo), and would not change the way that patients and consumers access their medications.
The Establishment of the Connecticut Healthcare Partnership: HB 6308
CCAG is supporting HB 6308. This bill would allow cities and towns, non-profits and small businesses (50 employees or less) to tap into the State Employee healthcare system. This partnership would lower administrative costs and take advantage of the bargaining power of the State plan’s 200,000 members.
Promising to help Connecticut move beyond the one-chemical-at-a-time approach to toxic chemical regulation, House Bill 5126 establishes the mission and the Board of Directors of a Chemical Innovations Institute (CII) for research and education in green technologies. The program will be housed at UConn Health Center but will operate largely on outside funding. It will protect the environment and the citizens of CT while also constituting an economic development opportunity for the state.
The legislative agenda is the master plan for this session’s lobbying, research and issue communications with members focusing on five main areas of public interest.
The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut launched SustiNet, its proposal to ensure that everybody in the state has high quality health care that is also portable and affordable. The plan's name, SustiNet, is the latin word for sustain, and was chosen in part because it is a key word in the Connecticut State Motto, but mostly because good health will sustain the people of Connecticut and bolster our economy.
SustiNet Overview
A 7-minute video overview of the SustiNet proposal for health care we can count on.
SustiNet was developed over the course of two years with the input of Connecticut residents, policymakers, businesses, health care workers, organized labor, clergy and consumer advocates. It addresses not only the need to increase and improve access and affordability of health care, but the shortfalls of our current health care delivery system. It does this by proposing that every patient have a "medical home" to help coordinate care and encourage healthy lifestyle changes; by having clinicians play a more significant role in determining the standards of care; and by implementing standardized electronic medical records.
SustiNet does not seek to replace private health insurers, but to compete with them. The SustiNet plan does not have mandatory enrollment, and so those who are happy with their current health benefits may keep them. However, the plan makes enrollment automatic and easy for the uninsured. The SustiNet plan provides all of the benefits commonly included with employer sponsored coverage, including mental and dental health. Individual costs (premiums and co-pays) are subsidized on a sliding scale based on income, and any resident who applies will be accepted, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
To learn more about SustiNet, visit the information page at the HealthCare4Every1 website. A .pdf of the full proposal can be downloaded here, and a .pdf executive summary of the proposal can be downloaded here.
The Hartford Courant on Sunday January 4, 2009 did a story about former CCAG Organizer Chris Donovan, recently elected by his colleagues in the State House to be Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He ended up with the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, organizing around housing, energy and environmental issues.
"In the old days if you were pro-environment, you were anti-business," Donovan said. "Now, people say, 'Hey, green jobs.' I'm for the environment; that makes me pro-business now. I'm for health care; that makes me pro-business now."
The 2008 Legislative Session is officially behind us, and so it is time to publish our annual Legislative Roundup. The four page report covers the progress made in the Connecticut General Assembly on legislation related to our key issues of Health Care, Democracy, the Environment, and Economic Justice.
You can download the full report here (144 kb .pdf), or continue reading for a brief summary of the items.
Health Care
A major victory on health care is still forthcoming, but progress was made and groundwork was laid to that end. The Healthcare Partnership Bill (HB 5536), which would have opened up the state employee health insurance pool to municipalities, non-profits, and small businesses passed by significant majorities in both the House and Senate but was vetoed by Governor Rell on advice of insurance industry lobbyists. In other health care news, a "Commission on Health Equity" was established to address racial and ethnic disparities in the health care system.
The CT Health Care Partnership Bill would allow cities and towns to tap into the State employee health care system. We support this legislation because it addresses one of the fastest rising costs for municipal taxpayers; health care for municipal employees -- a line item that has seen double digit increases in recent years. Its success would be accomplished by capturing savings through increased bargaining power and lower administrative costs by using the states largest health care purchasing pool, state employees. Many cities are expected to individually save over one million dollars each year.
CCAG will also be pushing to allow individuals, small businesses and non-profits to take advantage of these savings by allowing them to opt in. The partnership bill represents an important step toward long over due health insurance reform, while also providing cities and towns with reduced costs-- a line item that has seen double digit increases in recent years.
Enacts penalties for Insurance companies that provide incentives to deny care and benefits when obligated to provide care.
Requires health insurance carriers to accurately report what percentage of every dollar received is actually paid out in medical claims (Medical Loss Ratio), and mandate that they spend no less than 87.5 % towards claims.
It’s important that the state of CT take action now to address the racial disparities in our health care system. We’ll be urging legislative leaders to fund the Office of Minority Health, and invest in translator services and cultural competency training for medical professionals. While the causes of health disparities are complex, we know that racial and ethnic minorities in CT are more likely to lack health insurance, receive lower-quality care, and suffer from worse health outcomes.
Governor Rell’s “Charter Oak Health Care Plan”, which passed last year was put forth by Governor Rell with the claim that it was “the answer to the state’s health care problem,” when actually it is a severely limited insurance program that provides only limited prescription drug and durable medical equipment benefits. It would also undermine major consumer protections currently in state law such as the equal treatment of mental health and physical health benefits. This is not the type of health reform that CT needs. We will fight to ensure that any new health care plans guarantee the protection of consumer rights and don’t serve to undermine the quality of existing health care.
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