Delegation Pushes Pay Equity, $15 Wage

During the state legislative session now underway, New Haven’s lawmakers are taking a lead on raising the minimum wage, equalizing pay for women’s equal work, and legalizing marijuana — along with taxing bitcoin transactions.

The lawmakers, all Democrats, got a boost last week when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy singled out several of their proposals — some of which they’ve pushed for years — in his final State of the State address.

The question now is whether they can build on that rhetorical support to get laws passed in a short election-year session focused primarily on the budget, with Republicans enjoying more influence than they have in years.

State Rep. Robyn Porter gave a fist pump when Malloy shouted her out by name in the address and the pay equity bill she’s again pushing this year. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill last year. It would have required businesses to provide equal pay for equal work and would have kept prospective employers from asking about salary history in determining pay. The Senate never called the bill, and it died during the last regular session. Women, who comprise 40 percent of state families’ main breadwinners, currently earn an estimated 78 cents on the dollar that men earn for comparable jobs.

Back in New Haven, days after the high of Malloy’s speech, Porter’s enthusiasm was tempered.

“Malloy is talking a good game,” she said. ​“He’s saying all the right things. But I’m like, ​‘Where were you four years ago?’

“I just hope we get it done. Democrats have to stick together and be Democrats. The Republicans’ goal will be to slow us down so that we don’t get much done.”

In addition to pay equity for women, Porter said she’s continuing to push for a livable minimum wage, police reforms and access to health care and services, particularly for black women. Porter noted the recent celebration of the 45 anniversary of Roe v. Wade and how that was a victory for some women but not necessarily for women who look like her.

“Women in my community are not getting the same kind of access,” she said. ​“We are still using abortion as a form of contraception because we don’t have access. That’s inexcusable. Until you include all, what are you celebrating?”

Though he wasn’t mentioned by name, State. Rep. Roland Lemar got a shout-out from Malloy, too, or at least one of his pet causes did.

Lemar chairs the Fair Housing Working Group that the governor referenced in his call for fair and affordable housing. Lemar is working on a bill that would include five strategic recommendations from the working group. One of those recommendations calls for reforming the state’s inclusionary zoning policy, which Lemar said would open the door for more affordable housing opportunities in suburbs.

He said he will also co-introduce bills that would allow early voting and would have Connecticut join a states’ compact to award electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. And he will continue to be a sponsor on minimum wage (with a goal of $15 an hour) and pay equity as he has been for a number of years.

But Lemar said he is worried about the mood of his colleagues to move major legislation during an election year.

“I’m still concerned that folks are too focused on the 2018 election cycle than they are about advancing major interests of the state, and I worry that our values are easy to express in January and February but hard to vote for in April and May,” he said. ​“I hope that people have the courage to do the right thing and advance the interest of the people of Connecticut.”

State Rep. Juan Candelaria, who serves as the deputy speaker of the House, will for the fifth year be sponsoring legislation that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Gov. Malloy has previously been opposed and still has not come out in full support of such action. But facing massive budget deficits, Malloy did suggest it as one of the 11 steps lawmakers could take to stabilize the state’s finances long term. Candelaria, like his colleagues in the House, said he isn’t sure what that support will mean in the long run.

He also is sponsoring a bill that would allocate 1 percent of the sales tax from restaurants and entertainment venues to municipalities. He said he hopes that allocation could help make up a gap from the underfunded Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program and education cost sharing allotments that shortchange cities.

“I guess it appears that the governor is on board currently what our Democratic agenda is. I just have to see at the end of the session, when we’re not seeing the revenues coming in, is he still on board?” Candelaria asked. ​“Will it still be a priority? Or will we have a conversation about we need to cut services? So right now everything looks nice and dandy, but I want to see what happens at the end of the session.”

“I cannot guarantee at the end of the session that he will have the same thought,” Candelaria added. ​“I hope he does because these are policies that we want to make sure that we pass. Policies that really impact the working families of my district and the state of Connecticut.”

Martin Looney, who serves as the Senate president pro tempore, said that since this is an even-year session, only bills directly related to specific revenues and expenditures can be introduced by individual legislators. Any other subject or policy matter will be raised as committee bills that lawmakers can sign onto as co-sponsors. That can become difficult and limit the number of bills because committee chairs have to agree to raise a bill.

Looney said Senate and House Democrats are on the same page about pushing for core issues like paid family leave, pay equity, and raising the minimum wage and legalizing marijuana.

State Rep. Toni Walker, who is the House chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, echoed Looney’s sentiments on the core issues for the New Haven delegation in particular and state Democrats in general. She listed pay equity and greater access to the ballot with early and more liberal absentee voting rules along with criminal justice reform as her top concerns.

“We need to have an extension on voting days so all of us, even the people out working two and three jobs struggling to make it get the opportunity vote,” she said. ​“We cannot allow people to be shut out because they’re struggling to survive. That is the one sacred vow they need to maintain and Connecticut needs to do that now.”

State Rep. Pat Dillon, who serves as the House chair of the health subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, said the budget is the biggest concern this year. She’s worried about potential cuts to health care, mental health care, and school-based health centers. She’s also tracking potential cuts to youth and prison reentry programs as well as funding for local nonprofits.

Dillio said she is looking for ways to protect access to healthy food for seniors in the budget and has requested a bill that would tighten regulation of electronic posters because of a problem that came up recently in Westville. (Read more about that here.)

She is sponsoring a bill to place a transaction tax on bitcoin transactions. She said it was a proposal floated by former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and originated with Nobel Prize-winning economist James Tobin, who lived in Westville.

“In theory, the IRS has ruled that bitcoin is property, and theoretically when you sell it is subject to capital gains,” she said. ​“I don’t know how much money would be in that. It’s a new thing. But it seemed to me there was a lot of volatility there and a lot of the action was in the churn, and what the bill would end up requiring that there would have to be a digital record of bitcoin transactions which is very limited but I think a key form of regulating them.”