Category Archives: General Assembly

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1st Congressional CT GOP Governor Candidate Debate Video

The CT GOP is trying something new this election season with the governorship at stake…

For the first time they had on Facebook Live streaming on both the Fox61 & CT GOP pages the video streaming of some of their candidates debating.

 First Congressional District Governor Candidate Debate at the Windsor Public High School 6pm to 9pm .

Only a few of the candidates were up on stage because they met the fundraising qualifications set by the party chairman. My understanding is that $75,000.00 minimum had to have been raised to be invited to the debate. There is a combination of both Declared as well as those who only have Exploratory Committees.

Declared Governor Candidate Joe Visconti who did not meet the fundraising qualifications was doing a competing Live Stream on his facebook page so that his critique of the candidates, their answers and some rebuttal to the debate questions – this is similar to what Jill Stein did back in 2016 when she was excluded from the debates.

Below is the video of the debate so that you can watch.

The CT GOP Chairman had a private poll after the debate which the results are being touted on the CT GOP facebook page but sadly the wider republican voting body was not privy to that poll which is quite disappointing. I hope that a better for CT GOP members poll will be emailed out for a true measure of who are the debate winners.

 

  • – The hashtag for the debates and 2018 will be #VoteDemOut – 
    • – Additional hashtags for 2018 #FixCT #AFreshNewStart –
    • – #WinningByWorkingTogether – 

 

CT has a Balanced Budget Under Threat by Lame Duck

Connecticut’s the only state in the USA which is operating without a budget at this point…

With lots of hard work the Republican budget was finally presented, voted upon and PASSED!

This Balanced Budget is under threat by our Lame Duck Governor because it doesn’t Add Tolls and increase spending to his crony friends whose salaries are paid by the CT Taxpayers.

Even before the Balanced Budget was passed by the CT House Malloy was grumpily fussing that he was going to VETO the Republican Budget!

Why would he VETO a Balanced Budget that Saves the Taxpaying citizens of CT money??

The Only Answer is because Malloy does NOT CARE ABOUT CT Taxpayers!

#MalloysMess is growing bigger because he & his party #DemocratsHurtingFamilies are only interested in making themselves RICHER at our expense – Look at how much the democrats rant and rave about cuts to the C.E.P. which gives MILLIONS of Dollars to the candidates and the democrat machine so they do not have to meet the people in person to answer questions in an open debate. That’s just one example

 

Copied & Pasted Facebook Post Below Highlighting of items was done by me to point out items to pay attention to

9/16/17
5:05AM

WE DID IT!

Good Morning, Friends!

As many of you will soon wake up and read this, I am just getting home and finally into bed.

After nearly 9 months of researching, calculating, debating, and finally negotiating, the GOP budget prevailed and therefore has been officially adopted, in a bipartisan manner, by both the Connecticut HOUSE AND SENATE!

A very special thank you to those courageous Democrats who joined us tonight by passing a historic budget for the citizens of our beloved state. I am so grateful to everyone who sent texts, made calls, and created social media posts in order to spread the word over these past two very intense days. This has undoubtedly been an experience that I will never forget. The fight isn’t over, however, but please know what an immense honor it is to be fighting for you and your family.

Now, let’s get our Governor to sign this budget before October 1st.

Please call & tell him to SIGN it!

Phone (860) 566-4840 
Toll-Free: (800) 406-1527
TDD: (860) 524-7397

FY 2018/2019 Budget Summary

No New Taxes & Reduces Taxes 

No increase of the sales tax

No secondary home tax

No cell phone tax

No increase to the cigarette tax

No new tax on nonprescription drugs

No new restaurant sales tax

No increase to the pistol permit fee

No increase to the hotel tax

No new fantasy sports tax

No income tax increase

Restores funding for the state’s property tax credit in its entirety to all families and individuals

Eliminates Social Security income tax and phases out tax on pension income for middle class families

Increases Education Funding

Increases education funding and includes a new ECS formula to fairly distribute aid as well as a council to analyze and make any necessary changes to the new formula within the next year.

Municipal Support and Mandate Relief

Flat funds or increases funding for all municipalities over the biennium.

Stabilizes municipal aid and does not ask towns and cities to pay for teacher retirement costs. Also includes significant municipal mandate relief.

Funds Core Social Services

Restores funding for core social services and programs that benefit people most in need.

Fully funds day and employment services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, reopens Care4Kids, etc.

Prioritizes Transportation

Prioritizes the state’s transportation needs and stabilizes funding without tolls or new taxes.

Implements the Republican Prioritize Progress transportation funding plan and stabilizes the state’s Special Transportation Plan.

Supports Seniors

Lowers taxes for retirees by eliminating tax on social security for middle class families and phases out pension income tax for those with incomes below a specified threshold.

Helps seniors age in place by restoring and increasing funding for core programs and supports such as Meals on Wheels, the personal needs allowance, non ADA dial a ride, and the CT Home Care Program.

Funds State Parks & Tourism

Enhances funding for state parks/tourism without raising taxes by implementing a new Passport to Parks program and dedicating a portion of the current hotel occupancy tax to a new Marketing, Culture & Tourism account.

Reduces Size of Government

Implements 10% reductions to certain agency accounts, overtime savings of 10%, a hiring freeze on non-24-hour non-union positions, and makes cuts to the legislature such as reducing the number of legislative committees.

Includes Structural Changes

Changes include a spending cap, bonding cap, municipal mandate relief, and other long term savings. Implements pension reform beginning in 2027 after the recently approved SEBAC contract ends.

Recommends rolling forward the FY 2017 holdbacks except for core services that this budget seeks to protect such as grants for mental health and substance abuse, early childhood programs for low income citizens, and youth service bureau funding. Implements 10% reductions to certain agency accounts.

Education

This budget includes a fully revised Education Cost Sharing Formula that takes into account factors regarding CCJEF and Meskill court decisions, enrollment, poverty and wealth. This budget dedicates $33.6 million more to education in FY 2018 and $136.6 million more in FY 2019.

Once fully implemented, the state will be spending $678.7 million more on education funding under this proposal, which also allows for a committee to study and revise the new formula if deemed necessary within the next year. In 2018 all towns and cities will either be held harmless or gain more ECS funding.

Municipal Aid

Flat funds or increases funding for all municipalities over the biennium • Does not require municipalities to assume any costs associated with teachers’ retirement. • Recommends mandate relief to help towns manage their budgets and identify savings for local taxpayers. • Preserves or increases Education Cost Sharing base grants to municipalities (detailed below) • Recommends eliminating the general revenue sharing and car tax portions of the Municipal Revenue Sharing Account (0.5% of the sales tax going to municipalities).

Transportation

• Implements “Prioritize Progress” to provide $62 billion to transportation over 30 years without new taxes or tolls.

• Does not sweep any funding from the Special Transportation Fund.

• Contains multiple policy changes to make the Special Transportation Fund solvent and prevent it from entering deficiency. Will move transportation related revenue into the STF to make solvent through 2022 and beyond.

Tax Reductions

• Exempts all Social Security as of January 1, 2017 for single income tax filers with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) below $75,000 and for joint filers with an AGI below $100,000.
• Phases out the tax on pension income for tax filers with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) below $75,000 and for joint filers with an AGI below $100,000 beginning in 2019.
• Phases in federal exemption of estate tax as governor does
• Lowers lifetime cap on gift and estate tax beginning in 2020 as governor does

Changes to Other Tax Proposals

• Does not raise or expand the sales tax

• Does not have a restaurant tax

• Does not increase cigarette tax, hotel tax or tax on digital downloads

• Does not tax nonprescription drugs

• Rejects proposed pistol permit fee increase

• Restores the $200 property tax credit for ALL qualifying families and individuals. (approximately 874,000 middle class and working poor families).

Social Services

• Provides required funding to reopen programs under Care4Kids

• Fully funds day and employment services for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• Restores funding for core social services, including but not limited to:

Meals on Wheels (increases funding)

* mental health and substance abuse treatment

* SAGA, a lifeline for many of CT’s residents who are disabled and unable to work

* School based health clinics, rape crisis, community health services, family resource centers

* Does not annualize holdbacks for domestic violence shelters and services for those with disabilities, employment opportunities for blind and deaf

* Restores funding for regional mental health boards and restores mental health services

* Does not reduce burial benefits for the indigent

Seniors

• Rejects cuts to the CT Home Care Program
• Restores the personal needs allowance
• Social Security income tax exemption and phases in pension income tax exemption
• Restores full Meals on Wheels funding
• Restores funding for non ADA dial a ride and adds more funding
• Phases in Social Security income tax exemption for middle income households

Veterans

Restores funding for veterans’ headstones and burial expenses

Hospitals

• Does not allow municipalities to tax local hospitals and preserves the small hospital pool.
• Accept the hospital settlement agreed to by the Connecticut Hospital Association
• Phases out the hospital tax over time beginning in FY 2020.
• Increase Medicaid rates which protects hospitals from changes on the federal level

Parks

In an effort to stabilize the state’s protection and administration of our natural resources, this budget recommends the establishment of a new Environmental Conservation Account funded with a $5 annual State Parks Pass. This fee will be assessed on motor vehicle registrations. In return, all cars with a Connecticut license plate will be allowed access to state parks and forests without a parking fee. This will allow DEEP to operate in a more business-like fashion.

Tourism

Acknowledging the multiplier effect that tourism has on our economy, the budget proposes to transfer 1.5% of the current hotel occupancy tax to a new Marketing, Culture and Tourism account. This is not a new tax as Democrats have proposed. All current tourism appropriations made from the General Fund are eliminated and all future funding will be made from the new account on a competitive basis. This results in a tourism funding increase and more stability.
Funding is also provided to maintain Connecticut’s rest stops making our state more attractive to visitors.

Reduces Size of Government

• Requires that state agencies shall have no more than one deputy commissioner and have no more than one executive secretary.
• Implements overtime savings of 10%
• Hiring freeze on non-24-hour non-union positions
• Legislatives savings: cuts legislative franking, reduces legislative committees, and reduces sessional staff.
• Implements 10% reductions to certain agency accounts.

Public Safety

• Increases funding for Fire Training Schools
• Provides funding for resident troopers at 85% where the governor eliminates funding
• Preserves funding for Cold Case and Shooting Taskforce
• Provides additional funds to the Chief Medical Examiner beyond the governor’s proposal
Labor This budget proposal includes the savings from the SEBAC deal since it has already been passed by the legislature. Republicans originally proposed an alternative path to labor savings that would have achieved greater savings and allowed us to restore more funding to key programs. But since Democrats approved the labor deal our hands are now tied and the state is locked in to the SEBAC deal. Since the SEBAC deal was approved, our budget was also modified to remove the savings that could no longer be achieved such as savings associated with moving services to nonprofit providers.

The budget also implements pension reform beginning after the SEBAC deal ends in 2027 to achieve $270 million in savings over the biennium from the following changes to state employee benefits: requiring workers to pay the national average towards their retirement benefit, eliminating COLAs until the fund balance of the state employee retirement system is deemed healthy by national standards, eliminating overtime from calculation of final average salary, ceasing the current practice which allows higher paid employees to receive a larger portion of their final average salary as lower pain employees, commonly referred to as a break point.

New Education Cost Sharing Formula:

• Creates council to analyze education funding to make recommendations for the General Assembly to enact changes to the funding formula presented below if they so choose. Increased funding to towns as outlined below will be effective immediately upon passage. If another formula is not developed by the council within a year the following new formula will go into effect for future years.
o Fully functioning formula that factors in current enrollment
o Contains foundation grant of $9,638 based on academic research on the cost of educating a child in CT
o Provides a weight of 30% for students that receive free and reduced priced lunch. Contains an additional weight of 5% for those communities that have more than 75% of its population eligible for free and reduced priced lunch
o Provides a weight of 15% for English language learners
o Provides an additional 3%-6% for communities that have a Public Investment Community Index (PIC) over 300 which costs $9.4 million (For the top 5 towns, we provide an additional 6%, for the next 5 towns, we provide an additional 5%, for the following 5 towns, we provide an additional 4%, and for the last 4, we provide an additional 3% ).The PIC index measures the relative wealth and need of Connecticut town’s by ranking them in descending order by their cumulative point allocations for (a) per capita income, (b) adjusted equalized net grand list per capita, (c) equalized mill rate, (d) per capita aid to children receiving Temporary Family Assistance benefits, (e) unemployment rate
o The proposal weights net equalized grand list at 70% and median household income at 30%
o When the proposed ECS formula is fully implemented, the state will be spending $678.7 million more on ECS
o This proposal recommends flat funding municipalities that would have received a reduction in ECS funding as a result of the formula (primary driver, enrollment declines) in FY 2018. It then would phase in reductions to municipalities over a 10 year period beginning in FY 2019.
o For a municipality that is due to receive an increase due to the formula, this proposal recommends phasing in the increase over a 10 year period beginning in FY 2018 with towns seeing 5% of their new full funding under the formula in FY 2018 and 15% of their full funding in FY 2019. Thereafter towns would receive 10% increases annually until 2028 at which point they would be fully funded under the new formula.
o The budget provides an increase of funding of $33.6 million in FY 2018 and $136.6 million in FY 2019

Special Education

• Similar to the Governor, this proposal seeks to transfer the portion of the ECS grant that is attributed to special education (approximately 22%) and combines the $447 million with the current excess cost account and an additional $10 million creating a combined pool of $597.6 million
• The distribution of these funds will range from 2.5% to 52% and will be distributed based on the equalized net grand list of municipalities similar to the Governor
• Unlike excess cost, the distribution of these monies will be based on previous years’ expenditures rather than a town waiting until the expenditure of a child hits 4.5 times of their per pupil

No automatic alt text available.

 

Election Day – 8am Did You Vote Yet?

Reminder It’s a Special Election Today

So I’m sharing the reminder post from last year’s election

 

Cross posted item from another Tillett4CT project

Have you gone out to vote yet?

The polls opened at 6am so they’ve been opened for a while you still have some time but PLEASE make a serious effort to get out & VOTE!

If you have already voted GREAT now call a friend & those members in your household that are registered to vote to remind them to go out & VOTE too!

#VoteRowB to end the #TaxingTyranny !

button Your Vote Counts round RWB-Stars
Filed under: #TeamTillett, Business, Civil Rights, Constitution, Elections, Family, Life in CT, Questions, Spending, Taxes Tagged: #CTGOP, #CTPolitics, #GOTV, 2016, Business, Education, Family, Jobs, Taxes

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Author: TillettForCT

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The Pinch

Sharing this repost from last year because the New General Assembly members are now officially seated & they need encouragement & reminder calls about why we voted for them to be in office

The democrats have been in power for many decades, some of them have been in office for longer than 30 years. They have gotten arrogant in their attitudes & they have grown protective of their expensive pet projects that benefit only their crony friends while putting our families at both financial as well as physical risk.

The democrats have gotten to be experts at both spending our tax money on wasteful projects & luxury items for themselves but additionally they have become experts in hiding the true costs when they roll items up & put them into the bonding.

Cross posted item from another Tillett4CT project

Call your elected officials at the state capitol this week

Tell them to Work on Balancing the Budget by making the cuts that are needed instead of cutting services that help our families.
Now is the time for our elected officials to get to work towards starting the much needed downsizing of our government.
They can start by cutting the extra expenses that they have forced us to pay for like big cuts to the CEP Program.
The CEP aka Citizens Election Program gives taxpayer money to the candidates that have “qualified” by raising certain levels of money. The amount varies by race & party but the amounts are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for state senate & state rep positions & in the millions for the statewide races.
That money can be better spent making certain that we have the needed services for the families that are needed.


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Author: Tillett for Connecticut

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Mom Endorses Partnership

There are many educational options that are available to those with money but for those in the lower income brackets & higher family expenses there are few options…

If we stop pouring money into the failing public school system & instead focus upon the needs of the students rather than the wants of the public school administrators & teachers unions then positive changes will begin to happen; both in the public schools as they are forced to compete for the students as well for our families & children & our nation as a whole

Better Educated Students (rather than Indoctrinated & Socially Promoted Students) are able to make wiser decisions. They are able to either find work or create their own jobs by going into business for themselves.

With the recent court ruling; ordering CT to fix the problem of the funding of the schools & the disparity of the education offered throughout CT, by having the money follow the students parents will be able to choose the best educational options for their children. What is “Best” for our children many times does not coincide with what is “Best” for the Teachers Union or the promoters of the Common Core materials or what is “Best” for the Testing Companies – all of whom are looking out only for their “Best Interests” which to them are their taxpayer funded Paychecks.

FreedomProject Academy’s Academic Director, Dr. Duke Pesta, was recently doing a radio interview when a parent called to talk about the amazing education her son was receiving from Grace Christian Academy, and online private school partner FreedomProject Academy.

★ Learn more. fpeusa.org/partnership

★ Special thanks to Grace Christian Academy for allowing us to produce this video. Learn more about GCA at gracechristianpulaski.org

Cast: FreedomProject

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Private School Partnership (FP Academy)

I was talking with a woman earlier this year about the need for there to be more affordable ways to start private affordable charter schools & I recently came across this video that does offer one option.

Thought I’d share it because others are thinking they also want to get their children out of the failing public school systems.

Start Your Own School! FreedomProject Academy is partnering with Churches and Private Schools as part of our mission to Faithfully Educate America.

More information coming December 2016!
fpeusa.org/partnerships

Cast: FreedomProject

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Tax Increases Coming

It was Margaret Thatcher who said “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you always run out of other people’s money” wasn’t it?

Rather sad that this cycle there hasn’t been the same excitement & activity against the new taxes like there was to defeat the Windsor budget the other year… if there was then there would be no question about the races this year & it would be a resounding NO to all of the Taxing Tyrants most of whom are career politicians

 Unless the tax paying voters of CT do not wake up this year & vote Row B we’re going to be in for some serious tax increases coming & going which will not only hurt our families wallets but also put our safety at risk as there is a plan in place to quietly sell of the Brainard Airport so that the MDC can become Land Developers & use the land instead for Apartments & their select friends can profit while our water rates will likely raise again for the cleanup of the contaminated land

Eric is going to be voting not only to give us the mileage tax which will be increased to pay for the crazy plans that they are proposing for the “transportation plan”

 

Eric will also be voting to give us the forced regionalism with appointees that are not elected nor accountable to We the People. We’ll be forced to pay without any input into what types of taxes & what they will be applied to.

So that means we’ll be paying for the Hartford stadiums & any new crazy plans that Mrs Bronin & her friends come up with in addition to other corporate welfare & special interest projects & corruption that  Hartford has squandered away their taxes.

While we homeowners in Windsor, Bloomfield; & other towns like West Hartford, Wethersfield & Newington, we won’t have a vote or voice against it because those people will all be Malloy appointees. Appointees who won’t have to answer to us & who will be getting paid extra for serving plus benefits & of course that expense will be added into the taxes too.

 

wantedtaxingtyrants1_1_original

Taxation without Representation is back on these shores yet that is why we became a country in the first place but this year there is no outcry against it?

 TAX on back of bent over man

Why are we NOT Fighting against these 2 giant taxes on multiple fronts?

 

Is no one paying attention to the fact that we here in Windsor & Bloomfield will be paying for the mess created in the corrupt city hall in Hartford?

Is no one aware that Mayor Trinks as well as other democrat mayors are on record saying they are more than happy to raise our taxes to “help” bail Hartford out?

 Why isn’t there more of an outcry publicly against this?

Do they not know? If they Do Not Know whose fault is it that they Do Not?

Are the people feeling that defeated that they just can’t fight back anymore?

Or is everyone just being silent & will speak at the polls by Voting Row B this year? Talk to your co-workers neighbors family & friends about who they are voting for this year & why… 

income tax protest oct 5th 1991

Protesting the Income Tax 10-5-91

#VoteRowB to end the #TaxingTyranny

We will only get more of the same if we keep on the same wrong road this year do something different & vote for new Leadership in the general assembly & for a better Connecticut