Monster Mandate: Still Bad Public Policy

HB 6956—one of the most destructive state mandates on municipal budgets—was amended and favorably reported out of the Planning & Development (P&D) Committee on Monday. Yes...you’ve read correctly—the same mandate that died in the Appropriations Committee, and then emergency certified—has now been reported out of the P&D Committee and is on its way to the House floor.

The original mandate—which would unnecessarily grant police officers and firefighters special workers’ compensation presumptions for cancer, H&H, and infectious & contagious diseases without requiring they show the work-relatedness of their illnesses—was amended to also grant volunteer and municipal EMS personnel these same special, costly benefits—again, without requiring they show their injuries are job-related.

HB 6956—Still Bad Public Policy:

• Other amendments to this mandate which focus solely on heart disease, and create a fictitious “liability account” with arbitrary amounts of funding are misleading.
• There are no funds in the state budget that will pay for the costs of these unprecedented benefits and the damage of fundamentally disrupting Connecticut’s workers’ compensation system.
• Make no mistake - your town’s residential and business property taxpayers will be left with the price tag, being forced to pay for the increased amount of cancer claims or heart and infectious disease claims for this select group of people—for years to come!

REMAIN VIGILANT:

Only 3 weeks remain in the 2007 regular legislative session - Contact your state legislators NOW!

Tell them:

1. To OPPOSE HB 6956 in whatever disguise it appears,
2. That it would negate much of the property tax relief initiatives proposed this session—relief that would go toward paying for local public safety, education and transportation services, and
3. HB 6956 is STILL BAD PUBLIC POLICY!

If you have any questions, please contact Bob Labanara or Ron Thomas of CCM at 203/498-3000.