From:  Susan Kniep,  President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. (FCTO)
Website:  http://ctact.org/
email:  fctopresident@aol.com
860-841-8032
April 25, 2007

 

 

Please send the following to your email lists!

 

 

 

STOP HOUSE BILL 6956 Raised Bill [pdf] WHICH WILL COST

 

 

LOCAL AND STATE TAXPAYERS  MILLIONS AND

 

 

MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

$$$ ACT NOW $$$

 

 

 

STOP THIS COSTLY STATE MANDATE

 

 

 

Here is what you need to do:

 

·         Send this Email to everyone you know in Connecticut! Tell them Bill 6956 expands the State’s Heart and Hypertension Mandate, and  will cost local and state taxpayers millions and millions of tax dollars!   Tell them to contact their State Reps today to kill this bill. 

 

·         Read the CCM Announcement below!

 

·         Contact your STATE REPRESENTATIVES and tell them NO to House Bill 6956 or any facsimile thereof – Find your State Rep below!

 

·         Contact your LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS and tell them to get involved in this issue.  Tell them they must contact their State Reps and tell them to KILL BILL 6956 or any facsimile thereof which will drive up local budgets! 

 

 

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READ WHAT WAS JUST RELEASED FROM CCM

 

CCM, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities http://www.ccm-ct.org/

 

State Leaders Resurrect Huge Mandate : As reported by CCM on Friday- House Bill 6956, one of the largest unfunded mandates on municipalities in decades, died in accordance with the General Assembly rules-as Appropriations Committee members failed to complete the vote on it by the committee’s 5:00 p.m. deadline. 

CCM has now learned that Democratic leadership has “emergency certified” the mandate thus, resurrecting the bill and bringing it directly to the House floor.

Minutes before the committee’s 5:00 p.m. deadline, an amendment by Sen. Dan Debicella (R-Shelton) that creates “a police and firefighters occupational exposure account” within the General Fund, for purposes of reimbursing municipalities for the costs associated with the mandate, was adopted.  The language of the emergency certified bill should reflect the way the bill would have come out of the committee, as amended, but we have not yet been able to confirm it

Legislative leaders have resurrected HB 6956 despite its impact on local taxpayers.  This mandate would  cost towns and cities tens of millions of dollars annually by granting special workers' compensation  presumptions for police officers and firefighters who contract certain types of cancer or infectious diseases.  The bill would also extend the already costly heart and hypertension mandate. 

Many state legislators, as well as the public, are as yet unaware of this decision by leadership. 

Local officials need to contact their state legislators NOW!

Tell them to oppose this costly mandate in whatever form it will reappear, and that bills that die in committee should not be resuscitated using the emergency certification process, a process designed to deal with a true emergency situation that requires an end-run around the legislative rules.  A benefits give-away to a narrow group of employees should not qualify for this treatment.

For more information regarding this message, please contact Bob Labanara or Ron Thomas of CCM at 203-498-3000

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Contact Your State Representatives TODAY and Tell them 

 

 

VOTE NO on HOUSE BILL 6956 or facsimile thereof!

 

 

To Find Your Legislator, Click on the Following

 

http://www.cga.ct.gov/maps/townlist.asp