Tag: William Tong

Connecticut’s Top Court Upholds Ban on Religious Exemptions

The Center Square
Kid Vaccine

Connecticut’s highest court has rejected another legal challenge to the state’s pandemic-era law repealing religious exemptions for school vaccine requirements.

Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruling rejected several claims by the plaintiffs in the case, who argued that the state’s 2021 move to eliminate religious exemptions violated the state and U.S. constitutions. However, justices agreed to sustain claims that the law violates Connecticut’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, sending the issue back to a lower court to decide.

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Connecticut’s Democrat AG Shuns Ranked Choice Voting

Admin
William Tong

The election process known as ranked choice voting isn’t compatible with one of the oldest state constitutions in America, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, says. 

Tong released an 11-page legal opinion Tuesday stating that the system of voting, which allows voters to rank their choices of candidates, violates at least two standing provisions of the Connecticut Constitution. The state’s attorney general said it was a “close call,” however.

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Tong and 18 Other Attorneys General Oppose Opt-Out Option from LGBTQ+ Books for Second Graders

The Center Square

 A coalition of 19 attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of a local Maryland board of education’s policy that does not allow parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ inclusive texts. The lawsuit was filed by three families against the Montgomery County Board of Education, with two of the three families suing on behalf of policies for their second grade children, while the third did not list the grade level of its elementary school children. The parents, who are Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox, filed their lawsuit on religious freedom grounds. 

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Connecticut Attorney General Pledges to Scrutinize Gas Rate Hike

The Center Square

Connecticut’s consumer advocates are pushing back against natural gas rate increases sought by one of the state’s largest utilities, which comes as the company fights state regulators’ rejection of an electric rate hike in court.

In filings to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Southern Connecticut Natural Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas request approval to increase their average gas distribution rates by 5-9% during the winter season.

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Connecticut AG and 13 Other AGs Want Action on ‘Plastic Pollution Crisis’

The Center Square

Fourteen state attorneys general asked the Biden Administration to do more to “combat the plastic pollution crisis.”

An Aug. 3 media release, the group stated, “Plastic does not fully degrade, instead breaking down into smaller pieces called microplastics, which have been found in drinking water, food, air, and even human blood and living lung tissue.”

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Connecticut and Other States Weigh In Against Idaho’s Abortion ‘Travel Ban’

The Center Square

Washington state’s attorney general is among 20 attorneys general to have filed legal arguments in a federal lawsuit challenging Idaho’s law that makes it illegal to either obtain abortion pills for a minor or to help them leave the state for an abortion without their parents’ knowledge and consent. 

In a Tuesday news release, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the collective states’ amicus brief is in support of a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court against Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador. The plaintiffs allege that Labrador’s interpretation of the law threatens to punish medical providers and residents outside Idaho’s borders for giving information and assistance to minors about legal abortion access in their states.

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Connecticut Attorney General Probes Theft-Prone Vehicles

The Center Square

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has launched a consumer protection investigation into automakers Hyundai and Kia after hundreds of the vehicles have been stolen across the country.

As part of the investigation, announced on Wednesday, Tong seeks records and information on certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in Connecticut, including complaints, internal reports on the company’s decision-making, and anti-theft software and internal communications.

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Connecticut Seeks to Tighten Robocall Rules for Telemarketers

The Center Square

Connecticut is taking aim at telemarketers accused of bombarding the state’s consumers with hundreds of millions of ‘robocalls’ every year.

The state’s General Assembly approved a proposal last week that would expand the state’s anti-robocall statutes to cover text messages, ban “gateway” voice over internet protocol providers from facilitating overseas scammers’ access to the U.S. telecom networks and allow for enforcement action against calls received by Connecticut area codes, regardless of where they originate. 

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Connecticut Gets $125 Million from Tobacco Settlement

The Center Square

Connecticut is receiving nearly $125 million this year as part of a nationwide tobacco settlement, according to Attorney General William Tong, who calls for increased spending on preventing youth smoking and vaping.

The money comes from a landmark 1998 settlement with tobacco companies, which calls for more than $246 billion to be funneled into states based on an annually adjusted rate per number of cigarettes sold each year. A portion of the funds are supposed to be put aside for smoking prevention and cessation programs.

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Connecticut’s Attorney General Seeks Power to Sue Nursing Homes

The Center Square

Connecticut’s top law-enforcement officer wants to be able to sue nursing homes to recoup taxpayer dollars when facilities are accused of harming patients. 

A proposal being considered by the state’s General Assembly would, if approved, authorize the Attorney General’s office to conduct investigations and file civil lawsuits in cases where state health officials have issued orders that state or federal laws or regulations have been violated.

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Leftists Blame War in Ukraine, Fossil Fuels, Deregulation of Electric Power for Connecticut’s 50 Percent Hike in Energy Costs

Susan Berry, PhD
Couple paying bills

Democrat officials in Connecticut, the state’s electric power giants, and their allies in the media are blaming a 50 percent increase in electric prices this winter in the state on Russia’s war with Ukraine, a reliance on fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, and the fact that Connecticut has a deregulated electricity market.

In a press release, dated November 17, state Attorney General William Tong (D) announced that, effective January 1, Eversource will double its rates from 12.05 cents to 24.2 cents per kWh, and United Illuminating will also double its rates from 10.6 cents to 22.5 cents per kWh.

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Florida and Connecticut Attorneys General Lead Bipartisan Effort to Classify Illicit Fentanyl as Weapon of Mass Destruction

The Center Square
fentanyl pills on the hood of a vehicle

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong are leading a multistate, bipartisan effort urging President Joe Biden to classify illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD).

“I first called for President Biden to take swift action in July and call fentanyl what it is – a weapon of mass destruction,” Moody said. “Now, I am leading a bipartisan coalition of 18 attorneys general demanding the president take action now, declare fentanyl a WMD and join us in our fight to prevent the death and destruction caused by this highly-lethal substance from getting even worse.”

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Connecticut Attorney General Reaches $1.8 Million Settlement with Eversource

The Center Square

A settlement has been reached with one public utility company, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said.

The state’s top law enforcement official announced a $1.8 million settlement has been reached with Eversource over the company’s alleged false and deceptive high-pressure tactics that were used to try to and encourage people to convert to natural gas.

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Tong: Connecticut Homeowners Should Be Aware of Solar Power Contracts

The Center Square

Residents are being advised to research solar companies before entering into contracts, Attorney General William Tong said.

The state’s top law enforcement official and Michelle Seagull, commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, are warning Connecticut homeowners who are interested in installing solar panels on their property to perform research and be cognizant of misleading marketing and high-pressure sales tactics.

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Connecticut AG Leads Bipartisan Coalition Alleging in Amicus Briefs Big Pharma Violates Affordable Drug Mandates

The Center Square

Connecticut’s attorney general is leading a nationwide charge against big pharma for violating mandates of a federal drug program and to secure affordable prescription drug prices for low-income Americans.

AG William Tong announced that a pair of amicus briefs have been filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit and District of Columbia. The briefs defend actions taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in cases files by Sanofi SA, Novartis Pharmaceutics, United Therapeutics Corp, and NovoNorisk.

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Klarides Gets GOP Endorsement for Senator from Connecticut; Primary Still Likely

Bradley Vasoli

Themis Klarides received the endorsement of the Connecticut Republican Party last week for nomination to unseat Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal but fellow Republicans Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj got sufficient backing at the nominating convention to pursue primary campaigns.

Both Levy, a businesswoman, and Lumaj, a former secretary of state hopeful and former gubernatorial candidate, are running to the right of Klarides, a former minority leader of the state House of Representatives who has voted for gun-control legislation and favors abortion rights. Levy and Lumaj oppose both. Insofar as this year’s election will be decided amidst the expected overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion, Klarides could find her position on abortion a liability in the primary, though possibly an asset in a blue-state general election.

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Lawmakers Call for Challenge to ARPA Rules Limiting Connecticut Tax Reduction

Bradley Vasoli
Ned Lamont

Connecticut Republican legislators said on Saturday they want the state to challenge a part of the American Rescue Plan Act which limits states’ ability to cut taxes.

GOP senators and representatives are calling for tax reduction beyond the targeted relief backed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D). A major roadblock to greater decreases will be the COVID-relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law last year. The act included $195.3 billion in recovery funds for states and barred states accepting allocations from using them to “directly or indirectly offset a reduction in net tax revenue… or delay the imposition of any tax or tax increase.”

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Connecticut Attorney General Joins Brief Against ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

Bradley Vasoli
William Tong and Kwame Raoul

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) joined 17other state attorneys general in signing onto an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end the federal “remain in Mexico” immigration policy.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) has spearheaded the effort among liberal state prosecutors to persuade the high court to reverse the Trump-era policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The policy stipulates that asylum seekers generally must await their U.S. asylum hearings in Mexico. The Biden White House has criticized the protocols but the courts have prevented him from reversing it.

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