Wilson, Piscopo Condemn Democrats for Failure to Override Vetoes on Education Funding, Hartford Bailout, School Safety

HARTFORD – State Representatives Dave Wilson (R-66) and John Piscopo (R-76) blasted Democrats for failing to override Gov. Malloy’s vetoes and pass legislation to scale back the Hartford bailout, make schools safer, preserve education funding and provide tax credits for manufacturers.

On June 25, the legislature was called in for a veto session to overturn Governor Malloy’s veto of seven bills that initially passed through the General Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate chambers during the regular 2018 legislative session.

“These seven bills passed in both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. The fact that Democrats came back during the veto session and changed their votes on good bills that would help the residents of Connecticut just because they wouldn’t push back on Governor Malloy is playing politics over people and that’s not what we’re elected to do,” said Rep. Wilson.

The bill to prevent governors from withholding education cost sharing money from towns and cities passed in the House but failed to get the two-thirds support to override the veto in the Senate.

“This is a failure to act by the majority party, who had the opportunity to demonstrate leadership to the cities and towns of Connecticut, and that they truly care about their financial stability,” said Rep. Piscopo. This was a common sense proposal that passed the legislature with bipartisan support, but in the end, House and Senate Democrats chose to support Governor Malloy and his veto, rather than stand behind their original votes. It’s entirely unfortunate that politics came before education funding, and the taxpayers are the ones who ultimately bear the brunt of their failed policies when local taxes go up.”

Other bill vetoes that were upheld during the session included making school classrooms and schools safer, limiting the $500 million Hartford bailout that will cost Connecticut taxpayers over the next 20 years, and helping manufacturers.

Rep. Wilson added, “Connecticut taxpayers are on the hook for the next 20 years for $500 million to bailout Hartford, an agreement which was negotiated in secret by Governor Malloy to bail out the failing city of Hartford with Hartford’s Mayor Luke Bronin, without the knowledge of the legislature. This is fiscal irresponsibility and deception at its worst, and the taxpayers of Connecticut deserve better.”

Rep. Piscopo added that the bill Republicans supported would have made schools safer by making it easier to remove dangerous and disruptive students from classrooms. “Teachers came to the Capitol to testify in support of this measure, and I will continue to support them on this issue, and will continue to work to pass legislation to make classrooms safer.”

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