Month: September 2017

Statement from Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) today released the following statement regarding the state budget:

“Three Democratic senators and six democratic representatives have voted for a shortsighted Republican budget that decimates funding for UCONN and the Connecticut state universities and community colleges, wipes out scholarship assistance for low and moderate-income students, abandons our capitol city to bankruptcy, contains unachievable lapses, severely reduces the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, and posits actuarial savings in state pension contributions by undermining collective bargaining while ignoring the likelihood that these projected savings will be struck down in litigation as an impairment of existing contacts.

“So much for the Republicans’ supposedly ‘responsible and realistic’ budgeting practices.

“However, given the outcome in the state senate on Friday and in the House of Representatives on Saturday morning, and given Governor Malloy’s welcome veto commitment, we must renew our dedication to bipartisan negotiations in a final push to adopt a budget by October 1st to forestall the consequences of the Governor’s proposed executive order.”

Statement of Senate President Looney Regarding the Status of State Budget Negotiations:

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) issued the following statement today regarding the status of state budget negotiations:

“This afternoon the governor gave Democratic legislative leaders his response to our latest spending and revenue proposal. Now we have to evaluate and develop a response to the perspectives he offered. Staff and legislative leaders will be working this afternoon and evening to finalize a budget agreement.”

Statement of Senate President Looney on Alexion Pharmaceutical’s Global Business Changes

State Senate President Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) issued the following statement today in response to Alexion Pharmaceutical’s announcement that it will lay off 20 percent of its global workforce in order to increase corporate profits, and will move several hundred jobs to Boston while retaining several hundred other jobs in New Haven at its “Center for Excellence” in laboratory research and clinical supply.

“It’s unfortunate that federal investigations and poor financial investments are forcing Alexion to lay off thousands of workers worldwide and shutter some of its facilities, including in Rhode Island next door,” Sen. Looney said. “Certainly Connecticut has been a very strong business partner with Alexion, investing millions of dollars and a great deal of time and resources in growing the company right here in Connecticut. But there are some business decisions which are out of the control of state government. Despite all this, I am pleased that Alexion has decided to retain a very substantial job presence here in downtown New Haven.”

According to news reports, Alexion Pharmaceuticals announced earlier today that it plans to lay off 20 percent of its global workforce as part of a restructuring effort in order to increase corporate profits in 2018 and 2019.

As part of the restructuring, Alexion said today that it plans to eliminate spending and workers associated with de-prioritized drug pipeline programs, close multiple company sites (including its Rhode Island manufacturing facility), close certain regional and country-based offices, and outsource certain non-core finance and IT roles.

Alexion plans to relocate its headquarters from New Haven to Boston by mid-2018, moving about 400 jobs to Boston but retaining New Haven as Alexion’s “Center of Excellence” with about 450 jobs there in research labs, clinical supply and quality teams, nurse case management and enterprise business services.

According to The Boston Globe, Alexion made its name on Soliris, a treatment for rare diseases that—at a cost of about $700,000 a year—is also the world’s most expensive drug. But after a series of research pipeline disappointments and an ill-advised $8.4 billion acquisition, Alexion is facing an uncertain future. Soliris, which accounts for about 90 percent of Alexion’s corporate revenue, could lose its patent protection as early as 2021, and Alexion—now under new management—has struggled map out a convincing case for future growth.

The Globe reported that Alexion’s announcement today has been widely anticipated since January, when an accounting scandal caused Alexion’s longtime CEO, David Hallal, to step down. An internal investigation concluded that the company’s senior management “failed to set an appropriate tone at the top,” including a high-pressure sales environment that has made Alexion the subject of federal investigations. Alexion’s board hired a new CEO in March, who swiftly replaced most of Alexion’s top management and cut research programs outside the company’s core scientific focus, the Globe reported.

Statement of Senate Democratic Leaders Looney and Duff on Republicans Walking Away and Ending Bipartisan Budget Negotiations

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) today released this joint statement after Republican legislative leaders walked out on the ongoing state budget negotiations, thereby ending any hopes of achieving a bipartisan budget agreement:

“No one has a monopoly on good ideas regarding the state budget. We have said so before, and we have sat down with our Republican colleagues and incorporated their ideas into previous state budgets. That was our position in these budget talks as well; to say otherwise is disingenuous. We have discussed numerous systemic reforms and structural changes with Republicans, and Democrats have found common ground with Republicans on about two dozen important structural reforms for which they advocated, from the makeup of binding arbitration panels to hearings on state auditor’s findings, municipal mandate relief, mandatory votes on labor contracts, the bonding cap, various state regulations, and other items. You will see these systemic reforms and others in our budget plan.

“Today’s meeting was supposed to discuss a list of Republican arguments in support of some of their suggestions which we have not taken up. However, they never delivered that letter, and they walked away from the negotiating table. We have always suspected that legislative Republicans would find some excuse to walk out on bipartisan budget talks, we just didn’t know exactly how and when that would occur. Unfortunately, today, our Republican colleagues chose the easy path of political posturing over the more difficult path of making painful but necessary public policy changes. For five two-year budget cycles—more than a decade—Republicans have reduced themselves to mere spectator status in crafting and adopting a state budget that the people of Connecticut need and deserve. And they have chosen to continue on that path again.

“Meanwhile, the Republican claim today of finally having their own workable budget proposal is dubious. They may have a budget that balances revenues and expenditures, but could it receive a majority of votes in the House and Senate? Would it be signed into law by the governor? This is the basic hands-on, legislative craftwork that has proven so difficult for so long, and which Democrats and the executive branch have been grappling with.

“The time for talk is now over, and the time for action has come. We will take action.”