Looney, Duff Urge Connecticut Towns, Cities to Review Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Priorities

Following the Manchester Board of Directors August meeting which addressed whether the town’s membership in the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) aligned with Manchester’s needs in light of CCM’s opposition to a key pro-housing bill passed by the General Assembly and then vetoed by Governor Lamont, Senate President Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) urged other Connecticut towns and cities to review their residents’ priorities and compare them to those of CCM.

Should town and CCM priorities differ, the Senate leaders said, municipal leaders should consider whether their municipality’s membership remains beneficial to them.

“No two towns in Connecticut have exactly the same needs, but many of them know we’re facing a deepening housing crunch,” said Sen. Looney. “For an organization purporting to represent the best interests of municipalities to emphasize rejection of already-passed legislation that would help address local housing needs suggests a disturbing gulf in priorities. I would encourage municipal leaders to take time to review CCM’s advocacy role and compare the benefits of membership with its messaging efforts opposing policies that could help them. The results could be striking.”

“I applaud Manchester leaders for recognizing their priorities supporting housing and labor may run in opposition to those held by organizations they are members of,” said Sen. Duff. “With CCM taking a more active role in calling for action on key legislation, I encourage more leaders to take time to reflect on best practices and next steps in rectifying the potential gap between their priorities and CCM priorities.”

CT Insider reported in August that Manchester’s Board of Directors voted to write a letter to CCM following the organization’s opposition to House Bill 5002, a major affordable housing bill that would have created significant new opportunities for housing units and alleviated the state’s housing crisis as well as spurring needed economic development. While CCM’s opposition alleged the bill would remove local control over zoning, Manchester’s response stated the bill’s policies were essential to combating homelessness and housing insecurity in Connecticut, issues that represent critical pressures on Connecticut residents and municipalities alike.

CCM was a leader in an effort to lobby Governor Lamont after House Bill 5002 passed both chambers of the General Assembly. While Lamont did not express opposition to the bill prior to its passage, he would ultimately veto it following a weeks-long campaign of opposition by detractors, leaving Connecticut’s housing shortfall of hundreds of thousands of units unaddressed.

In fact, CCM’s own messaging in April, in reference to its claims of municipalities being underfunded by the state, cited “surging” housing costs as a key issue impacting state residents. Its June statement in response to Lamont’s veto also recognizes “the urgent need to expand housing opportunities across the state” – in response to rejection of a bill passed by both chambers seeking to do just that.

Senator Looney Urges PURA to Hold AVANGRID Accountable for Betrayal of UI Retirees

HARTFORD – Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) urged the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) to hold AVANGRID accountable for its broken promises to United Illuminating (UI) and UIL Holdings retirees. In a letter sent to PURA Chair Marissa Paslick Gillett, Senator Looney urged the Authority to require AVANGRID to honor commitments made during its 2015 acquisition of UI.

“When United Illuminating was acquired by AVANGRID the agreement included guarantees that retirement benefits (including pensions and healthcare) would not be adversely affected by this transaction,” Looney wrote. “However, as the attached documents illustrate, on June 30, 2025, non-union UI/UIL retirees received a notice from AVANGRID stating that, effective January 1, 2026, AVANGRID plans to eliminate the current Medicare Part B premium reimbursement and transition the current Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) to a Contingent HRA which reduces the annual base subsidy by almost half for each retiree and their eligible dependents.”

Senator Looney emphasized the severity of this reversal, calling it “a betrayal of these employees and of the terms of the 2015 acquisition agreement.”

Looney also noted the company’s current request to raise rates, writing: “It appears disingenuous for the company to claim it needs to increase rates to cover retiree costs at the same time it is breaking its promises and cutting retiree benefits.”

The retirees themselves have raised these concerns. In letters dated July 29, 2025, and August 19, 2025, the group of more than 200 retirees called on AVANGRID to cancel its planned actions and on PURA to enforce the company’s commitments to employees.

Senator Looney concluded his letter with a direct call to action for PURA: “I urge you to include in the rate case decision a requirement that AVANGRID live up to its longstanding commitment to its retirees.”

Senators Looney and Duff Condemn Trump’s Firing of 78 Connecticut Workers

HARTFORD – Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) condemn the announcement that 78 Connecticut workers will lose their jobs due to President Trump’s attacks on the clean energy industry. PosiGen, a solar developer, announced this week that it will cease operations nationwide, including its three Connecticut-based offices in Danbury, Shelton, and Wethersfield. According to The Connecticut Post, “PosiGen officials blame the company’s financial difficulties on the decision by Congress to remove the majority of solar tax credits.” Earlier this summer, President Trump and Republicans in Congress passed a budget that eliminated most federal solar tax credits, creating financial pressure on the solar industry as a whole.

“This closure is not only a tragedy for the men and women who worked at PosiGen, but also a setback for our state and our nation,” said Senator Looney. “At a moment when we should be investing in clean energy and job growth, President Trump has turned his back on progress. He is willing to take food off the table of Connecticut families to further the goals of big oil and gas.”

“President Trump talks a big game about standing up for the working man, but the truth is he’s left 78 Connecticut families without a paycheck,” said Senator Duff. “These are blue-collar jobs that built our clean energy future. Now they’re gone because Trump needed the money for tax cuts for billionaires and his corrupt circle.”

Senator Looney Calls Out Insurance Industry Over Skyrocketing Health Care Premiums

HARTFORD – Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) today issued a strong statement following the Connecticut Insurance Department’s public hearing on health insurance rate requests from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, ConnectiCare, and United/Oxford.

In a letter to Connecticut Insurance Department Commissioner Andrew N. Mais, Looney condemned the insurers, hospitals, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for repeatedly seeking unaffordable rate hikes while failing to take responsibility for controlling costs or protecting Connecticut patients.

“The requested increases, which range from 5.9% to 26.1%, are significantly higher than the requests last year which were also unaffordable,” Looney said in the letter. “These highly profitable companies again failed to provide convincing evidence to justify their rate requests.”

Looney pointed to the disproportionate burden on older enrollees and the record profits of insurers. “About one-third of the affected enrollees are between ages 55 and 64, a group already paying some of the highest premiums in the market. Elevance, Anthem’s parent company, made a $6 billion profit in 2024. Even while having to spend billions to recover from a cyberattack, United Healthcare showed a $14 billion profit in 2024.”

He criticized insurers, hospitals, and PBMs for finger-pointing rather than taking responsibility. “The insurers, the hospitals, and the PBMs point at each other but take no responsibility themselves. The insurers, the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the hospitals, and the drug manufacturers all profit from the system at the expense of the patients who are the appropriate beneficiaries the system is supposed to serve. We need to change course and put the patient back in the center.”

The Senate President called for bold action to put patients back at the center of the system, including:

• Capping contract price increases at the level of inflation between insurers and hospitals, with contracts made public.
• Implementing site-neutral pricing to reduce hospital outpatient costs significantly.
• Limiting negotiated rates to no more than 200% of Medicare for any procedure.

Looney also highlighted research from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that traditional Medicare operates far more efficiently than private insurers, with administrative costs below 2%, compared to nearly 17% for Medicare Advantage and other private plans.

“If the insurers cannot protect patients from unaffordable price increases, it is time for the state to step in.”

Read the full letter here.

Senators Looney and Duff Issue Statement on Trump’s Halt of Revolution Wind Project

HARTFORD – Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, issued the following statement today regarding President Donald Trump’s decision to halt construction on the Revolution Wind project.
“Trump’s decision will crush blue-collar union jobs he pretends to care about and force Connecticut families to shoulder higher electric bills. Unlike him, our residents can’t abuse federal power for personal gain to cover rising energy costs.”