Dear Neighbor,
This past year was difficult for many. I personally spoke with more residents looking for guidance and assistance than ever before. Things are looking much better than a year ago, but we are not out of the woods yet. During this year’s long session - the House convened in January and adjourned in June - we passed legislation that works to address these issues and set our state on a path forward. It is likely we will have another special session in the fall.
I have held firm to my centrist principles - everyone should pay their fair share of taxes, and not a penny more. This year, the legislature had the responsibility of passing the 2021-2023 biennium state budget. At the outset, many called for tax increases. Along with Rep. Kerry Wood (D-Rocky Hill), I led a group of centrist Democrats to adopt a fiscally responsible budget that funds our towns, does not raise taxes and does not tap into the $3.5 billion Rainy Day fund. I’m pleased to report that in the end, we prevailed in passing a fiscally responsible budget with solidly bipartisan support.
This past year, I had the honor of serving as the House chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs. This committee has cognizance over the State Department of Veterans Affairs, Connecticut Military Department, including the Connecticut Air National Guard & Connecticut Army National Guard. I am extremely proud of the work of our National Guard does, supporting missions at home including assisting local COVID-19 initiatives, domestic cyber security deployments and serving overseas on federal deployments. If you have not had the opportunity to check out their work, I recommend that you take a look at their website at https://ct.ng.mil/Pages.
I continue to advocate for Northeastern Connecticut. Most of the leadership in the legislative & executive branches comes from urban or suburban communities and I always push for rural Connecticut to be considered when drafting policy. By maintaining good relationships with the governor, legislative leaders and local leaders in both parties, I have been successful in changing legislation to better our Quiet Corner.
As always, If I can be of assistance, please let me know.
Best,
Pat Boyd
Supporting Military Families
As chair of the Veterans Committee, I worked hard to pass legislation for veterans and active military and their families. I proudly shepherded the following initiatives through the legislative process:
- Reduced the requirements for healthcare professionals and other tradespeople licensed in other states to obtain licensure and practice in Connecticut, making it easier for military families to transfer into our state.
- Created a Veterans and Military Tourism Trail to link memorials, battlegrounds and other historic sites related to CT’s veterans and military history
- Redefined “veteran” to ensure all Connecticut veterans can access the state-provided services and benefits to which they are entitled
- Established the National Purple Star School Program to assist military families moving into the state with school registration, planning, counseling and other support services
- Guaranteed that regardless of veterans’ financial status, they are honored with dignity by ensuring state funding, if needed, is available to help with funeral costs
Helping Seniors
To support our seniors, we passed the following laws to make it easier to live and retire in Connecticut:
- Enabled towns to lower the age to 65 to provide property tax relief for seniors
- Continued to phase out the state income tax on pensions and annuities - exempting 28% over the next 2 years, totaling 70% of this income not subjected to state taxes for most seniors
- Put in place strong consumer protections on long-term care insurance to prevent significant, unexpected rate increases and ensure more affordable products are available
- Expanded the rights of nursing home residents and ensured they can use technology to facilitate virtual visits with family and friends.
Investing In Public Safety
In addition to my state service, I continue to volunteer locally as the Deputy Emergency Management Director for the town of Pomfret and as the president of the Pomfret Volunteer Fire Department. I have served as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical responder for over a decade. Our volunteer fire departments and regional EMS services are critical to public safety in the Quiet Corner and are all in desperate need of new volunteers. I continued to serve as the co-chair of the Fire/EMS legislative caucus and championed several initiatives this session to address volunteer shortages:
- Secured a $3 million grant for the Tolland County Mutual Aid Fire Service to upgrade Emergency 911 Dispatch Systems. This is one of the single largest investments in emergency communications that Eastern Connecticut has ever seen. I continue to work for Phase II funding for the Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communications.
- Made critical changes to the controversial 2020 “Police Accountability Bill” to protect the personal safety of our law enforcement officers.
- Successfully advocated for emergency medical services personnel, corrections officers and public safety dispatchers to be included in PTSD coverage. This was a promise that I made when the initial LEO/Firefighter legislation passed in a prior session.
Tax Relief For CT Families
More low-income families will get a break on their state income tax through the Earned Income Tax Credit. Under the newly enacted budget, the Earned Income Tax Credit increased from 23% to 30.5%. This increase will result in an additional $40 million delivered to nearly 195,000 eligible households to assist with necessary expenses such as groceries, transportation, housing and more.
State Budget
During my time in the General Assembly, I have advocated for responsible spending and paying down our state debts, even voting against budgets that my colleagues supported. I am happy that this year, we passed a responsible budget that keeps the state’s Rainy Day Fund intact at $3.5 billion. Additionally, Connecticut will be making an historic $1 billion payment towards unfunded pension obligations.
In recent months, major credit ratings agencies have all upgraded Connecticut’s bond ratings, which affirms the work we have done to get Connecticut’s fiscal house in order.
Furthermore, we passed legislation to create government efficiencies, avoid waste, and modernize our system to better serve the public and save taxpayer money.
Federal COVID Education Funds
Eastford, Union & Woodstock Academy were left out
Over the past year, Congress passed a series of “COVID Relief” bills that sent billions of dollars to Connecticut to be spent locally on education. For many reasons - largely because Connecticut does not have county government and because of the size of the school districts and the unique incorporation status of Woodstock Academy - the towns of Eastford and Union, and Woodstock Academy did not receive any COVID Funds. Ironically, Eastford and Union remained learning in-person during the process. I worked with the local superintendents of schools and boards of education to engage our federal delegation, the governor’s office and the state Department of Education. They agreed to restore funding to make sure the Union School, Eastford Elementary School and Woodstock Academy were able to receive their fair share of the federal funding. If I had not spoken up and worked alongside Congressman Joe Courtney, Connecticut’s smallest communities would have been forgotten.