October 8, 2009 - Speaker of the House Chris Donovan joined with Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney at a news conference in Hartford on October 8th. The legislators expressed their profound disappointment over the revelations that Governor M. Jodi Rell improperly used $200,000 of taxpayer money to hold focus groups for her own political gain.
Speaker Donovan made it clear that he will be closely monitoring the situation to protect the financial investments of Connecticut taxpayers.
October 6, 2009 - Speaker of the House Chris Donovan spoke to a crowd at Cedarcrest Hospital in Newington. Governor Rell is unilaterally attempting to close the facility.
Donovan and legislative Democrats triumphed in keeping funding for Cedarcrest in the new state budget and have stood side by side with patients and staff to ensure that residents of Connecticut receive the best possible care.
September 10, 2009 - Speaker of the House, Chris Donovan, moderated a roundtable discussion on Federal and Statewide Health Insurance Reform at the Community Health Center in Meriden on September 9th. The Speaker joined a panel of healthcare professionals and health insurance reform advocates to address the concerns of Connecticut citizens adversly effected by the current healthcare system.
August 4, 2009 - House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan joined US Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy,
as well as workers from the East Hartford repair center, to discuss the fate the two Pratt & Whitney operations in Connecticut.
June 17, 2009 - Speaker Donovan participated with other state legislators in a press conference hosted by U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, designed to encourage national leaders to quickly adopt healthcare reform, including the choice of a public health insurance plan, strong affordability protections, and shared employer responsibility for health care costs.
June 16, 2009 - Speaker of the House Donovan appointed Reps. Urban & Jarmoc to Co-Chair the Task Force on Children.
Virtually all the progress made in children’s economic well-being since 1975 is likely to be wiped out by the current economic downturn, according to researchers. The impact is especially severe for low-income children of color. Children who fall into poverty now will feel the impact well past recovery of the economy. Connecticut is the first in the nation to form a legislative task force to plan for children in the recession and during the recovery.
June 11, 2009 - Chris Donovan (D - Meriden) stood with a crowd of support on the steps of Meriden's Board of Education to oppose Governor Rell's proposal to cut Family Resource Center funding. This was the first stop on Chris's tour of the city of Meriden. Each stop highlighted valuable services and programs that the Governor aims to cut or burden with higher fees. With 62 Family Resource Centers in the state, supporters from many communities made the trip to Meriden to stand by the value of these programs and support Rep. Donovan's efforts to reverse the Governor's proposals to cut funding where the need is greatest. Chris Donovan is the Speaker of the House of Representatives and represents Meriden's 84th District.
June 10, 2009 - Speaker of the House Chris Donovan gathered with House Democrats in New Haven to respond to Governor Rell's proposal to increase bus fares by 40% and to increase train fares by 10%. Over one years time a rail commuter would be charged an extra $900 under her proposal.
January 7, 2009 - Representative Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) gives his first address from the dais as the Speaker of the House. Entering the 2009 legislative session, Rep. Donovan leads the largest caucus of Majority Democrats in years as the Speaker of the House.
January 7, 2009 - Representative Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) is officially sworn in as House Speaker.
January 6, 2009 - Chris Donovan and Don Williams jointly address the beginning of the budget process and give an overview of the work that the House of Representatives (under Rep. Donovan's leadership) and the Senate (under Sen. Williams leadership) will need to do.
December 2008 - Incoming Speaker of the House Chris Donovan announces the House Democratic Leadership and Committee Chair assignments. The choices for these positions was made earlier than previous years to get a head start on the tremendous challenge dealing with the economic conditions facing the state.