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Dear Friend,
This is my State Capitol update for the week of November 22.
If you prefer to watch rather than read, click the image below to hear about the issues contained in this newsletter. |
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The last week was a full one for me, including travel to a conference for state fiscal leaders during the week, flanked on one end by a weekend visit with my closest college friends (who travelled from all over the country to the Northwest Corner, which did not disappoint, even in November), and on the other by a visit to Chicago to watch our son (our youngest) play his last college football game. Like many of you, my husband and I have logged a lot of time on the sidelines of fields, rinks, and ski runs, watching, cheering, and sometimes flinching at, the exploits of our three kids. The sense of an era coming to a close definitely resonated beyond our family.
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My other big news is that I have been reappointed as House Chair of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee. Returning as Chair feels very different than two years ago, when I first became chair, and I’m looking forward to the work ahead, knowing that it will be filled with challenges. A budget is the fiscal manifestation of the state’s values, and attending the conference last week gave me, and the excellent staff members who joined me, a chance to reflect on those values, and to prepare for what is coming our way from a new federal administration with a very different set of priorities.
I hope the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday gives you a chance to connect with people you care about, in a safe, warm place with good food and maybe a football game or two. I hope it also provides an opportunity to step back a bit from the constant news and social media that wants all of our neurons to be firing all the time, and to focus instead on the people and organizations in the community that represent the best in all of us, and how we can all make the world just a little better for our neighbors and friends.
Happy Thanksgiving! |
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Here’s a list of today’s topics:
- November is National Family Caregivers Month. Click here.
- Connecticut Business will Receive Decrease in Workers’ Compensation Rates in 2025. Click here.
- Consumer Counsel Coleman announces settlement in Frontier quality of service violations case. Click here.
- Upcoming Events. Click here.
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Governor Lamont has declared it to be Family Caregivers Month in Connecticut to help recognize and honor the 420,000 family caregivers living in Connecticut.
Our state’s 420,000 unpaid family caregivers provide 390 million hours of care annually, valued at $7.2 billion. They help adult loved ones remain in their homes and they are the backbone of our health care system. They deserve our support.
CT Resources: Find Local Caregiver Resources Serving Connecticut
National Resources: Caregiving Resources for AARP Members |
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The ongoing trend of decreasing rates in workers’ compensation insurance will result in Connecticut businesses receiving a 6% rate decrease beginning January 1, 2025.
The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved an annual workers’ compensation rate filing for 2025 with a decrease of 6.1% to the voluntary market loss costs and a decrease of 6.2% in assigned risk plan rates. This becomes the eleventh consecutive year that the Connecticut Insurance Department has approved rate decreases for workers’ compensation insurance, resulting in significant cost savings for employers. The trend reflects a continued decline in workplace injuries and filed claims.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance proposed the revised rates in a filing in September, basing the rates on past and prospective loss experience. The Connecticut Insurance Department’s official approval and the filing can be reviewed on the department’s website at portal.ct.gov/cid/department-resources/commissioner-orders. |
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Because Connecticut has repaid all 2024 Unemployment Trust Fund borrowing prior to the November 10, 2024 deadline, employers in the state will avoid an increase in federal unemployment taxes in 2025.
This is the second consecutive year that state investments into the Trust Fund spared employers federal unemployment tax increases and the fourth consecutive year that Connecticut employers do not have to pay special assessment fees, which cover interest on the loans. So far in 2024, the state borrowed and repaid $215 million for unemployment benefits payments.
Administered by the Connecticut Department of Labor, all unemployment benefits are paid from the Unemployment Trust Fund, an account that is fully funded by employers. If the Trust Fund is insolvent, states borrow from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits. Borrowing requires employers to repay the original loan through increased taxes, as well as a special assessment on loan interest.
While Connecticut will borrow from the federal government for the Trust Fund over the next couple of years, achieving Trust Fund solvency is underway through a series of reforms proposed by Governor Lamont and unanimously enacted by the legislature in 2021 and 2022. Solvency is currently calculated at $1.6 billion in Connecticut. That figure represents the Trust Fund balance that would prevent the need for borrowing should the state sustain recessionary unemployment levels for one year and receive zero Fund revenue.
Employers pay 2024 payroll taxes beginning in January 2025. |
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This week Consumer Counsel Coleman announced a settlement agreement with the Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET) d/b/a Frontier Communications to address the Notice of Violation and penalty the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (“PURA”) assessed against Frontier for its prolonged and repeated failures to meet state quality of service standards and performance filing requirements in July of this year. The settlement agreement provides Frontier customers with credits for those impacted by Frontier’s repeated failures, while ensuring customers will receive better quality of service moving forward with the imposition of credits for any future violations. The agreement is binding on the existing company as well as any successor seeking acquisition of the company.
PURA’s July 2023 Final Decision and Notice of Violation concluded a six-month proceeding initiated by a petition for investigation filed by the Office of Consumer Counsel after identifying numerous counts of noncompliance within Frontier’s self-reported semi-annual service quality filings.
More information regarding the settlement agreement can be found here and here. PURA’s approval, issued today, can be found here. |
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ICMYI - Northwest Corner Events |
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HVA’s Auction for the Environment
The Housatonic Valley Association is hosting their annual Auction for the Environment on Saturday, November 23. Click here to learn more. |
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It is my honor to represent our district. I look forward to hearing from you about the issues raised in this newsletter, or any other topics you think I should know about. You can email me at maria.horn@cga.ct.gov or call me at (860)-240-8585. Thanks for reading, and I wish you a safe weekend.
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Sincerely,

Maria Horn
State Representative |
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