Rep. Yaccarino Looks Back at Legislative Session

With this year’s regular General Assembly session under his belt, State who is expected to run unchallenged for his 87th district seat this fall, gave a thumbs-up to some actions the legislative body took, while giving mixed reviews to the political culture as a whole.

Until June 12, when the special session in which the Assembly will adopt a budget, begins, the legislator is back at , his North Haven shop. 

Education Reform

A strong proponent of education, Yaccarino termed education reform, which many deem the signature legislation of the session, a good bill.  “It’s a good bill for students and teachers and society.” 

He is especially pleased with the 1,000 slots the legislation creates for new pre-K school readiness seats, a component of the reform that focuses on high-need, low-performing school districts.  “Without that, many kids in all walks of life start off on the wrong foot, and get two or three grades behind.”

 “It’s looking at it overall,” he said of another provision—this, the annual teacher evaluations throughout the state that the legislation requires. He said more dialogue and discussion will occur at various levels as the evaluations take shape, with the evaluations themselves not scheduled to take effect until 2014 and results of the reform overall, he conceded, not known for years.

The Economy

Yaccarino also gave a quick thumbs up to legislation that capped the highly unpopular petroleum gross receipts or state percentage tax, saying he had wanted to see a cap for years.   He also voted against raising the minimum wage, saying flatly, “It’s not the right time.”

A bid to increase the minimum wage by .50 over two years passed in the House but stalled in a Senate committee days before the session closed.

“I’m against changing it. We’re higher than the federal average,” he said of the minimum wage in Connecticut, adding that the rate here is higher than both Massachusetts, where the minimum wage is $8.00 an hour, and New Hampshire, which has aligned its minimum wage with the federal rate, and, so, stands at $7.25 an hour. 

“You want to pay people as much as you can.  It’s just the wrong message to send to businessmen who want to create jobs. It’s a big mistake right now.”

What seems to bedevil him about the Connecticut legislative spigot is its capacity to both tax and spend, which he said the state legislature cannot continue to do. “You cannot raise taxes and increase spending at the same time.  When you do that, you generate less revenue.  In the history of any economy, it’s never worked.”

And he’s concerned about the lack of vision in Hartford. He said the state has had the same spending programs for 50 years and the poverty level has only increased. “We’ve done the same thing over and over and over,” he said, noting that the people who have paid the price for the General Assembly’s lack of vision are the state’s poorest and also its middle class.

Working Together 

As far as the degree of bipartisanship he would like to see—well, he acknowledged, “You can’t legislate those things.”

He said he has suggested to the deputy leaders that the Republicans in the House have a cook-out this summer with the Democrats. As a member of the congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, also he wants the Republicans and Democrats to join for a fishing derby.

 “Reach across party lines. Be respectful. We have to work together,” Yaccarino said.