To the editor:

Given ongoing developments at the Capitol, I consider it important to comment on the effect that one-party government is having on our lives.

Simply put, the legislature's Democrat majority, backed by the Governor, has pushed through a bevy of new laws-measures ranging from questionable to seriously problematic-with near impunity because they cannot be blocked through a party line vote.

For instance, during the last four weeks we have seen passage of:

• An incomplete and conjured budget;
• The largest tax increase in Connecticut history;
• A law giving "transgender" men who "self identify" themselves as women greater civil rights than women;
• An anti-business "captive audience" bill already under constitutional challenge;
• Inflated bond package mixing proper borrowing (e.g. school construction) with borrowing for un-vetted projects and government spending; and
• Mandatory "paid sick leave" that rewrites private employment contracts;
• Decriminalization of marijuana.

Even worse, some these controversial proposals were secreted away inside budget implementers-technical bills meant to trigger the budget-to adopt public policy legislation without proper scrutiny. Among these proposals was a provision that eliminated mandatory prison time for chronic drunken drivers while giving violent inmates, including sex offenders, early release for good behavior regardless of what the sentencing judge ruled. Such proposals should be vetted through the committee process rather than under the cloak of a technical budget bill-residents deserve a deliberative and transparent government.

While some laudable work has been done on a bipartisan basis, the legislature's efforts have, unfortunately, been clouded by a controversial ideological agenda that just doesn't square with the will of the average taxpayer.

State Rep. John Shaban
Easton, Weston, Redding
800-842-1423