Sen. McLachlan Supports Legislation to Eliminate Partisan Unfunded Mandates

March 10, 2010

Hartford, CT- State Senator Mike McLachlan (R-Danbury) today testified before the Planning and Development Committee in support of SB 198, An Act Requiring a Two-thirds Vote to Enact New Municipal Mandates, of which he is a co-sponsor. If passed, the bill will require a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly to create or enlarge a state mandate on local governments.

“This is a common sense safeguard against partisan unfunded mandates we should have implemented years ago,” said Sen. McLachlan. “For too many years we have been passing down mandate after mandate with no system of checks and balances. Requiring a two-thirds majority vote will ensure that any newly created mandates have been seriously vetted and hold widespread support.

In his written testimony, Sen. McLachlan said that during his tenure working for city government he became acutely aware of the burden unfunded mandates place on towns and cities:

“One of the reasons I came to Hartford was to join the fight against these burdensome and costly mandates. With over 1200 state mandates on municipalities already on the books, SB 198 is a mechanism to stop or slow the enactment of future mandates, or expansion of current ones.”

“Local taxpayers ultimately pay the price for these mandates,” added Sen. McLachlan. “The Connecticut Legislature needs to act now to stop burdening our hardworking taxpayers and struggling towns and cities with more unfunded mandates.”

The bill is pending further action by the Planning and Development Committee before advancing in the legislative process.