Concerned Connecticut taxpayers and voters are pushing for a ban on drinking alcohol during legislative sessions and state functions, such as the Governor's Inaugural Ball, due to PUBLIC SAFETY concerns.  

In 2020, the state of Connecticut ranked third in the nation in drunk driving deaths.  THIRD!

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 11,654 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers, accounting for 30% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. This was a 14.3% increase compared to the number of crash deaths involving alcohol-impaired drivers in 2019.

It should go without saying, in most jobs, it’s a given to not drink on the job.

Yet sadly, the very lawmakers that pass laws to prevent the public from driving under the influence of both alcohol and drugs are ignoring the laws themselves! 

In 2021, Connecticut lawmakers were warned about the serious consequences of excessive alcohol consumption during legislative sessions, including potentially losing valuable committee assignments. 

Since then, we had several lawmakers arrested for driving under the influence, to include a fatality in 2023.  A Middletown Connecticut lawmaker died in a wrong-way-driver head-on crash on Route 9 as he headed home from Gov. Ned Lamont’s inaugural ball. It's alleged he was a victim of a drunk driver speeding on the wrong side of the highway but he was also found to have twice the legal limit for alcohol in his blood stream… and THC. 
   
Solutions:

First, there should be no double standards as it relates to applying local, state and federal laws concerning public safety! It is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs - Period.

Secondly, it is vital that lawmakers, at all levels of government, remain literally sober, focused and productive as they introduce bills, pass laws, and make decisions that impact the quality of life for its citizens. Bottom line, these public officials are making life and death decisions on behalf of their constituents!  

Thirdly, states like New Mexico are taking this issue of lawmakers drinking on the job seriously and have introduced a bill to ban drinking during their legislative activities. 

"In most jobs, it’s a given to not drink on the job. Senator Harold Pope Jr. said the goal of his bill is to set a better example in the chamber.

We want people to be professional and be on the job and be focused. We’re dealing with some serious issues every day, you know, what we vote on, and it’s stressful enough it can be contentious on the floor, and the last thing we need is to have folks having drinks or inebriated which is going to cause people to make bad choices,” said Senator Harold Pope Jr."