Sen. Blumenthal criticizes Trump administration funding request for war in Iran

Driving while streaming? CT could close ‘loophole’ letting drivers watch videos behind the wheel

Lawmakers advance bill focusing on homeschooling rules

Lawmakers advance bill letting CT set its own vaccine recommendations

Conversation Connecticut: Craig Springer, CPA and Consultant with Maillie LLP

Trial begins for former state senator Dennis Bradley on wire fraud charges

connecticut

News 12 Staff

RTCTPowerPolitics03212026BBlock230pm

I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Joining me now is Scott Dolch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Restaurant and Hospitality Association. Welcome. Thanks, Mark, as always for having me. Oh, great to see you. Hey, uh, now, Connecticut lawmakers, uh, are again considering, uh, this ban on Styrofoam takeout containers and other limits on single-use plastic. What is your concern about that? Well, listen, uh, Mark, such a great question. I think the biggest thing for us is if you look at the bill, the way that it's written, I think it targets our industry unfairly. I think it looks to target, you know, I think there's, there's, I never really liked the word ban. I always try to work towards um ways to limit and and and reduce the amount. Um, obviously, there's some, some language this year that I, I am in favor of, of, you know, available upon request. Um, obviously, expanded polystyrene can be recycled and reused. So I just. We want to be working with our legislators, working with the Environment Committee, ah working with DEP and making sure we find uh solutions that don't harm our industry, because sometimes things can be ah so costly, um, even when they might not even be, ah, helping the environment in the long run. And of course, a lot of these restaurants use plastic utensils too. Would this also be affected? Absolutely. I think, um, you know, as we talk about this available upon request, we've already been talking to restaurants, um, as we talk about the rising costs, like, they should be looking to do that anyway in the sense of, like, hey, you don't need to put it in a to go bag unless they request it. They might be going home and using uh utensils at home, so why, you know, if they, if they're just gonna throw those away. So, we're always trying to find more ways to reduce um the amount of Use in that, but also understand plastic utensils aren't only used in restaurants, but think of catering and other opportunities where, you know, we're trying to, to, to have great options for our guests and customers, but at the same time, being cognizant of the environment and, and finding great solutions. Now, this seemed like a pretty good move. In the last month, your organization has rebranded itself as the Connecticut Restaurant and Hospitality Association. Why the change? Well, listen, I've been in the role now just about 8 years, and the opportunity to grow, um, and expand is really what's important to me. And I think the big part for that is, you know, bringing on hotels, ah, inns, bed and breakfasts. We have about 400 properties in the state. A lot of them are already members because of their restaurants, because of their catering, what they've been doing. But to have an opportunity to promote our hotels. And those incredible ends that we have um around the state and also advocating for them up at the Capitol and down in DC is so important. And I think using that word, hospitality, like you said, Mark, is so important. It's, it's really promoting the hospitality industry, the $21 billion economic impact that it has on the state every year. Um, and I'm looking forward to the future of, of our association and its growth. Now with that being said, on the flip side, now the state imposes a 15% hotel occupancy tax that you say is the highest in the US. It is. It's the highest state occupancy tax in the country. Obviously, people argue, well, if you go to certain cities, there's city tax and things like that. But for a state tax, um, it's extremely frustrating to have a 15% occupancy tax. But in reality, it doesn't actually go back and help our industry. You know, our tourism budget has been cut from even $12 million down to $4.5 million in the last. Two years, um, you know, if we're utilizing that tax to reinvest in our industry, um, I'm a fan of it, and I think that's something that we're gonna work with legislators up at the hill, um, and make sure that they understand that, you know, these dollars, these, these sales and use tax, these occupancy tax dollars need to be put to use to helping grow this industry and helping us with the workforce and everything else. Uh, now, House Bill 5010 to conform a Connecticut law to the new federal exemption on no taxes on tips and overtime, what would this mean for servers and bartenders? Well, understand, you know, down in DC obviously with the president and the administration, they passed no tax on tips and overtime, meaning that, you know, you can, you can write that off on your taxes here in April if you haven't done your taxes already. But we're trying to work at a state level, um, meaning that those same tips or those same overtime pay, that extra 0.5%, that half of your time and a half, uh, shouldn't be. Tax at the state level either. So, we're hoping that our lawmakers in Connecticut see that same value and put more money back in our employees' pockets, so they have more to go out and spend in our economy, spend at restaurants, spend, you know, in retail and everything else. So, we're we're we're hopeful that we can have the same benefits at the federal level for our employees, um, at the state level as well. Now you've really become very dialed in uh to what you're doing uh for all the time you've been doing it now. How are Connecticut restaurants and hotels doing? Such a great question, Mark. I think the biggest thing for people to understand is, you know, this is a very difficult time. It's been, you know, even though we're we're removed from COVID, the rising costs, you know, even right now with gas prices and diesel prices, we're we're worrisome about what that could mean for food and and all the things that they need. But also, it's not just food, it's not just labor. We have the 2nd highest utilities costs, uh, insurance, credit card fees. The list goes on and on, and I think for restaurants, their only option to stay profitable is to raise prices. That's the last thing. Want to do on their guests and their customers. And I think that's the biggest kind of pinch right now is, you know, how they, how people feel about going out. Do they have that disposable income? Can they support their local restaurants? Obviously, I continue to encourage those to do that, um, but know that, you know, restaurants had a tough winter as well. The weather played a huge factor with the snow that we received and when the timing of the snow came. Um, so I'm hoping for a warm spring. I'm hoping for a great summer, so we can kind of turn a corner here and also bring these, these same costs down as well, Mark. Yeah, before we leave you here in about the minute we have left, we, we are in the spring now and summer's coming, certainly, uh, it's an opportunity here to take advantage of, of our shoreline and all that, uh, that has to offer with restaurants and hotels. It does, and I think, you know, I'm hoping, like I said, there's a lot of things exciting to look forward to when you look to good weather and how much our restaurants and hotels prosper with that. Just talking to people about the World Cup, coming to the US for the first time in 32 years, the Men's World Cup, what that's gonna mean, you know, even being in a state that doesn't maybe host a game. But we're, we're, we're sandwiched right in between MetLife and, and Foxborough. So we're trying to find different ways to excite people about, you know, coming out, supporting and, and being around hospitality. Connecticut is a destination. It always has been, but we need to tell that story, uh, more and more and support our local independent restaurants and hotels. Sounds like some good things to come. Thanks a lot, Scott. Thank you, Mark, as always, for having me. When we come back, state lawmakers urging the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority not to sell aquarium to the Regional Water Authority.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/18aad525-5b10-45c9-9a4b-d8454de7b9ae/18aad525-5b10-45c9-9a4b-d8454de7b9ae.transcribe

RTCTPowerPolitics03212026CBlock230pm_2026-03-21-15-00-48

The state lawmakers want to send more money to your child's school, but it could mean a smaller rebate check this fall. Is it worth the trade-off? News 12's John Craven takes a look. Well, schools could get hundreds of millions of new dollars from the state, but will it be enough? This month, students from Bridgeport packed into the state capitol. They say schools desperately need more money. What does it say about a system when a school can go 4 years without a science teacher? Now House Speaker Matt Ritter is out with a new proposal to send more state aid to local schools. What's going to make this press conference a little bit different is we're going to tell you how we're going to pay for it. Ritter would pay for it out of rebate checks Governor Lamont wants to send out this fall. Schools would get an extra $160 million but it's only one-time money. We would always like to put in more, but we can't. But we're doing what we can. Lawmakers differ on how much to send schools right now for. Each child, the base funding is $11,525. That hasn't changed in 13 years. House Democrats want to tie increases to inflation. Senate Democrats want to raise it to $15,000 by 2030, and House Republicans want $18,000 per child. Supporters say more state aid will prevent property tax hikes. Governor Lamont says he's open to the discussion. We'll sit down and talk to leadership to see what they need in addition to what we've done already to make sure we have the best education system in the country. Well, Governor Lamont may be more willing to support one-time funding instead of a multi-year commitment because it's already in his budget. John Craven, News 12, Connecticut. As the controversial Aquarian sale moves closer to being official, Attorney General Tong continues to argue against it. He went in front of Pura this week to urge a rejection of the sale. Tong says it passed. If it passed, it would double household water bills, cut consumer protections, and end public oversight over water rates. He also cited Pur's concerns about the deal and said the sale is not in the public's interest. This is what you're saying. We, Pura, swore an oath. To protect ratepayers, we are really worried about this deal. We have very serious concerns about the cost and impact on all of you, and we have the full power and authority to stop it. But we are going to make you pay for it anyway. The deal would impact over 700,000 people in the state. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/c929e5e0-38d2-45a0-8da3-cf08443452ad/c929e5e0-38d2-45a0-8da3-cf08443452ad.transcribe

Adrian Bonenberger and Scott Dolch join the show this week. 

Local

Crime

Weather

beWell

The East End

Crime Files

Local

Crime

Weather

beWell

The East End

Crime Files

Main

News

Sections

Choose Your Region

Be the first to know

Main

News

Sections

Change

Be the first to know

More Stories

More from News 12

Sen. Blumenthal criticizes Trump administration funding request for war in Iran

Power & Politics: Global tensions drive spike in oil and gas prices

Power & Politics: Strikes across the Middle East intensify; teens' mental health and social media

Power & Politics: State Democrats craft emergency bills; election security across Connecticut

Power & Politics: CT Comptroller Sean Scanlon announces reelection bid

State politicians introduce new bills to eliminate sales tax

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Ad Choices

Privacy Manager