Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV) announced its annual Environmental Scorecard on February 17, which included standings applied to members of the Newtown legislative delegation. Senator Tony Hwang, along with Representatives Mitch Bolinsky, Raghib Allie-Brennan, and Tony Scott were included.

CTLCV uses the detailed report to grade Connecticut legislators based on their votes regarding key environmental issues during the 2021 Connecticut General Assembly session. The bipartisan, nonprofit organization strives to protect Connecticut’s environment by holding elected leaders responsible for making equity, democracy, and climate action top priorities.

According to a CTLCV newsletter, released the same day, “This is the first Scorecard that CTLCV has produced since the Covid-19 pandemic abruptly ended the 2020 legislative session before significant votes could be cast. The release of this report coincides with the beginning of the 2022 legislative session, emphasizing the unfinished business of the prior two years.”

CTLCV works with environmental organizations in Connecticut to identify important bills, consult with advocates during the session, and lobby lawmakers on initiatives. It then tracks politicians’ votes to produce the scorecard.

“CTLCV grades legislators on a 0% to 100% scale based on their votes on environmental bills in committees, the Senate, and the House. The 2021 final score is the average of the legislator’s individual votes on key bills we score. A blank space means there was no vote to score for that legislator on that bill. We do not score absences or abstentions, but they are indicated on our scorecard with an ‘A,’” the Environmental Scorecard details.

For 2021, here are the bills that legislators were scored on:

* SB 127 The Sale of Electric Vehicles in The State

* SB 167 The Disposition of the Former Seaside Sanatorium Facility

* SB 356 An Act Concerning an Energy Efficiency Retrofit Grant Program for Affordable Housing

* SB 837 An Act Concerning The Use of Perfluoroalkyl or Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Class B Firefighting Foam

* SB 839 Electronic Documents and Pesticide Regulation in The State

* SB 882 Climate Change Mitigation and Home Energy Affordability

* SB 925 Prohibiting the Import, Sale and Possession of African Elephants, Lions, Leopards, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, and Giraffes

* SB 884 Reducing Transportation-Related Carbon Emissions

* SB 926 An Act Concerning the Presence of PFAS In Certain Consumer Packaging

* SB 931 Emissions Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

* SB 938 An Act Concerning Land Use Appeals

* SB 1037 Solid Waste Management

* SB 952 Energy Storage

* HJ 53 Adoption of the Long Island Sound Blue Plan

* HJ 58 Resolution Proposing a State Constitutional Amendment to Allow No-Excuse Absentee Voting

* HJ 59 Resolution Approving an Amendment to the State Constitution To Allow For Early Voting

* HB 5419 Federal Clean Air Act Fee on Motor Vehicle Registrations

* HB 6205 Revising Certain Absentee Voting Statutes

* HB 6386 Extended Producer Responsibility for Tires, Smoke Detectors, and Certain Gas Cylinders

* HB 6441 Climate Change Adaptation

* HB 6502 An Act Concerning the Use of Certain Polystyrene Products, The Availability of Single-Use Straws, Release of Certain Balloons, and the Compostable Nature of Single-Use Produce Bags

* HB 6503 Siting of Anaerobic Digestion Facilities on Farms

* HB 6551 An Act Concerning Environmental Air Quality

CTLCV marked legislators’ votes as being a “pro-environment vote” or an “anti-environment vote.”

Tony Hwang

Republican State Senator Hwang received a score of 100% on the CTLCV’s Environmental Scoreboard. All 11 of his votes were marked as “pro-environment” and “favorable” from the CTLCV.

Hwang spoke to The Newtown Bee by phone, on March 8, and shared, “I have been recognized as an environmental champion by the organization for the past number of years. The scorecard is but one indicator of advocacy and recognition of our support of the environment. I am even more honored by being selected as an environmental champion, not simply by the scorecard, but also by our actions, activity, and support of so many different aspects.

“Not only of legislation, but of raising awareness about the protection of our waterways, rivers, and streams; protecting air quality; cognizant awareness and proactive support of open space and climate change that exists; and how we can actively advocate to preserve/maintain our entire ecosystem,” he said. “The scorecard is one indication in my mind but being recognized as an environmental champion is something that I’m very proud of, because it means the constant advocacy and constant awareness.

“I am in a unique position as State Senator because I cover from the coastline of the Long Island Sound of Fairfield up to the open spaces of Newtown to the watershed areas of Easton … As State Senator, I represent the whole spectrum of why it is so important to protect our environment and to raise awareness that coexistence with it is really critical for our quality of life and what we value as residents of the area. Newtown particularly is a strong champion of that area because of the Newtown Forest Association and the open space balance with what we want to be able to do for business.

“Being an environmental advocate is not just a blanket everything to one side. An advocate looks at environmental advocacy to this point of balance between our business initiatives and challenges. I think what is exciting for me is renewable energy with solar in recent years. What a lot of people don’t realize, it was five or six years ago that we were able to pass a bill that allowed solar farms to be established in the town dump … That was something we did legislatively that the town took advantage of and is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs to have our town on the grid system.

“When I talk about environmental advocacy, the scorecard is very nice and I am appreciative of their acknowledgement, but I am even more grateful of the acknowledgement of being an environmental champion and the work that we have done every year on every issue to measure it from a public policy perspective that is cognizant that we can do good policy while maintaining the balance of what we can do to protect our environment and protect our communities.”

He ended by saying, “One of the most powerful things that my parents taught me in looking at the beauty of this country as an immigrant was, ‘You know what, they just don’t make stuff like this anymore.’ And we have a responsibility to preserve this for future generations to appreciate.”

To contact Hwang, call 860-240-8805 or e-mail Tony.Hwang@cga.ct.gov.

Raghib Allie-Brennan

Democrat State Representative Raghib Allie-Brennan also received a score of 100% on the CTLCV’s Environmental Scoreboard. All 12 of his votes were marked as “pro-environment” and “favorable” from the CTLCV.

Allie-Brennan told The Newtown Bee by e-mail March 8, “Communities throughout Connecticut are experiencing the effects of climate change, and it’s critically important that the legislature continues to take steps to protect the health of our environment and ensure the resiliency of our communities.

“I was proud to bring critical pieces of legislation to the House Floor last session, including an act concerning the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program, which offers businesses a tool to pay for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and resiliency measures, to address the climate crisis. I was also proud to be part of some of the biggest environmental legislative wins last session, including the passage of the Bottle Bill and restricting toxic chemical PFAS.”

To contact Allie-Brennan, call 860-240-8583 or e-mail Raghib.Allie-Brennan@cga.ct.gov.

Mitch Bolinsky

Republican State Representative Mitch Bolinsky received a score of 80% on the CTLCV’s Environmental Scoreboard. Eight of his ten votes were marked as “pro-environment” and “favorable” from the CTLCV.

The two votes that were considered “anti-environment” were regarding the SB 1037 Bottle Bill in the House and the HJ 58 Absentee Voting in the House.

Bolinsky released a statement to The Newtown Bee, on March 8, that read:

“I’m pleased to have earned a positive score from CTLCV on their 2021 Scorecard but, as always, like to provide a couple comments to add context, because CTLCV is typically very literal in the way they score some matters. First, I question why Absentee Voting is scored as an environmental issue, especially if viewed without consideration of my, or any lawmaker’s, articulated position in support of ‘no-excuse Absentee Voting.’ My opposition to HJ-58 was rooted in the possibility of unsolicited distribution of ballots. If distribution was to be upon a voter’s request and subject to basic verification, my vote would have been affirmative. Even under that consideration, I do not believe HJ-58 was an environmental bill.

“Second, I did vote in opposition to the 2021 ‘Bottle Bill’ SB-1037, but not in opposition to the deposit/return concept which, in my experience, works. My vote, opposing this bill, was based on concerns about our state’s inability to support the recycling volume we currently generate. Our state’s move to ‘single-stream recycling’ had the unintended consequence of co-mingling incompatible materials, driving up the cost of processing it all. This collapsed the resale market for reclaimed materials for recycling.

Today, much of this material is not recycled but sent to landfills. I believe we must solve the current processing problem before adding to it. As the only member of the General Assembly to have worked with California state regulators, the US EPA, industry and consumer advocates to create a working recycling program, I stand ready to support programs that encourage high rates of return and recycling of subject materials,” he concluded.

To contact Bolinsky, call 860-240-8700 or e-mail Mitch.Bolinsky@housegop.ct.gov.

Tony Scott

Republican State Representative Tony Scott received a score of 45% on the CTLCV’s Environmental Scoreboard. Five out of 11 of his votes were marked as “favorable” from the CTLCV.

The six votes not considered favorable were for: SB 925 Wildlife Trafficking; SB 1037 Bottle Bill; HJ 58 Absentee Voting; HJ 59 Early Voting; HB 6205 Absentee Voting Statutes; and HB 6441 Climate Change Adaptation. Scott released a statement to The Newtown Bee, on March 4, that read:

“As a driver of an electric vehicle who has been a proponent of their sale in the state, I have to point out that the way this scorecard was compiled doesn’t accurately reflect my record on the environment.

“I was not a member of the House when some of these ‘scorecard’ votes were held, so only 11 of the bills were counted. Three of those ‘environmental scorecard’ votes included bills that dealt with early and absentee voting, which have nothing to do with the environment. When those voting-related bills are removed from the equation, my score is actually 62%, dramatically higher than what is represented in this alleged legislative scorecard.

“An accurate representation would show that I voted for legislation to stop the sale or use of products and firefighting foam that contained harmful toxins that can reach our waterways. And I voted for a bill that provided grants to retrofit affordable housing to make those homes more energy efficient, while it also funded the removal of hazardous materials, such as asbestos and lead.

“Had I the opportunity, I would have voted in the affirmative for bills that would be good for our environment, but not damaging to businesses or residents of our state who have been hard-hit by the pandemic. For instance, another of those bills that is included in this scorecard had little to do with the environment and would have added a conveyance fee to the purchases of real estate in Connecticut, adding yet another tax on working-class residents, while making homes harder to afford at a time when housing stock is at an all-time low.

“As an issue of fairness, I have to point out that my Connecticut Business and Industry Association 2021 Legislative Score was a 100%, and I’ve made it a point to vote on every bill that came before the House since I was elected, which gives me a 100% voting score.”

To contact Scott, call 860-240-8700 or e-mail Tony.Scott@housegop.ct.gov.

CTLCV Executive Director Lori Brown said, “We urge lawmakers to use this document as a framework for what is still urgently needed to address climate change, and to make significant and lasting investments in our state’s environment.”

Access the full Environmental Scorecard for Connecticut legislators by visiting ctlcv.org/scorecard2021.

Connecticut Ranking

The CTLCV also released a National Environmental Scorecard that ranked the Congressional Delegation on votes cast in 2021 on federal legislation. In that report, Connecticut’s entire federal delegation ranked with perfect scores.

Democratic United States Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy from Connecticut both had 100% “pro-environmental action” votes, according to the CTLCV scorecard.

“We are fortunate to have a delegation that understands the urgency behind climate change,” Brown said. “But we know the work is not done. The future of our planet and our democracy are at stake. Connecticut needs our delegation to work with The White House and their colleagues in Congress to pass the Build Back Better Agenda and vital voting rights protections now.”

Newtown’s 5th District Congresswoman Jahana Hayes scored 100, along with her colleagues Rep Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes, John Larson, and Joe Courtney.

Explore the interactive National Environmental Scorecard by visiting scorecard.lcv.org.

This year’s Environmental Scorecards were dedicated to CTLCV’s co-founder Julie Belaga, who passed away in 2021.

The Environmental Scorecard is created thanks to the generosity of CTLCV members and donors. To learn more about CTLCV, visit ctlcv.org.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.