DARIEN- State Representative Terrie Wood, said that Connecticut’s “sales tax-free holiday” will take place this year from Sunday, August 15th through Saturday, August 21st.

As a help to families preparing to send their children back to school, all clothing and footwear items under $300 will be exempt from the state’s six percent sales tax.

Examples of clothing exempted during the sales tax-free holiday are jeans, dresses, blouses, shirts, shoes, sneakers, scarves, gloves, and belts. Non-apparel items, such as jewelry, wallets, and luggage are not included in the exemption.

“I think sales tax-free week is a great opportunity to make it at least a little bit easier for parents to make their back-to-school purchases,” said Rep. Wood. “However, everyone can take advantage of the savings it provides.”

Rep. Wood, who represents Darien and Rowayton, said the Connecticut House Republicans first introduced the concept in August 1999 – modeled after a successful New York program – as a way of providing additional relief to Connecticut families while boosting the state’s economic competitiveness among neighboring states.

The sales tax free week is established by state statute in Sec. 12-407e. Tax suspended for one week in August for sales of clothing or footwear of less than three hundred dollars.

From the third Sunday in August until the Saturday next succeeding, inclusive, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to sales of any article of clothing or footwear intended to be worn on or about the human body the cost of which article to the purchaser is less than three hundred dollars. For purposes of this section, clothing or footwear shall not include (1) any special clothing or footwear primarily designed for athletic activity or protective use and which is not normally worn except when used for the athletic activity or protective use for which it was designed, and (2) jewelry, handbags, luggage, umbrellas, wallets, watches and similar items carried on or about the human body but not worn on the body in the manner characteristic of clothing intended for exemption under this section.

HARTFORD – Today being Tax Day, April 15th, the last day Connecticut residents have to mail in their tax bills, State Rep. Terrie Wood (Darien and Rowayton) along with the rest of the House Republican caucus unveiled their 2011 budget that erases the $736 million deficit for 2011 without raising taxes by consolidating government agencies, and shrinking the public workforce and commits $74 million to stimulate job growth.

The balanced plan preserves municipal and school aid, and sets aside $74.5 million to stimulate job growth. Companies that hire the unemployed can earn $17.5 million in tax credits, and the plan establishes a $25 million small business revolving loan fund, and eliminates the Business Entity Tax.

“This proposal is fair and balanced. We eliminate the budget gap without raising taxes and without gutting social service programs. Every household in Connecticut has faced these choices and has made the difficult decisions we are confronting today,’’ said Rep. Terrie Wood, member of the Appropriations Committee.

The Common Sense plan offers a flexible menu of choices to create savings from concessions that have all been validated by the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.

 The hallmarks of the savings:

• $58 million in line item cuts to 2009 levels;
• $64 million in early retirement for state workers;
• $10 million in state agency consolidations;
• $6.4 million to shed state office leases; 
• $20 million in privatization of state functions;
• $150 million in state worker concessions, including wage freezes, furlough days and health care;
• $3.8 million in legislative pay cuts, elimination of franked mail and travel.

 The budget also makes significant investments in job creation and retirement security:

• $200 million will be paid into the state employee pensions;
• The Business Entity Tax is eliminated to save companies $32 million;
• A Small Business Revolving Loan Fund of $25 million is created;
• Tax credits of up to $17.5 million will be available to companies that hire off unemployment rolls.

Rep. Terrie Wood added, “This Common Sense plan achieves the common sense ideals we have advocated for since the beginning of the year. The mantras of “Not spending more than you have” and “only borrowing what you can afford to pay back” need to be set in stone when comes to crafting a budget.”

State Rep. Terrie Wood presented two Connecticut proclamations to Fiftal, one of which established Wednesday May 26th 2010 as “Don Fiftal Day”

photo courtesy of John Davisson

Trumbull, CT — Cooperative Educational Services (C.E.S.) honored seven area individuals and organizations with the Success Through Educational Partnerships (STEP) award in a breakfast ceremony on Friday, April 9 at 8:30 a.m. at the Regional Center for the Arts, 23 Oakview Drive in Trumbull.

 
The STEP Awards were created by the leadership team at C.E.S. to honor individuals and organizations that go above and beyond to support the agency in its mission to identify and provide quality educational opportunities for educators, students, families and communities.
 
Among the recipients of the honor was State Representative Terrie Wood (Darien/Norwalk) for her commitment to educating legislators about the Beginning Educator Support Training program for new teachers. She served on the Education and Appropriations Committees and was an advocate at the state level for new teacher mentoring support.

United Way of Coastal Fairfield County was honored for their support of C.E.S. School Readiness by providing preschool students and their families with children’s books and literacy workshops to promote reading and literacy in the classroom and at home.

The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk was honored for their work with Six to Six Interdistrict Magnet School to provide on and off site professional development for teachers and experiential learning for students to help the Six to Six transform into a math, science and technology focused magnet school.
 
The Trumbull Police Department and Trumbull Emergency Medical Services both received a STEP Award for their continued assistance and support onsite at the C.E.S. Special Education school on Oakview Drive in Trumbull.
 
POPS: Parents of Performing Students, which is the parent organization for families with students enrolled at C.E.S. Regional Center for the Arts in Trumbull, received an award for providing scholarships to graduating seniors who intend to pursue a degree in a field within the performance arts industry.
 
Sacred Heart University was honored as the agency-wide recipient of the Success Through Educational Partnerships award for their commitment and collaboration across several divisions of C.E.S. including professional development and teacher training, grant writing and implementation, special education programs and a variety of other support services.
 
The STEP Award is slated to become an annual honor given by C.E.S. to acknowledge individuals and organizations that collaborate with the educational community to contribute to the success of education in Fairfield County.
 
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Cooperative Educational Services is one of six regional educational service centers in Connecticut. It was created almost 40 years ago by legislative mandate to help districts to communicate, cooperate and collaborate. C.E.S. is governed by the Representative Council, with each district represented by a Board of Education member from that town.

Government doesn’t create jobs, and it is not the “job engine” of our economy. Jobs come from our communities. Government can act to encourage job creation and cultivate an environment for economic growth. But ultimately, jobs that are created and bring value added to the economy come from entrepreneurial risk-takers who pursue ideas and create small businesses. Jobs come from responsible business decisions that can, for example, expand a 14 person family dairy farm into a household grocery label. Even great corporations had humble beginnings.

Considering the challenging times we’re in, it is as much a struggle for the state to create a healthy environment for job growth as it is for our job creators to find funding for new jobs. Companies will hire when the market strengthens and the current uncertainty is exchanged for stable and predictable growth.

Everyone ? whether he or she is a big corporate employee, a small business owner, or a parent managing a household ? feels the crunch of the economy and concerns about revenue. Last year the state government borrowed about $1 billon to cover basic operating expenses – an action that postpones the inevitable budget balancing and makes it much more expensive in the long run. We in the government must think wisely and act quickly. The State of Connecticut funds many worthy programs and services, but like our businesses and Connecticut families, revenue streams are facing a drought. It’s time to use some common sense to cut consumption and take a hard look at our spending.

We should stop thinking about our own state revenue streams for a moment and start finding ways to make it easier for others to nurture theirs. In this legislative session, dubbed as the “budget” and “jobs” session, instead of the government ramping up, it should back off just a little. We need to give people room to breathe. We need to cultivate space for growth and expansion. Then, when successful business opportunities occur, we should encourage them and give them some room to grow rather than seizing a portion of their profits as government revenue and slowing the path to recovery.

Some of my colleagues oppose responsible spending because it’s too risky to cut back in an election year. They desire economic growth, because a good economy is good for everyone, but they try to attach too many tax revenue supply lines to the growth engines. These same colleagues will call for the government to step in with stimulus dollars and throw an artificial one-time boost at the producers of our economy. Unfortunately, they fail to recognize that a one-time boost is like a shot of caffeine: it eventually wears off. Employers won’t begin to permanently hire until the market picks back up and they feel a steady predictability that allows them to chart a path for growth. So let’s back off a little, tighten our government belts, and start thinking of others’ recovery first for a change.

HARTFORD- State Representative Terrie Wood, who represents Darien and Rowayton in the Connecticut General Assembly, alerted local veterans to a new resource that will help locate available services and benefits.

“There are thousands upon thousands of websites that offer benefits for veterans,” Rep. Wood said. “This new service helps veterans and their families cut through the clutter and find the services they need.”

The National Resource Directory, established by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Department of Defense, and Department of Labor, helps veterans and their families navigate the more than 10,000 web sites offering services for veterans.

The site www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov is broken down into easy-to-navigate headings: Benefits and Compensation, Education and Training, Employment, Family and Caregiver Support, Health, Homeless Assistance, Transportation and Travel, and Other Services and Resources.

Rep. Terrie Wood represents the 141st General Assembly District covering Darien and Rowayton. She serves on the following legislative committees: Education; Environment and Appropriations.

State Representative Terrie Wood, R-141, and Rachel Hathaway, a senior at Darien High School. Hathaway won first place in the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women’s 2010 Young Women’s Leadership Program essay contest at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Tuesday.

Read the Common Sense Commitment to Connecticut.

HARTFORD- State Rep. Terrie Wood of Rowayton and Darien and the rest of the Legislature’s Domestic Violence Task Force released their final recommendations today to the legislature.

 
The task force, chaired by State Representative Mae Flexer (D-Killingly, Plainfield, Sterling), was created by Speaker Donovan late last year with the purpose reviewing and formulating the State of Connecticut’s response to the issue of domestic violence.  This included reviewing budget implications related to domestic violence; evaluating trends and research pertaining to social conditions, support services, education, early intervention, and court procedures; and ultimately assembling a set of legislative recommendations on how to best prevent and address family violence and meet the needs of survivors.

Rep. Terrie Wood said, “I was proud to be a part of this task force, we put together some very good recommendations. I am particularly pleased with the teen dating and domestic violence school curriculum portion. Domestic violence education needs to start early with children so we can stop patterns of violence as teens begin to date.”

 Among their recommendations, the group urges the state to expand staffing at domestic violence shelters to allow them to remain open 24 hours a day, loosen penalties for victims for domestic violence who need to terminate their housing leases, enhance employment protection for domestic violence victims, add teen dating and domestic violence to school curriculums, and ensure that funding from the state’s marriage license surcharge is being adequately distributed to domestic violence shelters in a timely matter.

The task force is also recommending numerous changes to the judicial system, such as implementing a GPS monitoring system for the most high-risk domestic violence offenders, improving the enforcement of protective orders, extending the persistent offender look back period from five to ten years and include out-of-state offenses, improving information sharing in family violence cases among appropriate state agencies, and making the judicial process more user-friendly for survivors. In addition, the group has asked the legislature to examine the issue of criminal threatening and whether stronger penalties are warranted. 
During the past four months, the task force held a series of meetings and public hearings at which they heard testimony from domestic violence advocacy groups, survivors, police, prosecutors, state court and prison officials, educators, and family support counselors.

Rep. Terrie Wood represents the 141st General Assembly District covering Darien and Rowayton. She serves on the following legislative committees: Education; Environment and Appropriations.

State Rep. Terrie Wood attending the National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month Press Conference in Stamford. Members of three youth groups from Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich that are dedicated to stopping teen dating violence hosted the press conference to launch the month. Click to watch video.