Capitol Comments

On Thursday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a new minimum wage law, making it the first state to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, and as expected the bill has sparked a partisan battle. While Democrats argue that the law will pull people out of poverty, Republicans contend that the increase will be harmful to Connecticut businesses.

On Sunday the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission created new air pollution rules for oil and gas drillers, including the nation’s first statewide limit on methane gas emissions. The decision was made with support from Anadarko Petroleum, Noble Energy, and Encana, some of Colorado’s largest oil and gas operators.

On February 10, federal judges granted California two more years to reduce its already overcrowded prison population. The ruling comes from a long-running lawsuit to increase inmate medical care in the state. California still sits about 5,000 inmates above the cap that was originally set by the court, which means they must bring their prison population to around 112,000 inmates by February 2016.