2019 Press Releases

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• 1/30/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG, SIX STATES SUE TRUMP ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY FOR FAILURE TO REGULATE INTERSTATE SMOG POLLUTION

  Attorney General William Tong today joined six states and the City of New York in filing a lawsuit aimed at forcing the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comply with federal law by requiring further controls on smog pollution that blows into Connecticut and other states.

• 11/13/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG CALLS ON THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO CANCEL LOANS FOR FORMER ITT TECH STUDENTS

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a multistate effort calling on the U.S. Department of Education to immediately forgive the loans of former ITT Tech students who attended the bankrupt for-profit school when it closed.

• 9/18/2019 AG TONG TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH BIRTH CONTROL REFUSAL INJUNCTION IS ILLEGAL

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general urging the Trump Administration to immediately comply with the court-ordered injunction in California v.Azar. Connecticut joined a coalition led by California earlier this year in securing an injunction to block the Trump Administration’s attempt to strip access to cost-free birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A similar injunction was also secured by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Despite the clear injunction from the court, the Trump Administration has yet to update its website and inform the public about the injunction and its impact on their contraceptive coverage.

• 6/26/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG STATEMENT ON CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

  Today, following the Supreme Court decision blocking the Trump Administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, Attorney General William Tong encouraged residents of Connecticut to participate in the census and ensure an accurate count.

• 9/23/2019 AG TONG JOINS 24 STATE COALITION OPPOSING TRUMP RULE THAT WOULD TAKE FOOD ASSISTANCE AWAY FROM MILLIONS OF PEOPLE

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general opposing the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The proposed changes would take basic food assistance away from more than three million people, disqualify hundreds of thousands of children from free school meals, and punish working families with modest savings. The coalition filed a comment letter against a proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule that would end states’ ability to set rules for SNAP eligibility based on the unique needs of their communities. The letter argues that the proposed rule would violate federal law and harm the states, their residents, their local economies, and public health.

• 4/18/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS COALITION CALLING ON EPA TO WITHDRAW PROPOSAL TO UNDERMINE MERCURY AND AIR TOXICS STANDARDS

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 26 states, counties, and cities in calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its unlawful proposal to reverse the agency’s determination—first made nearly 20 years ago—that it is “appropriate and necessary” under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal plants.

• 7/25/2019 AG TONG: T-MOBILE/SPRINT MEGAMERGER REMAINS A BAD DEAL FOR CONSUMERS, INNOVATION, AND WORKERS

  Attorney General William Tong and a coalition of 13 additional attorneys general from across the nation today expressed concern about a newly announced deal — approved, in principle, by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) — supporting the proposed megamerger between telecommunications giants T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corporation.

• 12/8/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ASKS FTC TO STRENGTHEN ONLINE PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN

  Attorney General William Tong and a bipartisan coalition of twenty-five state attorneys general today submitted a comment letter to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) asking the agency to strengthen its rules prohibiting websites, mobile applications, and other digital marketing companies from collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 and using that information to track children across the internet.

• 10/20/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG OPPOSES EFFORT TO UNDERMINE PROTECTIONS AGAINST HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general opposing a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposal that would undermine key existing protections against housing discrimination in federal law.

• 8/28/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG TO EDUCATION SECRETARY DEVOS: DELIVER ON THE PROMISE TO AMERICA’S PUBLIC SERVANTS

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of attorneys general in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urging once again that the U.S. Department of Education provide data to help states address the ongoing problems with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

• 10/28/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG, COALITION URGES FEDERAL COOPERATION WITH STATES ON CLEAN ENERGY GOALS

  AGs Argue that Combatting the Climate Crisis Requires Collaboration with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

• 10/21/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG AND COALITION WIN APPEAL TO BLOCK TRUMP EFFORT TO STRIP ACCESS TO COST-FREE BIRTH CONTROL

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with a coalition of states in State of California, et al. v. Alex Azar, II, et al., protecting an injunction currently in place. Connecticut is part of the multistate lawsuit seeking to block the Trump Administration's efforts to give employers the ability to deny women access to cost-free birth control guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.

• 4/4/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG FILES MOTION TO BLOCK PRESIDENT TRUMP FROM DIVERTING FUNDS AND RESOURCES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A BORDER WALL

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 20 states led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today in filing a motion to block the Trump Administration's attempt to unlawfully divert $1.6 billion in federal funds to build a border wall.

• 6/6/2019 CONNECTICUT AND ILLINOIS OPEN INVESTIGATION INTO QUEST DIAGNOSTICS, LABCORP DATA BREACH

  Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced today they have opened an investigation into the data breach at American Medical Collection Agency, which may have exposed the personal information of nearly 12 million patients of Quest Diagnostics and 7.7 million Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) patients.

• 10/16/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG, DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ANNOUNCE $116.9 MILLION MULTISTATE SETTLEMENT WITH JOHNSON & JOHNSON, ETHICON, INC.

  Attorney General William Tong and Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull today announced a multistate settlement along with 40 states and the District of Columbia requiring Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon, Inc. to pay nearly $116.9 million for their deceptive marketing of transvaginal surgical mesh devices.