Press Releases
12/30/2022
The Year in Review: A Message from Attorney General Tong
Dear Friends,
As 2022 rings to a close, so too does my first term as your Attorney General. These past four years have been extraordinary and consequential, and it has been an honor every day to lead the Office of the Attorney General through these unprecedented times.
Let me first say how proud I am of our team and their work against the backdrop of an unrelenting global pandemic that has stolen the lives of 11,659 Connecticut souls, upended our economy, education systems, and daily habits, and left deep emotional scars we are only beginning to comprehend. Whether it was our child protection attorneys who showed up in court every day on behalf of children in need, our consumer assistance team who fielded hundreds upon hundreds of complaints regarding disrupted travel and inflated prices, or our attorneys who successfully shaped and defended our state’s public health response, I remain tremendously proud of our work to keep people safe and keep our government functioning.
We have secured historic recoveries against the addiction industry, delivering over $50 billion to fight the opioid epidemic, breakthroughs in our multistate efforts to curb obnoxious robocalls and bring scammers to justice, strong settlements and concessions to begin to stabilize our state’s unaffordable energy rates, relief from predatory student loan practices, and hundreds of millions of dollars and a commitment from JUUL to stop marketing their vaping products to kids. We are taking on ExxonMobil to end its ongoing, systematic campaign of lies around fossil fuels and climate change. We’ve led some of the largest data breach and privacy settlements in world history, including those with Equifax and Anthem, and recently announced a $391.5 million settlement with Google over its location tracking practices. After decades of litigation, we resolved two of the most challenging, longest running state lawsuits– committing to historic investment in educational opportunities for Hartford students to end more than 30 years of litigation and court oversight in the Sheff v. O’Neill case, and finally ending court oversight of the Department of Children and Families following documented, significant improvement on behalf of our state’s most vulnerable children.
In total, our office has generated and protected $2.7 billion for the state over the past four years, over 21 times our operating costs. This includes millions of dollars in direct restitution to Connecticut families who needed help with travel disruptions, scammers, canceled reservations, and unscrupulous businesses. This does not begin to include the billions more our attorneys saved state taxpayers through competent and professional representation and defense of our state agencies.
We are confronting new challenges that four years ago may have seemed unimaginable. We are leading active investigations into social media algorithms and disinformation undermining our democracy and endangering the health and welfare of our children. We are fighting in courts across our country to preserve reproductive freedom following the dismantling of Roe v. Wade and abortion protections that have existed for as long as I have been alive. We are defending challenges from out-of-state gun lobbies seeking to rollback our Sandy Hook gun safety laws, including our ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and commonsense handgun licensing provisions.
There is too much to list from these past four years, but I wanted to highlight a few key areas:
Connecticut Leads National Efforts to Hold Addiction Industry Accountable, Delivers More than $50 Billion to Fight Opioid Epidemic
Over the past four years, Connecticut has led nationwide efforts to hold the entire addiction industry accountable for the opioid epidemic, securing more than $50 billion for treatment and prevention. Connecticut will receive over $600 million to save lives across our state. This work has just begun. Drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and their consultants including Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, McKinsey, Teva, Allergan, Endo, Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, and Mallinckrodt all reaped massive profits while fueling the pain and suffering of the opioid epidemic. Connecticut has led these complex, multistate negotiations, and set an aggressive tone in refusing to settle for inadequate offers. Against Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, we were among the last so-called “hold out” states to win a pivotal appeal of the company’s insufficient bankruptcy plan, ultimately leading to billions of dollars more and the rare opportunity for people in recovery and the families of victims to directly confront the Sacklers. We played a similar role in negotiations with the largest opioid distributors and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, leading the coalition rejecting an earlier settlement plan, and pushing the total figure from $19 billion up to $26 billion.Over the past four years, Connecticut has led nationwide efforts to hold the entire addiction industry accountable for the opioid epidemic, securing more than $50 billion for treatment and prevention. Connecticut will receive over $600 million to save lives across our state. This work has just begun. Drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and their consultants including Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, McKinsey, Teva, Allergan, Endo, Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, and Mallinckrodt all reaped massive profits while fueling the pain and suffering of the opioid epidemic. Connecticut has led these complex, multistate negotiations, and set an aggressive tone in refusing to settle for inadequate offers. Against Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, we were among the last so-called “hold out” states to win a pivotal appeal of the company’s insufficient bankruptcy plan, ultimately leading to billions of dollars more and the rare opportunity for people in recovery and the families of victims to directly confront the Sacklers. We played a similar role in negotiations with the largest opioid distributors and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, leading the coalition rejecting an earlier settlement plan, and pushing the total figure from $19 billion up to $26 billion.
Driving Down Costs for Connecticut Families
We pay far too much for our energy here in Connecticut, and we need to get these costs under control. Over the past four years, we have intervened aggressively in every proceeding before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to drive down these expenses. This resulted in a series of major settlements returning millions of dollars to ratepayers and stabilizing supply rates. In 2021, we brokered an agreement with United Illuminating to provide a $46.5 million COVID relief bill credit and to decrease and stabilize electric distribution rates into 2023. Later that year, we brokered an agreement with Eversource to increase local accountability and control and to return $103.4 million back to Connecticut families following their disastrous response to Tropical Storm Isaias. That agreement stabilizes electric distribution rates until at least January 2024. These settlements provide important relief, but Connecticut families need better– more reliable service and relief from skyrocketing supply rates. I have called on both Eversource and United Illuminating to contribute at least 10 percent of their substantial profits to provide direct rate relief for low and middle-income families. To date they have refused, and that is frustrating and disappointing. I will continue to scrutinize every filing and action by the utilities to ensure Connecticut families are not paying a penny more than they need to, and that these massively successful corporations understand their obligations to us all.
We’ve also taken tough actions to ensure Connecticut families have access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. Earlier this year, we announced an agreement with Frontier Communications worth over $60 million to dramatically expand access to high-speed internet, to end hidden fees, and force significant improvements in their marketing and customer service. We recently announced a similar investigation into Altice Optimum following nearly 500 consumer complaints regarding slow internet speeds, hidden fees, and unacceptable technical support. When Comcast announced plans to implement an ill-timed data cap and surcharge in the height of the pandemic, we pushed back forcefully. As a result, Comcast indefinitely postponed implementation of the cap in Connecticut, protecting Connecticut families from unfair fees that have unfortunately begun elsewhere in the country.
We have also heard from hundreds of outraged M&T customers regarding the bank’s unacceptable lack of preparation ahead of the conversion from People’s United Bank. M&T’s poor planning cost Connecticut customers timely access to their banking records, their bill-pay systems, and their money. We demanded daily meetings with M&T representatives to review and expedite resolution of these frustrating complaints, and are continuing to watch troubling reports regarding layoffs and impacts to Connecticut’s workforce.
We have also heard from hundreds of outraged M&T customers regarding the bank’s unacceptable lack of preparation ahead of the conversion from People’s United Bank. M&T’s poor planning cost Connecticut customers timely access to their banking records, their bill-pay systems, and their money. We demanded daily meetings with M&T representatives to review and expedite resolution of these frustrating complaints, and are continuing to watch troubling reports regarding layoffs and impacts to Connecticut’s workforce.
Ensuring Access to Affordable Community-Based Healthcare
These past four years have seen new challenges threatening access to affordable, community-based care, including major increases in healthcare costs, insurance rates, and proposals to close labor and delivery services at several rural hospitals.
We received over 300 petitions from concerned community members opposed to a proposed closure of labor and delivery services at Sharon Hospital. I have urged state regulators to require the hospital to prove a clear public need for this action before requiring mothers in active labor to travel as much as 40 additional minutes to reach maternity care. Windham Hospital and Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs are similarly seeking to close their maternity units, and this is an area where we will continue to be actively engaged on behalf of Connecticut families and patients.
We have seen a ballooning of insurance rates here in Connecticut, and this past year was among the worst for consumers. Healthcare costs and insurance premiums are already unaffordable for many Connecticut families and small businesses, and double-digit rate hikes– among the highest in the country– made this even worse. I personally questioned insurers and pressed for answers before the Connecticut Insurance Department, but we need a better, more transparent, and more robust process to adequately scrutinize these rates, identify cost drivers, and get these expenses under control.
One of the key factors behind ballooning healthcare costs is prescription drug prices. Connecticut continues to lead a coalition of nearly all states and territories taking on the widespread conspiracy by generic drug manufacturers to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade for generic drugs sold across the United States. Our effort seeks to break up this illegal cartel and restore fair price competition to this badly broken market.
Taking on Big Tech, Protecting our Kids from Social Media Harm
As a father of three, I’ve seen firsthand how harmful social media is for our kids, and how difficult it is for parents to manage these risks. We now have active investigations into both Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok regarding the physical and mental harms to children. I have had multiple conversations with TikTok leaders where I have made it clear that the reckless, viral challenges that proliferate on their platform are dangerous and need to stop. Meta has known for years that its Facebook and Instagram platforms are associated with increased risks to physical and mental health for young people, including depression, eating disorders, and suicide. But they kept pushing this content anyway to keep our kids engaged and online. I appreciate that these platforms have made efforts to remove harmful content and adjust their algorithms, but whatever they have been doing is clearly not working to protect our kids. Our investigations are looking at what these companies knew about the risks to our children, and precisely what they have been doing– or not doing– to keep our kids safe.
We move forward into the new year and new term confident, affirmative and strong-- ready to build on our record of accomplishment, and to confront new challenges facing our state in the years ahead. I am grateful, and honored to lead this office, and to continue this important work. As always, the Office of the Attorney General is here to help. Whether you have been a victim of a scam, are getting the runaround from an airline or bank, are having trouble with a medical bill or insurance, or can't figure out your student loan repayment options, please reach out to our office at 860-808-5420 or file a complaint here: https://www.dir.ct.gov/ag/complaint/.
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Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov
Consumer Inquiries:
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