New Laws Increase Minimum Wage, Reduce Taxes In 2001_By Diane Scarponi_Associated Press Writer

The year 2001 brings a higher minimum wage for Connecticut workers, a tax cut for small businesses, and relief from some kinds of telemarketers.

The changes come from laws the legislature passed last year and in previous years. Lawmakers also included a new year’s gift for themselves: a pay raise.

Starting January 1, the minimum wage is $6.40 per hour, up from $6.15 an hour and $1.25 higher than the federal minimum wage.

The wage increase is not expected to benefit many people. With record-low unemployment in Connecticut, most workers already are earning more.

The state’s part-time lawmakers are getting pay increases of $6,212, bringing salaries for rank-and-file legislators to $28,000.

Party leaders and committee chairman get more, with the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate president pro tempore earning $38,689 annually.

On the tax side, the year 2001 continues a multiyear effort to revamp the state income tax to make the tax more fair for single taxpayers. The personal income tax exemption for single workers increases $250 this year to $12,500.

Small businesses, called “S Corporations,” are now exempt from the state’s 7.5 percent corporation business tax, the Department of Revenue Services said. These businesses used to pass the tax through to shareholders. Under the new law, shareholders will pay state personal income tax on prorated shares.

The year 2001 brings new incentives for poor people in Connecticut to save money and build assets. A new law sets up individual development accounts that provide matching funds in savings accounts for qualified people to buy houses, put deposits on an apartments, start businesses, pay tuition, or buy cars to get transportation to work. The account system is run through community organizations, which also educate participants on how to handle their finances.

“It’s so individuals of low income can build assets so they can become economically self-sufficient,” said Bernard Kavaler, spokesman for Treasurer Denise Nappier, who worked to get the law passed.

Consumers also gain new protections from the state in 2001.

Starting this year, the state Department of Consumer Protection will maintain a list of people who do not want solicitations from certain telemarketers. A list of people who want to be on the “no call list” will be sent this winter to telemarketers, who must take these peoples’ names off their call lists.

The law will not stop all kinds of telephone solicitations. The law exempts nonprofit and charities, pollsters, new businesses, debt collectors, businesses with existing relationships with customers, and telephone companies that are updating directories.

The effects of the law will probably not be felt until late February or early March, the Department of Consumer Protection said.

Also starting this year, insurance companies will be required to pay for pain management treatment for qualified patients.