2019 Press Releases

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• 1/10/2019 AG Tong Announces Multistate Settlements with Fiat-Chrysler and Bosch over Defeat Devices in Certain Diesel Passenger Vehicles

  Auto-maker Fiat Chrysler and its subsidiaries will pay $72.5 million to resolve allegations from 51 states and territories that the company manufactured and marketed more than 100,000 model year 2014 to 2016 Ram 1500 trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles with 3.0 liter V6 diesel engines that were equipped with software intended to circumvent emission standards, Attorney General William Tong said today.

• 6/12/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S REQUEST FOR EMERGENCY STAY OF PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION IN SIERRA CLUB V. TRUMP

  Attorney General William Tong, as part of a 20 state coalition, filed an amicus brief before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Sierra Club, et al. v. Trump, et al., a case challenging President Trump’s unlawful diversion of funds toward construction of a border wall. The ACLU represents the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition in the lawsuit. The brief urges the court to deny the federal government’s emergency motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction granted by the district court in Sierra Club’s case, blocking President Trump from commencing border wall construction in New Mexico and Arizona with funds that were unlawfully diverted. The federal government has now appealed that ruling.

• 7/29/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG, COMMISSIONERS SAADI AND SEAGULL CALL ATTENTION TO SERVICEMEMBER RIGHTS DURING MILITARY CONSUMER PROTECTION MONTH

  Attorney General William Tong, Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Thomas Saadi, and Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull today marked Military Consumer Protection Month by drawing attention to key laws helping to reduce financial pressures on servicemembers while deployed.

• 6/21/2019 THOUSANDS OF CONSUMERS TO RECEIVE ELECTRIC REFUND CHECKS FOLLOWING THIRD-PARTY SUPPLIER RATE NOTICE ERROR

  Attorney General William Tong announced that thousands of Connecticut consumers will receive refund checks from third-party electric suppliers following systematic rate notice errors dating back to 2016.

• 6/21/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ANNOUNCES $2.5 MILLION TO BE PAID TO CANCER CENTERS AFTER LANDMARK LAWSUIT AGAINST SHAM CANCER CHARITIES

  Attorney General William Tong announced that $2.5 million will be distributed to cancer centers across the country as a result of a multistate enforcement action against sham cancer charities.

• 12/20/2019 AG TONG JOINS COALITION IN SUING OVER TRUMPS REPEAL OF CLEAN WATER RULE

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general today in suing the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) for rolling back regulations fundamental to improving and maintaining the health of the nation’s waters. The Trump Administration’s “Recodification Rule” repeals the Clean Water Rule, a science-based Obama-era federal regulation that ensured the nation’s lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands received proper protection under the Clean Water Act.

• 12/31/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS MULTISTATE COALITION OPPOSING TRUMP EFFORT THAT PUTS HAITIAN-BORN RESIDENTS AT RISK OF DEPORTATION

  Attorney General William Tong today joined a group of 21 state attorneys general in challenging the Trump Administration’s effort to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals. If the administration is allowed to move forward, Haitian TPS holders in Connecticut and other states would lose their legal status, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.

• 7/11/2019 AG TONG STATEMENT ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S CITIZENSHIP QUESTION ANNOUNCEMENT

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement today after the Trump Administration announced it would stop trying to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

• 10/9/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG MOVES TO DEFEND EPA RIGHT TO REGULATE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AGAINST INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 30 states and local governments in filing a motion to intervene on behalf of the federal government to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to establish meaningful emission limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and other industrial sources. The intervention pushes back against industry challenges to EPA authority under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to limit these missions.

• 10/21/2019 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.

• 3/1/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS COALITION OF 21 ATTORNEYS GENERAL IN FILING AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF TRANSGENDER STUDENTS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BY SCHOOL

  Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 21 states in filing an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in support of a transgender student named Drew Adams, who is suing the St. Johns County School Board for discrimination. The Court will soon determine whether the School Board’s policy prohibiting transgender boys and girls from using restrooms that other boys and girls use discriminates against transgender students on the basis of sex, in violation of Title IX.

• 5/30/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS COALITION OF 15 AGS IN BRIEF TO PROTECT CRITICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNDING FROM TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL OVERREACH

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 15 states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James in filing an amicus brief to protect states and localities from the Trump Administration's efforts to punish so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions by putting immigration-related conditions on federal funding for law enforcement efforts. The administration has continuously attempted to punish these jurisdictions by putting these unlawful conditions on the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program (Byrne-JAG), a federal law enforcement grant allocated to States and localities.

• 7/22/2019 AG TONG ANNOUNCES $4.78 MILLION FOR CT AS STATES SECURE $600 MILLION FROM EQUIFAX IN LARGEST DATA BREACH SETTLEMENT IN HISTORY

  Attorney General William Tong and Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull today announced that a coalition of 50 attorneys general, comprising 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has reached a settlement with Equifax as the result of an investigation into a massive 2017 data breach. Connecticut co-led the multistate investigation, which found that Equifax’s failure to maintain a reasonable security system enabled hackers to penetrate its systems, exposing the data of 56 percent of American adults—the largest-ever breach of consumer data. The Attorneys General secured a settlement with Equifax that includes a Consumer Restitution Fund of up to $425 million, a $175 million payment to the states, and injunctive relief, which also includes a significant financial commitment. This is the largest data breach enforcement action in history.

• 7/5/2019 AG TONG APPLAUDS NINTH CIRCUIT DECISION THAT MAINTAINS RULING BLOCKING CONSTRUCTION OF BORDER WALL

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement today regarding the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's decision to deny the Trump Administration's emergency motion for a stay of the district court's order blocking construction of a border wall in California, New Mexico and Arizona with funds that were unlawfully diverted, while the appeal is pending.

• 8/26/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS LAWSUIT OPPOSING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S RULE ALLOWING INDEFINITE DETENTION OF CHILDREN

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of attorneys general today, led by California and Massachusetts, in filing a lawsuit opposing the Trump Administration’s effort to subject immigrant children and their families to indefinite detention through a new rule circumventing the Flores Settlement Agreement, which has governed the treatment of children in immigration custody since 1997.