Rare fall session of legislature yielded 4 judges, 9 bills
Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday signed all nine bills approved in a rare flurry of autumn legislative action during this week’s special sessions of the House and Senate.
During a morning news conference in Hartford City Hall with Mayor Luke Bronin, Lamont signed a bill that will give local voting officials - who are expecting an avalanche of mail-in ballots in the coronavirus pandemic to show up at town and city halls in record numbers - more time to process ballots. The bill also created an election monitor for Bridgeport.
Coincidentally, local officials on Friday began to mail out blank ballots to those who have requested them under special conditions that allow absentee ballots to be used by voters concerned about going to the polls on Nov. 3 during the pandemic.
Ordinarily, absentee or mail-in ballots would be limited to the sick, those serving in the military, out-of-state on business or working at the polls.
“I really salute what the legislature has done over the last two days and am ready to sign this bill that will allow Connecticut residents to vote safely,” Lamont said. “No long curling lines like Wisconsin or Georgia. And if you’re over a certain age, it’s better to use an absentee ballot. I really appreciate that here in Connecticut, making it easier to vote safely and honestly has been a bipartisan effort, and that makes a big difference.”
The General Assembly also approved the appointment of Appellate Judge Christine Keller of Hartford to the State Supreme Court, and three new Appellate Court judges.
Later, Lamont signed the rest of the legislation including:
* The utilities oversight legislation that will give consumers credits on their electric bills, plus $250 in reimbursements for lost food and medicine in the event of future power outages in excess of 96 hours.
* Half a billion dollars in new school construction projects, including new high schools in Norwalk and New Fairfield, as well as new elementary schools in Darien and Brookfield.
* New regulations for cleaning up historic, contaminated industrial sites, to make it easier to redevelop old manufacturing locations and other locations. It also requires those who create spills of a variety of wastes, including oil, petroleum and chemicals to report and remediate it according to new rules.
* An expansion of the loan program for owners of homes with faulty foundations, mostly in eastern Connecticut, that used an unstable mineral during 1980s construction, to include condominiums and common-interest associations.
* Amendments to the state’s environmental-justice law, which sets requirements for public disclosure, notice and participation in communities such as Bridgeport and New Haven that have been adversely affected by facilities such as power plants and trash-toenergy plants.
* The extension of property tax exemptions in 11 towns, and expands, for five years, the deadline for Bridgeport’s Steel Point Infrastructure Improve
ment District to issue bonds to finance infrastructure improvements. It also requires the state to provide a $500,000 grant to Branford; and extends indefinitely a site plan approval that the Ridgefield Planning and Zoning Commission first granted in 2007.
* The extension and revision of the state’s hempgrowing program, for cannabis with THC levels below .3 percent, that was set to expire at the end of October. It requires the program, with dozens of state grow
ers, to comply with U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations for hemp production. It requires the state agricultural commissioner to prepare a hemp production plan, including sampling and testing, recordkeeping and reporting.
* A bill authorizing state marshals to recover fees for searching Department of Motor Vehicles records and other expenses including postage.