Here are the big issues as the pandemic legislative session starts
The Connecticut General Assembly’s COVID era enters an active phase on Wednesday morning as the new legislature gathers outside the State Capitol at 10 o’clock for socially distant swearing-in ceremonies to kick off the 22-week budgetsetting session.
While the major goal of lawmakers is to craft a twoyear budget in cooperation with Gov. Ned Lamont, hundreds of other bills will be considered following a year in which the Capitol was abandoned last March in the initial surge of the pandemic. The General Assembly did pass some bills in special sessions in the summer and fall, notably a controversial police reform law.
Lawmakers will now have limited access to the House and Senate chambers, as they will be allowed to vote remotely from their offices and elsewhere on the Capitol complex in Hartford. Meetings and public hearings of the 26 legislative committees will lean on virtual Zoom technology, while the complex will remain closed to the public.
Through it all, major issues will air before the deadline of 11:59 and 59 seconds on June 9. Here is a rundown:
Budget and taxes
A budget for the two fiscal years that start July 1 will get done — perhaps in overtime, as in 2017, when lawmakers finished five months late, on Halloween.
The coronavirus downturn has eroded state revenues and that means even bigger budget shortfalls than projected. That, in turn, means Lamont and lawmakers must either cut spending, raise taxes, postpone previously approved changes, borrow money or move money around creatively — all of which they’ve done in recent years.
This recession is totally unpredictable, as officials don’t know how fast economic activity will resume when it’s over. The good news is the projected shortfalls shrank as 2020 progressed, and continue to shrink. And, Connecticut has a $3 billion reserve fund.
The bad news is, there are projected shortfalls of $615 million in this fiscal year, $2.07 billion in 2022 and $2.23 billion in 2023. A big part of that is fixed costs, such as Medicaid, debt and retirement payments, which are set to rise by about $650 million in each of the next two years.
Labor unions and liberal Democrats are pushing hard for higher income taxes on individuals making more than $500,000, households making more than $1 million and large, profitable corporations. Lamont says raising taxes on the rich is the wrong way to go when he’s trying to attract rich people to live here. Lamont presided over an expansion of the sales tax in 2019 and the postponement of some business tax reductions.
Some Democrats would also like to enact property tax reform, shifting costs away from cities and towns — but that would most likely add yet more to the state’s burden.
Transportation funding
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to attempt to supplement last week’s pandemic stimulus funding, which brought $344 million to the state for airports, mass transit and highways. But a lot depends on the special elections in Georgia that will determine the makeup of the U.S. Senate for the next two years.
After two years of trying to persuade the General Assembly to approve either broad tolls or trucks-only highway tolls, Lamont last year dropped the idea. That still leaves a hole in the transportation budget, which is on track to go broke by 2024.
Non-medical cannabis sales
The framework for two associated bills has been drafted since 2019. Despite national polling that indicates most voters approve marijuana for adult recreational use, majority Democrats have been reticent to push it through because of perceived election vulnerability — and because of objections from some urban pastors.
With no election this year, an acute need for economic growth and a likelihood of legalization in New York, this year could be its best chance for approval. Incoming Speaker of the House Matt Ritter recently predicted a close vote, but stressed that if it fails, he would support legislation to allow voters to review it as a constitutional amendment. That could not be voted on until at least 2024, if the bill were to win approval from both this General Assembly and the next, which takes office in 2023.
Online and sports gambling
Another revenue source that might see the light of day in 2021, depending on the active negotiations among Gov. Ned Lamont, the Mohegan Tribal Nation and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is online and sports gambling. That’s proving lucrative for the state of New Jersey.
The two tribes, with a legal lock on “casino games,” claim full rights to online and sports betting. Talks have stalled, creating tension on the issue for years as others — including Sportech, operator of Off-Track Betting locations, and the Connecticut Lottery Corp., not to mention outside gaming corporations — all want a piece of the action.
Desegregation
Possibly the state’s thorniest issue, which pits rural and suburban lawmakers, who dominate the General Assembly, against those in the cities and their heavily minority populations. But 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, followed by the pandemic shutdowns, illustrated the obstacles faced by communities of color and won over new advocates in the General Assembly, which approved sweeping changes to law enforcement transparency back in September.
The housing panel could rewrite zoning laws that have allowed suburbs such as Milford and Fairfield to limit the development of affordable units. The Education Committee could likely find itself constrained by limitations on regional magnet schools. This will be a tough sell with highly controversial bills that have not been aired before.
Mandatory school vaccines
During the abbreviated 2020 legislative session, the biggest outpouring of public participation was from Connecticut parents opposed to mandatory vaccinations for childhood diseases if they wanted their children to attend public school. The age of COVID, as millions await a chance to get the vaccine, complicates the lingering issue.
About 4,000 people filled the Legislative Office Building during last year’s extended hearing. On Wednesday, anti-vaccination protesters are expected to make their presence known outside the State Capitol. But in the surging pandemic, the question for lawmakers will be the balancing of importance of public health over the privacy of parents to make health decisions for their children.
Ritter has stressed the importance of eliminating an exemption that allowed many parents to claim religious grounds to avoid childhood vaccinations. The state Constitution also requires free public education for all children.
The debate is over traditional childhood vaccines. Lamont has said that the COVID vaccine should be voluntary and most school children are ineligible for it’s authorized only for older teens and adults.
Storm recovery
Lawmakers were angered last year when a tropical storm kept state residents in the dark — and summer heat — for days. The state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has until June 1 to endorse a procedure for compensating customers for spoiled food and medicine, as well as storm-related credits on monthly bills.
While PURA’s investigation is scheduled to continue until the end of April, lawmakers will work on additions to the utility-related bill approved in the September special session, including a possible requirement that utilities improve communications with local fire departments in the wake of major storms. Lawmakers may also rein in the ability of electricity providers such as Eversource and United Illuminating to adjust ratepayer bills if their revenues fall short.
Climate initiative
Lamont recently signed on to a regional transportation and climate pact, which could bring the state $90 million a year by 2023 under a cap-and-trade system designed to limit vehicle emissions. Lawmakers must approve the pact for Connecticut to join.