Capitol likely to keep some remote options
As the third Connecticut legislative session of the COVID-19 era came to a close Wednesday, key lawmakers say some pandemic accommodations at the Capitol, including virtual public hearings and a remote voting option for legislators, may be here to stay.
At least 10 percent of the General Assembly’s nearly 200 members contracted COVID during this legislative session, and Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, argued last week that conducting hearings over Zoom gives the public more access to the legislature and lawmakers enjoy the ability to vote from their offices when necessary.
“I think those things stay forever,” Ritter said.
House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said he envisions an option for members of the public to testify either live at the Capitol or over Zoom, depending on their preference.
“Can we have enough technological ability to have hybrid public hearings where there is an in-person component for those who want to be here as well as an online version so that folks from the corners of the state don’t have to drive here to participate in the process?” Rojas said.
Whether to continue virtual committee meetings, another pandemic-era innovation, is a “tricky” question, Ritter said, and would likely be up for discussion next year.
After shutting down entirely early in the pandemic, the Capitol has been partially open during this past session, with the public permitted on the first and second floors, but not the third floor.
But even with hearings remote and other precautions in place, COVID-19 spread quickly among lawmakers this session. Ritter and Rojas estimated that between 10 and 15 members of the Democratic
House caucus have tested positive for COVID-19 since February, and a spokesperson said another 5-10 Democratic senators had had the virus as well. House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he knew of two more positive tests in the Republican House caucus.
In total, that means at least 10 percent of the 187 state legislators have had COVID-19 during this session alone, as have Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, both of whom tested positive in April.
The legislative session has played out during a period in which Connecticut recovered from a devastating omicron variant wave, only to face yet another COVID-19 uptick as the BA.2 subvariant spread through the state. As of Wednesday, the state’s seven-day positivity rate stood at 10.3 percent, highest since late January.
Legislators who have COVID-19 have still been able to participate in the session from an isolated location in the basement of the Capitol, another accommodation created for the COVID-19 era.
Ahead of this legislative session, Republicans pushed back against the continuation of virtual hearings and committee meetings, arguing they were unnecessary and limited public participation. Those concerns were overruled by the Democratic majority, which chose to continue the pandemic precautions — initially for the first month of the session and then eventually for the entire 12-week period.
Despite having contracted COVID-19 last month, Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, said he viewed the rules used this session as a success, arguing they struck an appropriate balance by allowing lawmakers to interact face-to-face while making sure hearings were safe and accessible.