Democrats embrace regulatory reform, sort of

On Sept. 4, legislative leaders and members of the Public Health Committee voted along party lines to extend Gov. Ned Lamont’s emergency powers — and thereby his executive orders — another five months, on the grounds that the governor’s orders and powers were necessary to continue fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although some Connecticut citizens might be dismayed by leadership’s refusal to return lawmaking power to the General Assembly, there is a silver lining to the legislative majority’s ratification of the governor’s executive orders — and it’s a significant one.

Through their complete and unequivocal support for the governor’s executive orders, Democratic leaders have signaled their support for not only face masks and social distancing but also the reduction of outdated regulations that have long constrained Connecticut’s hospitals and businesses.

For instance, Gov. Lamont suspended several of the certificate of need regulations for Connecticut’s hospitals, which effectively function like a government permission slip for hospitals to expand facilities, purchase new equipment or even create more space to help more people.

The governor also suspended needless licensing and registration requirements that make it more difficult for out-of-state medical providers to work in Connecticut and allowed plumbers and electricians to complete their continuing education online.

To dull some of the financial pain inflicted on restaurants remaining under strict indoor gathering limits, the governor also permitted expedited approval of outdoor dining areas and allowed restaurants and hotels to sell alcoholic beverages to go.

These wise decisions only highlight the fact that all such permitting for businesses by the state should be “expedited” and restaurants should be able to sell their drinks in the same way they sell their food: with a to-go option.

Here’s the takeaway: If all these rules and regulations needed to be eliminated to foster the efficient and timely functioning of Connecticut’s hospitals, businesses and workers during the pandemic, then it stands to reason they were burdensome and unnecessary prior to COVID-19 — and will continue to be so after the pandemic is long gone.

Ironically, the legislative majority’s implicit support for reducing Connecticut’s regulatory burden comes after the same politicians tried to impose more restrictions on restaurants and hospitals just several months earlier during the shortened 2020 legislative session.

The Labor and Public Employees Committee sponsored bill titled An Act Concerning a Fair Work Week Schedule, which would require businesses to pay employees if their schedules were changed with less than two weeks’ advance notice.

This law would have had crippling financial effects on both restaurants and hospitals, which must tailor their labor force to consumer demand. A hospital wing may see quick drops in patient numbers — as they did during the height of the pandemic — thereby requiring fewer staff; a restaurant with outdoor seating, which many of them currently rely on to survive, may not need staff members to service the outdoor area when it rains.

Although the bill contained an exemption for emergency declarations, its effects would be no less destructive during non-emergency situations.

To their credit, legislative leaders have already taken a step in the right direction, voting in special session to extend broader telehealth services until March of 2021. Telehealth services were necessary during the pandemic and will remain so in the future; the technology exists, so we should make full use of it and eliminate the legislation’s sunset date.

Although all of the governor’s executive orders will not be necessary (or even legal) to enshrine into law when the pandemic abates, many warrant serious consideration, and Democrat leaders’ sudden embrace of fewer regulations for Connecticut’s businesses and hospitals is a welcome breath of fresh air, even if inhaled through a face mask from 6 feet away.

The General Assembly should move to pass these common-sense regulatory reforms into law in 2021 and, with lessons learned, stop attacking the businesses and institutions the people of Connecticut want and need to survive, thrive and grow.