Internet outage postpones meetings at the Capitol
HARTFORD — Key committee meetings were postponed and some work ground to a halt Tuesday at the state Capitol as the internet was knocked out unexpectedly.
With no internet at the governor’s office, employees were using “hot spots’’ on their cellphones in order to check websites and obtain information. There was no direct impact on Gov. Ned Lamont, who was holding meetings in person and by telephone, a spokeswoman said.
The impact was widespread as the outage prevented the use of credit cards in the cafeteria at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Customers were forced to use cash instead, and a state employee said it felt like it was 1995 instead of 2023.
The outage inconvenienced 400 people who had been scheduled to testify in person or via Zoom at the housing committee public hearing on rent stabilization that is known as “cap the rent.’’ The proposal would impose a 4% rent cap on housing providers — causing both support and opposition. The meeting was eventually restarted by mid-afternoon, but some expected speakers had headed home by that time.
Confused state employees initially had no explanation for the outage, but then the state Department of Administrative Services provided details.
“This morning a tripped electrical breaker at one of the state’s data centers has caused an unexpected widespread, on-going outage,’’ the department said. “Anyone operating on the state network has been impacted by slow or impaired connection. A cross-functional team under DAS’S Bureau of Information Technology Solutions (BITS) is working to diagnose and address the issue.’’
The BITS team was later credited with “quick solutioning’’ and restoring power that allowed activities — including the housing committee hearing — to resume.
By mid-afternoon, the administrative services department announced, “This issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience on this matter, and to our BITS team for quick solutioning.’’
The outage affected everyone from high-ranking state officials to the general public at hearings.
State Attorney General William Tong had been scheduled to testify personally in front of the banks committee Tuesday, but the hearing was postponed. Prompted by problems and complaints with M&T Bank’s acquisition of Bridgeport-based People’s United Bank, Tong is now seeking wider authority so that his office can investigate complaints related to bank mergers.
In this case, Tong’s office received more than 400 complaints that included stunning reports of money disappearing from bank accounts and problems with pre-existing power of attorney that is commonly needed to complete various bank transactions — often with adult children helping their elderly parents who are no longer capable of properly handling their accounts.
Earlier in the day, the state Capitol police sent out an alert as a text message on phones that said, “Internet problems impacting CGA causing issues with internet, email and other services, including meetings and hearings.’’
A meeting of the energy and technology committee was recessed until 11 a.m. Wednesday, and a public hearing by the powerful budget-writing appropriations committee on health issues in Lamont’s $50.5 billion, two-year state budget was postponed until March 3.