Taking the long view on justice reforms

So just when did all that chatter in Hartford about tolls fade so far back in the rear-view mirror? Remember those heady summer days of 2019 when Gov. Ned Lamont kept alluding to a special session dedicated to a deep dive into the tolls issue? That never happened, and the issue that hogged the road in the first half of the year stalled out by Christmas.

Here we are, back in July anticipating a special session, and there’s a lot more traffic for legislators to negotiate.

Lamont sounds adamant about limiting the goals of the session for the week of July 20 to one or two.

“I’m pretty cautious what you can do on a twoor three-day special session,” he said. “I like what we’re focused on right now, which is voting and voting rights and absentee (ballots) as well as police accountability.”

The absentee ballot issue is probably the only sure thing, but even that faces considerable opposition. To us, it sounds like a no-brainer — even without a pandemic — to expand the use of absentee ballots on Election Day beyond those who are ill. The number of eligible voters who traditionally participate in this most cherished of rights is painfully low, and every effort should be made to ease the process.

One remedy is to revise state law to also open absentee ballots to anyone who fears being exposed to illness, a certainty this November when they would enter indoor polling places surrounded by strangers in masks.

But there is stark division on the issue, as the minority Republicans are following the party script that absentee ballots invite voter fraud.

While the voter issue is motivated by this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement is driving the call for enhancing police transparency.

Members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus are understandably trying to seize the moment to drive deeper change. At a news conference Tuesday, they unveiled an outline of interests they hope could lead to systemic reforms, reaching beyond voting rights and police accountability to education and housing equity and economic and environmental justice.

Generations of racial injustices can’t be course-corrected in a special session that will last no longer than a holiday weekend. We’d like lawmakers to agree on an absentee ballot solution and stand united on assuring police accountability.

Lawmakers are floating the idea of a September session to catch up on more mundane matters, and there will likely be issues related to the pandemic that cry for immediate action. By that time, legislators trying to enhance their Election Day profiles will surely float distracting pet causes as well.

Lamont hinted that bigger issues requiring a public hearing should wait until such gatherings can be held beneath the gold dome, which at best means 2021.

Transformative reform calls for bold action, but will take months and years of refinement. These are issues that must not fade in the rear-view mirror.

Generations of racial injustices can’t be course-corrected in a special session that will last no longer than a holiday weekend.