General Assembly should follow the state’s example and reopen
Next weekend, you will be able to drink until midnight at a bar that serves food but still have no access to the state Capitol complex. Connecticut is lurching to a new normal.
The legislature will meet on a reduced schedule that for at least the next several weeks has the House and Senate each meeting two different days of the week. The Constitution State’s lawmaking institutions will continue to wield their authority in isolation.
Last year, the legislature broke camp in March and headed home for the duration, like many of us, after giving Gov. Ned Lamont extraordinary emergency powers, which he exercised with mostly laudable prudence. It seems long ago, but the goal was, you will recall, to flatten the curve. Reduce the number of coronavirus infections when masks and effective treatments were unavailable. Our goal was to keep from overwhelming our health care system.
That we would have three effective vaccines in wide circulation a year later seemed possible to optimists. The field hospitals were dismantled months ago. I was happy a few days ago to confirm to our court system that I am available for jury service at the beginning of June. What once elicited a grumble now brings joy.
The legislature should act like a full service restaurant. Innovate and embrace the world with the safety measures that have become part of our routines. The state is among the top performers in vaccinations, that must include most legislators and staff. Effective legislating requires an element of spontaneity. The virtual process that’s now in effect is laborious and ripe for manipulation.
The legislature has established a system that allows members to cast votes virtually from their office or car, using a special wifi connection only available on the Capitol grounds. Getting vacci
nated in your car was a gift, voting on legislation from it is not.
Some members of the legislature will be allowed to vote from their desk in the House or Senate, but the number allowed or willing has not been determined. People who will adopt a budget raising and spending $46 billion in the next two years ought to be able to figure out how to let some sunshine in on their deliberations.
They are adding beds to the Gold Roof Inn, so legislators will be able to sleep in their offices as they watch or ignore debates while a handful of members participate in each chamber’s business. This constrained method provides opportunities to the diminished number of Republicans elected to the legislature. They know how to talk ... and talk ... and talk. Their 53 House members gave a preview last week of what may await. Republicans in the House talked until the middle of the night about a bill eliminating a religious exemption from mandatory vaccines for students. The night came to an abrupt conclusion when Democrats agreed to accept a Republican amendment to the proposal in exchange for the Republicans shutting up and voting.
Legislators in the next six weeks will consider matters of enduring significance to the people of the state and many who will come after us. They will have to decide if they want to ratify the terrible agreement to expand gaming that Gov. Lamont made with the state’s two tribes that enjoy a duopoly on some types of gaming. Once a bad idea becomes law it can be more difficult to dislodge than it is to enact a good one.
There is some support among Democrats to put the state on the hook for the costs of an unregulated health insurance program that could have far-reaching consequences. People who understand the complexities of our health care system, and that includes lobbyists for business and unions, should have access to the Capitol complex.
Legalizing the use of marijuana and creating a system to regulate its sale is not as simple as it sounds. All sorts of people not in politics have an interest in being being heard by some means other than Zoom. Conversations conducted in person continue to possess value in this virtual age.
People who have been vaccinated, wash their hands and wear a mask present an infinitesimal risk. The greater risk is making momentous decisions with a laptop while sitting in a car in a parking garage. Open up.