Lawmakers give final OK to marijuana legalization
After a long and winding legislative process — including three votes in the state Senate — Connecticut lawmakers gave final approval to a marijuana legalization bill and sent the measure to Gov. Ned Lamont, who has pledged to sign it. Cannabis possession would be legal starting next month, but retail stores are not expected to open until mid-2022.
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The big story
Lawmakers give final OK to legal marijuana sales: The state Senate gave final approval Thursday in a special session to a comprehensive bill to legalize the sale and cultivation of marijuana in Connecticut. As of July 1, adults 21 and older will be allowed to possess 1.5 ounces of marijuana on their person and up to 5 ounces in a locked container in their home or in their car’s glove box or trunk. Retail stores are expected to open in May. “By allowing adults to possess cannabis, regulating its sale and content, training police officers in the latest techniques of detecting and preventing impaired driving, and expunging the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes, we’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities, we’re keeping Connecticut economically competitive with our neighboring states,” Gov. Ned Lamont said after the vote. Half of the licenses in the industry would be reserved for “social equity applicants” who are from communities that were disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition. Individuals would be allowed to grow marijuana plants in their homes beginning July 1, 2023. Thursday was the third time the state Senate voted on the measure. They first approved it June 8 in the final days of the regular legislative session, but time ran out before the state House of Representatives could act. They approved it again on Tuesday but with an amendment that led to a veto threat from Lamont. The House undid the amendment when it passed the bill Wednesday and the Senate voted for the third and final time Thursday.
Five things you may have missed
Native American mascots could cost towns state aid: Buried within the 837-page budget-implementation bill is a provision championed by state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, that would require towns whose schools have Native American mascots or imagery to forfeit a portion of financial aid they receive from the state unless they make a change. The money the towns would forgo is part of the slot machine revenue the state shares with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, who operate the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos. “We’re just saying that if you’re going to take dollars directly from the Native American communities, you shouldn’t disrespect those communities,” Osten said. About a dozen cities and towns in Connecticut would be impacted by
the provision, losing out on various amounts of money, ranging from about $28,000 in West Hartford, home to the Conard High School Chieftains, to $1.5 million in Montville, where the local high school teams are called the “Indians.”
House rejects Senate data privacy law:
When the state House of Representatives voted on the massive budget implementation bill, they amended the legislation to eliminate a data privacy provision that was championed by Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. The law would have required tech companies like Facebook and Google to clearly state the data they were collecting and how it would be used. And it would have given consumers the right to opt out. Duff and Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, vowed to reintroduce legislation on data privacy when the General Assembly reconvenes next year. “Our various electronic devices are listening to us, watching us, and big tech is profiting off of every keystroke we make,” Duff said. “At this point consumers have no expectation of privacy, and it is literally the Wild West out there.”
He blamed the legislation’s defeat on “more than 60 lobbyists” who were hired at a cost of more than $1.8 million to kill the bill.
Republicans to pick new state chairman:
The Connecticut Republican Party will pick a new chairman Tuesday as the state GOP looks to end its long losing streak in congressional and statewide campaigns. While Republicans have had some success in legislative elections — they won enough seats to tie the state Senate at 18-18 from 2017-19 — they have not won a statewide campaign or congressional contest since 2006 when Gov. M. Jodi Rell was reelected by a wide margin and U.S. Rep. Chris Shays won a close contest in the 4th Congressional District. Candidates for the chairman’s job include Greenwich Republican Town Committee Chairman Jim Campbell, former GOP state representative turned radio host Gary Byron of Newington, lawyer and GOP activist Ben Proto of Stratford and Jennifer Cusato of Fairfield, who has experience as a staffer at the state Capitol. Ex-state GOP Chairman J.R. Romano resigned in January months before his term was set to expire.
Free prison phone call bill gets Lamont’s signature: Lamont on Wednesday signed legislation that would make Connecticut the first state in the nation to make phone calls from prison between incarcerated people and their loved ones free. “Connecticut has now set an example for the rest of the country, and we’re on the right side of history,” said Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, who has advocated for the issue since 2019. The change will take effect in July 2022. Connecticut’s prison phone calls are the most expensive in the nation, with a charge of almost $5 for a 15-minute conversation. State officials had previously announced plans to lower the cost per minute from 23 cents to 19 cents, but advocates said that didn’t go far enough. Fiscal analysts predicted it would cost the state about $4.5 million a year if the calls were made free.
Ex-lawmaker is new labor commissioner: Dante Bartolomeo has been tapped to lead the state labor department when Commissioner Kurt Westby retires at the end of June. Bartolomeo, a deputy labor commissioner and former Democratic state senator from Meriden, handled some of the most high-profile problems at the Department of Labor during the pandemic when hundreds of thousands of workers were thrown out of work as businesses were shut on public health orders. “I thank Dante for agreeing to step into this leadership position,” Lamont said. “Since day one she has been committed to the department’s mission and programs. I have no doubt that she can quickly transition into her new role as commissioner.” Bartolomeo served two terms in the Senate representing Meriden, Middlefield and parts of Cheshire and Middletown. She was co-chair of the higher education committee. Westby was made labor commissioner in 2018 by then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.