The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lamont looks to extend powers
Governor to ask lawmakers to continue executive orders until Feb. 15
HARTFORD — Calling the General Assembly into special session next week, Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday asked legislative leaders to extend his emergency public health and civil preparedness powers for nearly five months, until Feb. 15.
In particular, the governor wants to continue a dozen emergency orders, including allowing towns and cities to set their own mask requirements; mandating COVID-19 vaccination requirements for school and health care workers and continue the requirement of mask use in schools; and to continue the program for temporary nurses aides.
Lamont, in a proclamation calling the legislature to a limited session, said that the emergence of the delta variant of the coronavirus, “with a prolonged surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from this new and more contagious variant” is the impetus for the request. If approved, it would be the sixth extension of the governor’s emergency powers since March 2020.
The state Department of Public Health on Wednesday said there were 490 newly reported COVID cases out of 22,743 tests, for a low, one-day positivity rate of 2.15 percent. There was a net reduction of 25 patients in state hospitals, which held a total of 269 patients. Over the seven-day period, there were 4,940 positive tests out of 176,911, for a positivity rate of 2.79 percent.
The governor’s order for the special session came after conferring with top Democrats, who have a 23-13 majority in the Senate and a 97-54 edge in the House. The proclamation came on a day when a conservative faction of the House of Representatives held a session in the Legislative Office Building for people opposed to mask and vaccine mandates.
Many participants in the public hearing held by the Conservative Caucus disobeyed General Assembly rules requiring masks
“The importance of getting as many people vaccinated as possible cannot be overstated. The COVID-19 vaccines decrease the likelihood of death and severe illness from the virus.”
Max Reiss, Gov. Lamont’s director of communications
inside the Capitol complex.
“I don’t come to the table here today being anti-vax or anti-mask,” said state Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, vice chair of the caucus. “I come pro-choice.” Fishbein and state Rep. Doug Dubitsky of Chaplin, another member of the caucus, have sued the governor multiple times over his pandemic-related orders.
A group of unionized school bus drivers from Bristol were among the 40-plus people who signed up to speak in-person during the afternoon forum.
Ashley Madore, a bus driver in Bristol who works for First Student, a private company that provides bus service for Bristol Public Schools and other districts throughout the state, said she and other drivers were threatened with disciplinary action if they spoke out.
“For taking time off to come here I was told that I could possibly lose my job.
I could be suspended without pay,” Madore said. “Pretty much it’s up to my boss what disciplinary action she wants to take.”
Madore said she planned to claim a religious exemption. All of the mandates issued by Lamont allow workers to claim a medical exemption as authorized by a health professional, or a “sincerely held religious objection.”
“It’s my right to freedom of choice and my choice is between God and me and it’s against God to put anything into my body,” she said. Lamont is requiring teachers and school staff, including bus drivers, to get vaccinated by Sept. 27 or undergo weekly testing.
Madore said her employer told her if her health insurance doesn’t cover the cost of getting tested weekly, the company will “look into” paying for it. First Student has also provided a list of free testing locations, she said, and is offering to pay drivers for an hour of their time to get tested.
A request for comment from First Student was not immediately returned.
Masks are required inside the Capitol complex but few people, including lawmakers at Wednesday’s forum wore them — prompting backlash from Democrats.
“Republicans today ignored the Capitol complex’s health guidelines and unmasked en masse — putting Capitol Police, members of the public, staff and elected officials at risk,” House Speaker Matt Ritter, DHartford, said in a statement.
“Speaker Ritter’s hyperbolic statement about today’s hearing conducted in a nearly-empty building is not only predictable, it’s inaccurate given the guidance legislators received from Capitol Police today,” said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora in response to Ritter.
The governor’s director of communications, Max Reiss, highlighted the effectiveness of vaccines in an afternoon statement.
“The importance of getting as many people vaccinated as possible cannot be overstated. The COVID-19 vaccines decrease the likelihood of death and severe illness from the virus,” Reiss said. “Every action Gov. Lamont has taken in response to the pandemic has been aimed at reducing the spread of the virus, and the administration myriad steps to encourage and broaden access to vaccination.”
Lamont acknowledged that COVID case rates in Connecticut have increased to levels not seen since early spring.
“Still, without our ongoing vaccination campaign, the damage from this highly contagious strain of the disease would have been much worse, and further increasing vaccination rates, along with continued use of masks and other protective measures, holds the best hope of preventing or reducing the effects of another surge of the delta variant or even more dangerous and harmful variants,” Lamont wrote.
Candelora, R-North Branford, said Wednesday afternoon that one of the new orders, to reduce the cost of unemployment insurance for employers, seems laudable, but is unexplained. “We are concerned about the liability for employers, but what does that have to do with the governor’s managing the vaccine rollout? I suggest nothing, and the legislature should be involved in that.”
Both Candelora and state Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, criticized the narrow scope of the special session, stressing that a rise in criminal activity requires a legislative response.
“Our government is not wired for one-person rule,” Kelly said in a statement. “Nearly every other state in the Northeast has already ended their states of emergency. There is no reason why the legislature cannot act in equal partnership with the executive branch to codify any policy needed to continue administering vaccines, to oversee public health issues, or to keep our communities safe.”
“We have a problem in Connecticut,” Candelora said. “There are collateral issues to COVID, like car theft and teachers who can’t handle the bad behavior in the classroom, which led to the closure of a school in New Britain.” Candelora said he has not had recent discussions with Democrats about a potential special session on crime later in the year.