Tolls to send lawmakers into special session
HARTFORD — The clock will run out on the General Assembly in a couple of weeks without a deal on highway tolls, sending the issue into legislative overtime.
House majority leaders on Tuesday said they have enough support for a plan with 50 toll gantries and discounts for state residents, but admitted there doesn’t seem to be a unified agreement with Senate Democrats and Gov. Ned Lamont. Lamont released a working draft of the legislation on Tuesday afternoon, following discussions with legislative leaders.
So after the current session ends June 5, the General Assembly will slip into special session to hammer out toll-related legislation.
“The Senate Democratic caucus remains committed to developing a responsible, long-term plan to invest in Connecticut's transportation infrastructure and broad-based economic development,” Senate President Pro Tempore Martin
M. Looney said Tuesday afternoon. “I am hopeful that a special session will allow for us to find a bipartisan solution to solving Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure problems and thereby promote economic development.”
Despite Lamont’s request that they come to the negotiating table, there seems no GOP interest in supporting tolls in any form.
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, D-Derby, said that a special session won’t change the minds of her 60-member caucus. “There is no need for a special session if the intent is to vote on a transportation plan that includes tolls — don’t waste the taxpayer dollars,” she said. “I’ll give our vote now. It’s a no, as it has been from day one.”
Democrats need 76 votes out of their 91 members to pass a toll bill.
Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz told reporters Tuesday that his majority caucus is ready to vote on any bill that could then pass the Senate and get a signature from Lamont. He hinted that parts of a Republican plan to approve some long-term borrowing for more-pressing infrastructure issues could eventually become part of a bill.
An analysis of the recent GOP funding alternative issued Tuesday by nonpartisan legislative staff indicates that the $21.7 billion would cost taxpayers more than $35 billion in debt service over 30 years.
“Their whole plan is confusing me,” said Aresimowicz, D-Berlin. “They need to make a decision whether they believe infrastructure improvements in the state are important and willing to do, or it’s not. We’re hoping we come up with that balance, it passes our caucus, passes the Senate and gets the governor’s signature.”
Removing tolls from the legislative focus in the last two weeks of the session will give lawmakers a chance to possibly finish a new two-year $43 billion budget. “I would guess that there is no way he would want a budget to go into special session, too,” Aresimowicz said.
“If we’re able to get that done within the next seven to 10 days, on time, balanced, giving municipalities predictability, it would be a very good accomplishment here for all of us,” said House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.
Lamont said passing a budget in a timely manner will “allow mayors and first selectmen to know for certain what their budgets will look like for the next biennium and allow them to plan accordingly. The second part of the equation is to tackle our woefully under-resourced transportation infrastructure system.”
“I’ve also met with Republican leadership and I have invited them to the table in our special session,” Lamont said. “They agree that the current state of our infrastructure system should not be a partisan problem, and I welcome and encourage their participation in this special session.”
On Tuesday the Connecticut Business & Industry Association said while an income source is important to develop for transportation infrastructure, the organization could not endorse tolls.
“Today, to its everlasting shame, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association surrendered its role as a representative of Connecticut’s business community,” said Sen. Cathy Osten, DSprague, co-chairwoman of the budget-setting Appropriations Committee. “It is not representing its members’ wishes.”
She was referring in part to an interview CBIA president Joseph Brennan gave on Fox 61 on April 7, in which he said, “When we poll our members ... usually a slight majority says yes. But like anything else, usually the devil is in the details.”
Later in April, Brennan and the CBIA board were criticized by Joe McGee of the Fairfield County Business Council, a proponent of returning highway tolls, for failing to state a position.