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June 17, 2009
New Blog
This blog will no longer be updated. Please visit our new blogs at http://www.connpost.com/blogs.
Posted by Bustraan on 6:25 PM
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June 2, 2009
Forget About the National-Vote Bill; "Block the Box" is Hanging By a Thread
Tuesday June 2, 2009
It's 9 p.m. and bad legislation is falling by the wayside in the General Assembly. Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, just said that the bill that would let Connecticut join a national consortium of states in attempt to force a popular vote around the current Electoral-College system, will die tomorrow at the end of the regular session without being heard in the Senate..
"Unfortunately with the (Republican) slowdown in process, we won't be calling that bill," Slossberg said of the late-session tactic GOP lawmakers are using....to....extend....debate.
In the House, Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, just succeeded in getting Democrats to suspend debate on a "block the box" bill in which motorists stranded in intersections could be penalized. Apparently this one may come back before the midnight Wednesday deadline, though, because it's on the wish list of Republican lawmakers.D
Posted by Ken on 9:09 PM
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House: Drink 'Em If You've Got Them
Tuesday June 2, 2009
And it has been nearly a half hour since House Majority Leader Denise Merrill asked that this year's version of the open-container legislation be "passed temporarily" and withdrawn for debate.
It's up in the air whether it will return to the floor. About an hour and forty five minutes into the debate, sentiment seemed to shift against the bill.
By the time Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, stood up to say "This may be a good press release, but it's not a good draft," the bill was minutes away from being pulled. Debate started at 112:15 and it was "PTed" pulled at 2:24.
This bill has more loopholes than loops, so the Land of Steady habits may still keep its arcane law that allows vehicle passengers, even lone drivers, to have their open containers of beer, or whatever.
Posted by Ken on 2:59 PM
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June 1, 2009
No Budget, But Bikeways and Wetland Get Attention of Lawmakers
Monday June 1, 2009
It’s about 2:20 p.m. and the House, after a three-hour debate, just voted 123-20 in favor of a bill that would require the state Department of Transportation and local municipalities, to set aside at least one percent of their road-improvement projects for bikeways and sidewalks.
The bill, which next goes to the governor for final action, was the subject of intense Republican questioning on how the mandate might hurt towns and cities.
It won widespread support from groups including the Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency.
Upstairs in the Senate, it has been more than three hours of debate on legislation that would allow farms to use inland wetlands.
Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, thinking of Jones Tree Farm in his city, got a clarification from Sen. Ed Meyer, D-Guilford, co-chairman of the Environment Committee indicating specifically that growers can use the wetlands.
If the Senate ever approves the bill, it will take a place on the list of hundreds of bills on the House calendar as the midnight, Wednesday deadline hovers like William Blake’s muse: just out of arm’s reach.
Posted by Ken on 2:34 PM
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The Final Days, Before The Next Days
Monday June 1, 2009
"June is bustin' out all over...."
Denizens of the Capitol Press Room are fairly harmonic in singing that classic show tune. But we know that once the regular legislative session sputters to its anti-climax at midnight Wednesday, we'll have weeks more budget watching until a new $38-billion spending package finally wins approval.
The trip to the mailbox brought file No.1028 today.
That means that 1,028 bills got far enough in the legislative process to be drawn up in legalese. The average number of new laws each year is about 300.
So how do we stand on the threshold of this unsuccessful session? Today's House calendar has 223 bills on it. The Senate has 219. Many of the bills on each calendar also require ratification from the other chamber if they're to get to Gov. Jodi Rell's desk.
Posted by Ken on 11:05 AM
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May 29, 2009
Perone Gets Taken Away on a Stretcher
Friday May 29, 2009
It's 8 p.m. amd Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk, vice chairman of the Finance Committee, was just removed from the Capitol, via stretcher, to Hartford Hospital. He walked to the stretcher, located outside the second-floor Democratic House caucus, breathing from an oxygen tank. He was smiling as he was wheeled away.
Posted by Ken on 8:21 PM
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Ethically Challenged Heal Thyselves
Friday May 29, 2009
It's about 10 hours after the Democratic Senate majority, minus Sen. Ed Meyer of Guilford, rejected a GOP proposal to create a six-member bipartisan ethics panel.
The proposed Senate rule finally emerged for a floor debate in the late hours of Thursday night.
Missing, however, from the debate and vote, were two Democrats who may be in most need of ethics rules: Sen. Tom Gaffey, D-Meriden and Sen. Joe Crisco, D-Woodbridge. Gaffey was fined $6,000 last month for using campaign-finance money for personal expense and Crisco this week was fined $4,000 for writing the names of others on sworn documents applying for taxpayer-financed campaign money.
A Senate Democratic spokesman told reporters last night that Gaffey and Crisco thought it was good form to abstain from the debate.
The Blogster hopes they were watching the debate on TV. The resolution failed 20-13 at 12:21 after an hour-long vote.
Posted by Ken on 10:21 AM
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Valiant, Pesky House Republicans Finally Collapse. Sick-time Filibuster Fails To Reach 9-Hour Mark
Friday May 29, 2009
The Thrifty 37 just…couldn’t….squeeze …. out that full nine hours of filibuster/debate during yesterday’s long day’s journey into night on the House floor.
The issue is eminently veto-ready and it’s likely that Gov. Rell will dispatch it forthwith, if it ever comes up in the Senate and gets approved as the days dwindle before the midnight June 3 adjournment of the budget-setting session that wasn’t/isn’t.
The bill in question would require businesses with fewer than 50 employees to provide paid sick days. If signed into law, it would make Connecticut the first state in the nation with such a requirement.
Republicans led by House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, warned that it would increase the cost of doing business at a time when the economy is in the tank. One after another, most of the 37 GOP members (Rep John Hetherington, R-New Canaan, probably did a solid hour by himself) stood to ask time-consuming questions of Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, co-chairman of the Labor Committee, who was up and down like a jack-in-the-box most of the time between 1:18 p.m. when the bill was called, and 10:12:59 when the final 88-58 vote was tallied.
Yep, five minutes short of a 9-hour debate.
Since 101 votes would be required for a veto override, the Republicans seem to have won this one with their rear-guard action.
Cafero praised his little caucus, which is a 37-114 minority.
“We understand that there were some people in this chamber who believe it is the wrong move to vote for this bill, believe they had an obligation to themselves, to those who elected them and the state they live in, to let the world know why,” Cafero said at the end of the debate. “If your time was wasted, your sleep deprived, I apologize, my friends,” he said. “But I needed to answer that question that has been asked of me as leader of this caucus so often in the last few weeks and I assume in the next few days: Why do you do it? Because we feel we have to.”
Posted by Ken on 10:06 AM
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May 28, 2009
Paid Sick Days Bumping Against Its Seventh Hour
Thursday May 28, 2009
It's a little after 7 p.m. and the House, in its own twisted way, is about the commemorate the start of its seventh hour of debate - and we use the term loosely because it's really a coordinated filibuster - on the union-backed paid-sick-leave legislation.
We're still on the first amendment and the plucky 37 House Republicans, whom I'm calling the "Thifty 37," have slowed action down to a crawl. One after another, for hours on end, they have stood, one by one, with existential questions for Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, co-chairman of the Labor Committee.
Ryan has been on his feet for hours, occasionally getting bailed out by fellow Democats who will stand up and vamp for a few minutes while Ryan scurries to the men's room.
Posted by Ken on 6:56 PM
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May 27, 2009
A Few Minutes With the Situational Ethics of Don Williams
Wednesday May 27, 2009 10 p.m.
And the Blogster just finished transcribing tape of a Marx Brothers-like encounter Senate President Don Williams, D-Brooklyn had earlier tonight with the magpies in the Capitol Press Room.
Reporters asked him about the seemingly bicameral ethics of the state Senate.
Reporters recalled Sen. Lou DeLuca, R-Woodbury, who resigned after copping a state misdemeanor plea and asked Williams to put that case in context with Wednesday’s State Elections Enforcement Commission ruling penalizing Sen. Joe Crisco, D-Woodbridge, $4,000 for signing the names of his campaign officials on documents he had used to apply for up to $85,000 in taxpayer funded campaign cash.
Crisco’s embarrassing case arrived almost two months after Sen. Tom Gaffey, D-Meriden, was fined $6,000 by the SEEC for using campaign money for personal purchases.
Reporter A: What is going to happen in the Joe Crisco case?
Williams: I don’t foresee other action being taken over and above the very thorough and lengthy investigation that was conducted by Elections Enforcement.
Reporter B: They said he signed falsely several times for other people on sworn documents and stood there while they were notarized. And they didn’t use the word forgery. That’s the word (State GOP Chairman) Chris Healy used. But how is that not forgery in your mind.
Williams: You know, from my understanding, from what I’ve been told, they did not find… they didn’t have a finding against Sen. Crisco in terms of unlawful behavior…
Reporter B: That’s not true.
Williams: Is that not true?
Reporter B: They said he violated the campaign laws.
Reporter C: Numerous state laws.
Reporter B: Numerous times, yeah.
Williams: Well…in terms of what we do as a Senate, our tradition has been to weigh these issues very carefully and look at the specific conduct in terms of criminal law, in terms of the reflection on the chamber…This was exhaustively investigated by Elections Enforcement and Sen. Crisco has accepted responsibility for that. I don’t believe that further action is necessary.
Reporter D: Not even a Committee of Inquiry to look into it?
Williams: No.
Reporter E: How about Sen. Gaffey? Where do things stand with that?
Williams, exhaling: Same, same…
Reporter E: You don’t see anything going with him either?
Williams: Correct.
Reporter B: So you’re still satisfied with him in his leadership position?
Williams: Yes.
Reporter B: How much extra does he make for that?
Williams: I don’t know.
Reporter B: What would you guess? $5,000?
Williams: I wouldn’t want to guess.
Reporter B: So Gaffey makes about a few thousand dollars extra?
Derek Slap, Williams communications director: I’m sure I could find that out.
Reporter B: You’ll find that out?
Reporter E: Don, in terms of ethics discussions with Senate Republicans, where do they stand?
Williams: They’re filed amendments to many GAE bills and we plan on taking up one of those bills, most likely the Senate vacancy bill and having a debate on their amendments sometime this week. Maybe as early as tomorrow.
Reporter E: So ‘debating their amendments.’ So there is no agreement? Because your agreement at the beginning of the session was ‘if we reach agreement we’ll open up the rules and change them.’ So now it sounds like there’s not going to be an agreement and you’re going to give the Republicans their debate and vote?
Williams: Right. That was always the agreement: that we would give them an opportunity for a debate and a vote.
Reporter E: But only if you couldn’t come to an agreement.
Williams: Correct.
Reporter E: So there is no agreement?
Williams: At this point in time there is no agreement. Correct.
Reporter F: Do you regret not having a special committee formed this year on ethics?
Williams: No, no.
Reporter F: Maybe I should ask how badly do you regret.
Williams, laughing: But I don’t regret it, Ken.
Reporter F: Well, you’ve got a senator, Crisco, who’s admitted forgery. I can’t even count the number of times there. Is like, what’s the line? If he were Republican it would be OK because the state SEEC performed its duties?
Williams: My view would be the same there. There’s a specific professional commission that’s set up for campaign and elections issues and violations. They conducted a lengthy investigation and Sen. Crisco has admitted his mistakes and he’s been fined and he’s moving on.
Reporter F: So the Senate doesn’t have higher standards than a state agency, then?
Williams: What do you mean a state agency?
Reporter F: Shouldn’t the Senate have higher standards than the SEEC?
Williams: Our policy has been to respond in those fortunately rare instances where a case rises to a level over and above what may already be out there in terms of a law- enforcement issue, a campaign-bookkeeping issue, an ethical issue, et cetera.
Reporter G: But by your own logic you’re saying Elections Enforcement, a specific designed to look into something like, they investigate, they come up with a resolution and that’s it?
Williams: Correct.
Reporter G: But you don’t apply that logic when you’re talking about state prosecutors and Lou Deluca? How is that remotely consistent?
I mean, Lou DeLuca said ‘hey I’ve dealt with law enforcement. I’ve pled guilty to something. I’m done. But it was that important for your own internal purposes to mete out some justice of your own.
Williams: yeah.
Reporter G: How is that consistent with what you just said?
Williams: I’d rather not go back into the Lou DeLuca case and talk in detail about that case. I think there are striking differences and it rose to the level when both Sen. John McKinney (R-Fairfield) and I came together, after a time, I mean not immediately thereafter. As you all recall, quite a bit of time went by as we considered the matter and as additional details came out. And I really don’t want to get into it further than that other than to say the differences in my mind are very significant.
Reporter E: Are you disturbed, though, by a member of your caucus that actually falsified signatures that were notarized…
Reporter G: …on a piece of paper that said it’s against the law.
Reporter E: … on a piece of paper that said penalty of the law?
(A vote is called down in the third-floor Senate chamber)
Williams: yeah. I think this was a matter that was taken up by the Elections Enforcement Commission and I’m satisfied that their resolution, you know, puts this to rest.
Slap: You have to vote.
Williams: Do you want me to come back?
Reporter F: Wait for the bell before you say you are saved by it.
Posted by Ken on 10:12 PM
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Supporters Say Fraud Unlikely In Election Day Registration
Wednesday May 27, 2009
During last night's marathon debate on Election Day registration, which passed the House, but not with enough support to override a potential veto down the road, Rep. James Spallone, D-Essex, the chief proponent, said states that have had Election Day registration for about 30 years, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Maine, have not had problems with fraud.
Under the Connecticut proposal, if a registrar suspects fraud, a vote would not be cast and the case would be brought to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which could refer cases to the chief state’s attorney for prosecution.
Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, said the key is to increase participation. He noted that Hawaii recently experimented with telephone and computer voting. He called concerns about fraud “weak at best,” as a reason to oppose the bill.
“This legislation does what it has to do: it puts in the oversight that’s needed,” Caruso said. “I think the time for Election Day registration has come. What’s so wrong with the word convenient? We should make it more accessible.”
Rep. Andres Ayala Jr., D-Bridgeport, asked a half dozen pointed questions of Spallone and said he’s concerned about the validity of voters trying to sign up at the last minute and the strain on local voting officials.
“Elections in Bridgeport seem to be a full-contact sport in many incidents and one of my concerns is the registrars of voters will be used,” Ayala said, criticizing the lack of state resources included in the bill for implementation of the changes.
He detailed incidents on the days of presidential elections in Bridgeport City Hall that “the lines start from the town clerk’s office and they stretch to the opposite end of the building and often out of the building itself, which can create chaos.”
Rep. John W. Hetherington, R-New Canaan, said that lawmakers have to balance the integrity of the system with the issue of convenience.
“It seems to me that this measure goes to the direction of not having adequate safeguards,” Hetherington said. “Is there any indication that the vote is being suppressed? Why do we conclude that it needs to be easier to vote? I submit it doesn’t.”
“The last thing we need to do is foist additional mandates, unfunded, on our municipalities,” sasid Rep. David K. Labriola, R-Naugatuck. “I predict there will be a lot of problems with fraud and abuse.”
He said there seems little public interest in the issue. “Where’s the outcry?” Labriola asked. “It’s voter apathy that’s the problem.”
Rep. Livvy R. Floren, R-Greenwich, said the bill has evolved over the nine years she and other lawmakers have worked on it.
“In my opinion, the time for Election Day registration is today,” said Floren, who was the only Republican to vote for it.
Rep. Margaret Reeves, D-Wilton, said that the states with the top turnout rates have Election Day registration. “Yes, it’s a change and not every single registrar is going to like it,” Reeves said.
Rep. Emil Altobello, D-Meriden, said he believes that the legislation, if approved by the governor, could not take effect this year because state statutes indicate that towns and cities don’t have to adopt laws that create new fiscal mandates on municipalities unless they are signed into law within five months of a new local fiscal year.
Rep. Mary Ann Carson, R-New Fairfield, said she was worried about the logistics of enforcing the rules against campaigning within 75 feet of a polling place, given the small size of her hometown’s town hall.
“All in all I think this is very cumbersome,” she said, adding that registrars need more time to double check whether new voters had cast ballots elsewhere the same day. “We need to serve with integrity and I believe the integrity of the voting system would be better served if there were more time to make these checks.”
Democrats who voted against the legislation included Ayala, Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, Rep. Barbara L. Lambert, D-Milford, Rep. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford and Rep. Joe Mioli, D-Westport.
Posted by Ken on 10:28 AM
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May 26, 2009
Budget Hangs Fire, But the House Spends Six Hours Debating Election Day Voter Registration
Tuesday May 26, 2009
And it's 8 p.m., shortly after the House culminated a six-hour debate on Election Day voter registration with a soft 81-65 vote that should scream "veto ready," if the Senate passes it and the bill chugs along to Gov. Jodi Rell.
The Blogster wants to scroll back to May 13, when the House staged its debate on the death penalty. How long was that one? Slightly more than five hours.
Does anybody in the General Assembly recall that there's a June 3 deadline to pass a new two-year budget? Oh yeah, that June 3 deadline is as soft as the support for the Election Day voter registration. Besides, there will be plenty of time to do the budget in August.
Posted by Ken on 8:04 PM
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Bisphenol Beth Waved Bye To BPA
Tuesday May 26, 2009
And the Blogster was derelict in leaving the Capitol last week without paying homage to another of the walking-wounded lawmakers, Rep. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, who came in, the day after arthroscopic knee surgery, to lead debate on the bill Friday that would ban bisphenol-A (BPA) from baby bottles and other drink containers.
In more good news, Rep. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, is back in the saddle today after collapsing in a first-floor men's room last week and smacking his noggin on the floor. And Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, returning from an infection means the House of Reps is in full-blown recovery.
Posted by Ken on 12:21 PM
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Dargan, The Hipster, Gives Feedback
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The House just voted 106-30 to require youths under 18 to wear protective eyewear while blasting each other with paintball weaponry. Sounds like a no-brainer, which may equal the cranial power of your average teenaged paintballer.
As Rep. Steve Dargan, D-West Haven, was introducing the bill, there was a few seconds of weird, clicking feedback over the public-address system. Dargan, who has recovered from hip-replacement surgery, may have felt guilty.
"I know I have a new hip but I don’t know if that’s what’s causing it," Dargan said.
A grinning Speaker of the House Chris Donovan: "Whatever it is, stop it"
.
Posted by Ken on 11:40 AM
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May 22, 2009
Jodi "V" Rell Threatens "Hang 'Em High" Veto on DP
Friday May 22, 2009
It didn't take Gov. Jodi Rell very long to drop her usual "I need to read the bill" deferral of reporters questions and use the word "veto" in a sentence to describe what she wants to do with the death-penalty repeal that the Senate finally voted at 4:11 a.m. today.
The Blogster was surprised that the legislation got so far this year and now, unlike the governor, realizes it's only a matter of time before the state joins all it's surrounding neighbors and all New England states but New Hampshire, in dumping the death penalty in favor of life in prison without the possibility of release for Connecticut's most-violent killers.
Posted by Ken on 1:10 PM
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May 21, 2009
Perillo Falls Ill
Thursday May 21, 2009
At about 9 p.m., Rep. Jason Perillo apparently collapsed and passed out in a first-floor bathroom in the Capitol.
He fell and hit his head, was taken to Hartford Hospital and seems okay at this point with a laceration and a budding black eye.
The 31-year Shelton resident won the special election following the death of Richard O. Belden in 2007.
Posted by Ken on 9:43 PM
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Rell, Clearing Off Her Desk To Veto Death-Penalty Repeal, If It Passes The Senate, Signs a Bunch 'o Bills
Thursday May 21, 2009
If you're stuck in the House listening to one meaningless debate after another, while the death-penalty debate goes on in the Senate tonight, peruse this list of bills Gov. Jodi Rell signed recently and released tonight. Maybe yours is among them.
She told a few reporters today she's hoping for an "immediate transferral" of the death-penalty repeal, from the Senate to her desk tonight, if it passes. No such luck. Proponents of the repeal want her to become the focus of international interest. And yes, if the repeal goes through tonight, probably by no more than a vote or two, the interest will start building first thing in the morning.
The Blogster is looking forward to giving reporters from around the world directions to the men's room and Rell's office.
Here are the bills:
AN ACT CONCERNING A UNIFORM REPORTING FORM FOR PRESCHOOL AND CHILD CARE PROGRAMS
This Act passed and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
S.A. 09-4
S.B. 382 AN ACT CONCERNING THE BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN AND THE CITY OF WATERBURY
This Act passed and shall take effect as follows: Sections 1-5 shall take effect from passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill; and Section 6 shall take effect from passage and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after October 1, 2008. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
S.A. 09-5
s.H.B. 5186 AN ACT CONCERNING THE THOMPSONVILLE FIRE DISTRICT
This Act passed as amended by House Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-30
s.S.B. 1021 AN ACT CONCERNING NOTIFICATION OF CONTAMINANTS IN DRINKING WATER
This Act passed as amended by House Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-31
s.H.B. 5694 AN ACT CONCERNING UTILITY SERVICE TERMINATION
This Act passed and shall take effect July 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-32
s.H.B. 5792 AN ACT CONCERNING EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR RESIDENTIAL AUTOMATIC LAWN SPRINKLER SYSTEMS
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-33
s.H.B. 6190 AN ACT CONCERNING CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN EMPLOYER DATA
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-34
s.H.B. 6287 AN ACT AUTHORIZING CASH PRIZES FOR BLOWER BALL GAMES
This Act passed as amended by House Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-35
s.H.B. 6324 AN ACT CONCERNING THE INSPECTION OF ELEVATORS, THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE AND LOCAL FIRE MARSHALS, THE REGULATION OF EXPLOSIVES AND OTHER TECHNICAL CHANGES
This Act passed as amended by House Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-36
H.B. 6439 AN ACT CONCERNING THE VOTING RIGHTS OF CERTAIN SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD PERSONS
This Act passed and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-37
s.H.B. 6598 AN ACT CONCERNING THE RELEASE OF BIOLOGIC MATERIAL FOR GENETIC TESTING
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-38
s.H.B. 6643 AN ACT CONCERNING THE RESIGNATION OR ABSENCE OF AN AGENT FOR SERVICE OF PROCESS FOR CERTAIN BUSINESS ENTITIES
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-39
s.H.B. 6685 AN ACT CONCERNING THE REPORTING OF INMATE POPULATION DENSITY AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY SPECIFIC DATA
This Act passed and shall take effect July 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-40
S.B. 251 AN ACT CONCERNING HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN ENTERPRISE ZONES
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-41
s.S.B. 458 AN ACT REQUIRING COMMUNICATION OF MAMMOGRAPHIC BREAST DENSITY INFORMATION TO PATIENTS
This Act passed and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-42
s.S.B. 855 AN ACT CONCERNING APPOINTMENTS TO THE FARM WINE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
This Act passed and shall take effect July 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-43
S.B. 905 AN ACT CONCERNING TECHNICAL CHANGES TO THE CALCULATION OF COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCES FOR MEMBERS OF THE TEACHERS’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM
This Act passed and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-44
S.B. 1136 AN ACT CONCERNING CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE
This Act passed and shall take effect from passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill and applicable to claims filed prior to, on or after said date. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-45
S.B. 1141 AN ACT CONCERNING THE RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSIONERS FOR TECHNICAL REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES
This Act passed and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-46
s.S.B. 46 AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONSUMER REPORT CARD
This Act passed as amended by Senate Amendment Schedule B and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-47
S.B. 312 AN ACT CONCERNING THE SALE OF CIDER AND APPLE WINE, WINE FESTIVALS AND THE HOURS OF OPERATION OF FARM WINERIES
This Act passed as amended by Senate Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect as follows: Sections 1-7 shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill; and Section 8 shall take effect July 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-48
s.S.B. 764 AN ACT CONCERNING DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL TRANSACTION CONTROLS
This Act passed as amended by Senate Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect upon passage, which is the day the Governor signed the bill. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-49
s.S.B. 959 AN ACT CONCERNING EXTERNAL APPEALS OF ADVERSE DETERMINATIONS BY A MANAGED CARE ORGANIZATION, HEALTH INSURER OR UTILIZATION REVIEW COMPANY
This Act passed as amended by Senate Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
P.A. 09-59
s.S.B. 1089 AN ACT CONCERNING AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS
This Act passed as amended by Senate Amendment Schedule A and shall take effect October 1, 2009. The Governor signed the bill on May 20, 2009.
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Posted by Ken on 8:23 PM
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Hardly Working Lawmakers Hit Perfect "Legislative Reception" Storm
Thursday May 21, 2009
Let's scroll back to the height of the seven-hour debate yesterday on the healthcare-pooling legislation.
It was 5ish and the House was kind of...empty as the proceedings droned on. That's because many lawmakers were up on the third floor noshing on nibbles and quaffing libations, thanks to the friendly folks who overcharge you each month at AT&T.
That's about the limit of special-interest perks these days, in the era of public financing.
That event was nothing, however.
Today, lawmakers and staffers are invited to a reception thrown by the Connecticut Seafood Council at 11, followed at 3 by a UConn Partners "Ice Cream Social," which is but a prelude to the Blogster's second-favorite event of the year, the first being the celebration of Nathan Hale's birthday that takes place, without drinks, but with the serious pomp deserving of our state hero, around his statue in the first-floor atrium in early June.
At 5:30 today, in the third-floor Old Judiciary Room, the Connecticut State Society of Anesthesiologists will throw their annual reception for lawmakers and staff. The Blogster has never actually attended one of the affairs, because he's concerned that there may not be a gleaming green cylinder of nitrous oxide, and balloons, for merrier lawmaking.
Posted by Ken on 9:58 AM
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May 20, 2009
Caruso Ailing In Hospital
Wednesday May 20, 2009
Veteran Bridgeport Rep. Chris Caruso, the irascible, sarcastic, thick-headed, enjoyable, fun-loving, stick-to-his-guns Democrat, wasn't in his customary seat in the backrow of the House yesterday. He's been hospitalized with a leg infection, his friends say.
The selfish Blogster wants him back as quickly as possible so Caruso can be thoroughly quoted during the upcoming last two weeks of the legislative session, which, of course, will only be a prelude to the special session that may produce a budget by June 30, Bastille Day (July 14), the Ides of August, Labor Day.......
Posted by Ken on 10:24 AM
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It's Spring And a Young Moose's Thoughts Turn To...New Britain?
Wednesday May 20, 2009
A young male moose spotted yesterday in Farmington has apparently made his way down to New Britain this morning. State DEP officials are preparing an advisory about the poor beast, which the Blogster hopes does not get blown away and he looks for love in dangerous, urban places.
Posted by Ken on 9:52 AM
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May 19, 2009
Lantz Out As DOC Commish
Tuesday May 19, 2009
It's about 7:30 p.m. and as the House debate continues on the bill to consolidate the financially tattered, nearly bankrupt Probate Court system, the Blogster has gotten word that Theresa Lantz of Manchester is retiring from her $158,000-a-year job as commissioner of the state Department of Correction.
Lantz, you'll remember, once declined to tell lawmakers whether there was a limit on the number of inmates the prison system could accommodate. She said that at a time when the daily inmate total was around a record 19,000.
Deputy Commissioner Brian Murphy is taking over the commissioner's duties, according to the folks in the know in the House.
Posted by Ken on 7:38 PM
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Household Litter Targeted in Bill
Tuesday May 19, 2009
You think there’s not enough micromanaging of your life in the great state of Connecticut?
Contemplate “An Act Concerning Beneficial Reuse, Recycling, Illegal Dumping and Municipal Demonstration projects,” which just passed the Energy & Technology Committee at about 10:45 a.m.
Property owners could be fined up to $199 for littering their own property.
Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, a committee member, said he was concerned how the bill has managed to get so far with so much support.
“There’s a provision that takes away property owners’ right to put things on their own property,” Witkos warned. He offered the hypothetical case of someone painting their own home and leaving an empty paint can up against the house, then getting fined $199.
“This bill makes it illegal to (1) dump items from one property onto another, including one's own, to avoid disposal costs, and (2) litter (except for grass clippings or other lawn or garden waste) on one's own property,” according to the bill analysis.
Rep. Vickie Nardello, D-Prospect, co-chairwoman of the committee, urged the committee pass the legislation, but seemed to agree that the purpose of the bill is going to have to become more focused if it’s to advance.
She started the meeting by referring to “illegal dumplings,” bringing the kind of comedy that this bill might need.
The bill seems bound to set off a multi-hour debate in the Senate and if it passes there, the House. The Blogster likes Nardello’s inadvertent image. Picture a ravioli filled with bad legislation: voila, an “illegal dumpling.”
On the plus side, it “(1) requires both residential and non-residential solid waste generators to separate recyclables from solid waste by placing them in separate collection bins and (2) bars anyone from combining previously separated recyclables with solid waste.”
This line of discussion prompted Rep. Larry Miller, R-Stratford, to say that’s it’s time the state got a little more interested in helping people dispose of hazardous waste, such as used motor oil and oil cans of paint.
“I’d also like to see something with more teeth against people who discard things late at night,” Miller said, recalling a recent incident in which parties unknown put barrels of spent oil on state property along Route 8. “If we don’t have places to take their stuff, they’re going to discard it,” Miller said. “I think we ought to be a little more concerned about these materials.”
Posted by Ken on 11:19 AM
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May 18, 2009
Mystic Democrat Sees His Name In Crystal Ball Beating Dodd
Monday May 18, 2009
Merrick Alpert of Mystic, a Democratic fund-raiser who is a former campaign organizer for Bill Clinton and Al Gore and a former employee of Enron Energy Services, has announced his intention to take U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd to a primary for the Democratic nomination next year.
According to his bio, Alpert started a medical software company called E-Ceptionist in 1999 and sold it in 2005. In 2008, he rejoined a former business partner and became president of Latitude 18, a manufacturing research firm, from which he has taken a leave of absence to run against Dodd.
Nancy DiNardo of Trumbull, state Democratic chairwoman, aaid Monday that she supports Dodd. "He is our incumbent senator and as he travels aorund the state and reaches out to people, I think the residents of Connecticut will remember everything the senator has done for the state and country and will continue to work on their behalf," she said.
Roger Pearson of Greenwich, has also announced an interest in running against Dodd.
Posted by Ken on 10:41 AM
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May 15, 2009
Rell Signs Reval Bill
Friday May 15, 2009
It's about 3 p.m. and Gov. Jodi Rell just signed into law the bill that would allow towns and cities to delay local property revaluation until 2011.
The bill was approved Tuesday in the House, 125-18, after the Senate approved it last week.
ction.
The law allows communities to save between $20 and $60 per property this year, taking the chance that it won't be as large a financial burden in 2011.
Posted by Ken on 2:58 PM
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June 3rd Adjournment Date Pokes Its Head Above The Horizon
Friday May 15, 2009
It's 11 a.m. At the tail end of the Government Administration & Elections Committee, Sen. Ed Meyer, D-Guilford, just noticed that there are only two more Fridays before the legislative deadline of June 3 and very little in the way of actual voter-reform measures have made any progress in the General Assembly.
The National Popular Vote bill passed the House this week, barely, after majority Democrats twisted some arms. That's essentially dead, though, because even if the Senate takes it up, it's bound for a veto by Gov. Jodi Rell.
Another bill that would tempt a Rell veto would take away the governor's power to appoint successors to U.S. Senate vacancies. A bill that has a better chance would allow election-day voter registration.
Meyer called on committee members to push for the House and Senate to get to work."There are voting rights and other significant matters under the jurisdiction of this committee that are sitting on the calendar and are not moving. I think we need to pay attention to that. We're down to about two weeks in the session and alot of the interests of our constituents sit with those bills. So I'm urging attention to this issue by the members of the committee so that we don't end the session without the passage, or at least the debate of some very significant legislation."
Today's mail brought File No. 963. So there are about that many bills out there and the House and Senate have jointly approved about 200. If they do 200 more in the next 19 days, minus Monday of Memorial Day, that means more than 500 will die on June 3.
With all those bills hanging fire and so many lawmakers interested in their little bits of legislation, it's really too late for a budget to be settled by June 3. Rell seems to want the D's to vote on their tax-hike budget so she can raise her statewide popularity by vetoing it and the D's want the Republican governor to finally admit that revenue is going to have to be raised through sales or/and income taxes.
Hold off on those summer vacation plans.
Posted by Ken on 10:53 AM
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May 14, 2009
How Do You Shame The Shameless? Demand That Your Pay and Benefits Are Cut!
Thursday May 14, 2009
Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is trying to draw the line on House hypocrisy. Noting that legislative staff, in line with the pending SEBAC union concessions, will give back wages and benefits to do their part in addressing the state's fiscal crisis, Lawlor is seeking support in pain sharing.
This afternoon he's handing out unsigned letters to D'Ann Mazzocca, executive director of the Office of Legislative Management, which he hopes members of the House Republican and Democratic caucuses will sign. Even though it only amounts to a few hundred bucks per lawmaker, it's the thought that counts, because Lawlor knows that staffers work as hard as lawmakers, or in many cases, even harder.
Majority leadership is lagging on the generally symbolic issue.
"Please accept this letter as my request that you review the concessions outlined in the SEBAC Agreement, and those that are applied to our own staff, and apply them to me as well," Lawlor's letter says. "To the greatest extent possible, my wages and benefits should include the same level of sacrifice as all state employees are being asked to make in this difficult budget environment."
So far, only about 30 lawmakers, mostly senators, out of 151 in the House and 36 in the Senate, have offered to feel a piece of the budget pain, but House Democratic leadership is standing pat on keeping their salaries and goodies.
A handful of House members have agreed to take cuts including Minority Leader Larry Cafero, who's taking five unpaid days, Rep. Themis Klarides, R-Derby, (five days), Rep. Bill Hamzy, R-Plymouth (5 percent of annual salary) and Rep. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford (10-percent of annual salary). .
So, how do you shame the shameless?
Posted by Ken on 12:22 PM
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Death Penalty Debate Had Clinkers, Too
Thursday May 14, 2009
You can always count on a death-penalty debate to bring out the best in lawmakers. What's bigger than questions of life and death?
So the 5-hour-plus conversation in the House yesterday was worth almost every minute. Rep. Larry Butler, D=Waterbury, joined Rep. David Labriola, R-Naugatuck and House mInority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, as the most-eloquent opponents of the repeal, which passed 90-56.
Butler spoke of how his brother's murder still affects him daily. Labriola introduced an amendment that would have "streamlined" the appeals process in Connecticut capital felony cases.
"The bottom line is, other states get it done," Labriola said, believing that most state rsidents still back capital punishment. "They support the death penalty, they just don't like the endless appeals.".
Then there was Rep. Steve Mikutel, D-Griswold, a vehement supporter of the death penalty, who caused eyes to roll even among those opposed to the repeal. He recalled how eastern Connecticut was fearful to the point where parents wouldn't let children leave the house, back when Michael Ross was still plying his serial-killed trade a quarter century ago.
"The fear is still there," Mikutel said. "We need to take back the streets from these criminals." That sounded a little hyperbolic.
Then he started talking about a woman who disappared after going out one evening. He speculated why she went to a nightspot, how she dressed that night and put on her makeup. "We all go out looking for love," Mikutel said, sharing too much in a creepy way.
"I think the death penalty holds people accountable for their actions," he continued.
What capped it for the Blogster, though, was when Mikutel compared the relative punishments of life in prison without the chance for release, to the death penalty.
"Maybe love and rape are the same thing because they both involve sexual intercourse," Mikutel concluded. Huh?
Posted by Ken on 10:33 AM
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May 13, 2009
Holder-Winfield, a Freshman Rep, Will Bring Out Death-Penalty Repeal; Lawlor Has Added Punishment For Those Serving Life Behind Bars
Wednesday May 13, 2009
It's noon.
First-term Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, who's already made some veteran lawmakers' list of most-valuable freshman legislator, will bring out the death penalty-repeal bill this afternoon when the bill hits the House floor.
His arguments will have to overcome a bipartisan group of House members who just announced that they will submit an amendment to "streamline" the death-penalty process.
Rep. Steve Mikutel, D-Griswold, just announced in a news conference that the repeal bill is part of a systemic effort to actually assure, down the road, that capital felons won't have to serve life in prison without the possibility of release.
Told about this charge, Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, jiust reminded the Blogster that since 1993, lawmakers have moved toward tougher truth-in-sentencing rules, not more laxed regulations. He said that while violent offenders serve their entire sentences, except perhaps small discounts toward the end of decades behind bars, capital felons stay in prison, if they don't end up on Death Row.
Lawlor's idea for proper punishment if he is ever murdered: a continuous video loop in the cells of capital felons, featuring Lawlor himself pontificating on the death penalty on the floor of the House.
Posted by Ken on 12:12 PM
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May 12, 2009
Divine Right of Democrats: House Leaders Change Votes Because They Can
May 12, 2009
It's 10:15 p.m. and the Blogster's glad he stuck around for the greasy nub of the debate on the so-called National Popular Vote, which was set to fail 73-72, after a two-hour debate.
But before the vote was announced, a small group of Ds, led by House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Mansfield, hectored Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, deputy majority leader, into changing his vote from a no to yes. "There was still some discussion after the vote," said Tercyak, whose late father Tony Tercyak, a Republican, used to regularly stick by his guns and side against his House caucus when he felt the need.
The Tercyak scion, his eye glasses cocked on his forehead, seemed sheepish when he suggested to the chamber that others should also have gotten the persuasive massage he endured.
After he switched, making it 73-72 in favor of the bill, which should die of neglect in the Senate, others higher on the House majority food chain also changed their votes: Deputy Speaker of the House Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, deputy Speaker of the House Buddy Altobello, D-Meriden, then Deputy Majority Leader Peggy Sayers, D-Windsor Locks, the hometown of Ella T. Grasso, the nation's first female governor, who never had any problems telling people where to go when they tried to tell her to do something she didn't want to.
So what does this intraparty coercion say about democracy in the House?
House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, said he's seen this kind of hold-the-vote-open shenanigans three or four times in 17 years.
"This bill is about respecting the vote of the majority," said the incredulous minority leader. "The bill loses, but they hold the vote open until they can get people to change their vote. That's a sorry story."
It may be sorry, it may not be good government and it certainly taints a bill about majority rules, but it's the divine right of General Assembly Democrats.
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Posted by Ken on 10:15 PM
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Dems, In Shocking Move, Agree There is a Budget - Or Two - to Enact
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
It's 8:45 p.m. and as the Connecticut House prattles on about a National Popular Vote (as if it might get taken up in the Senate) House Press Guy Doug Whiting of Fairfield just dropped off a one-page news release, the fruit of afternoon-long discussions among Democratic leaders, to reporters in the Capitol Press Room.
The release says that the House "as early as tomorrow" will ratify the SEBAC union givebacks and that the House and Senate majority are finally planning on a bill to address the more than billion-dollar deficit in the budget that runs through June 30.
The Blogster notes that it's less than 10 weeks until the end of the fiscal year and he's relieved that the Democrats have finally noticed the calendar.
Taxpayers, however, might wonder why they waited so long.
Posted by Ken on 8:47 PM
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