You would think with the week of Valentine's Day and the kudos back and forth by the Democratic and Republican caucus leaders that things would be running pretty smoothly the first month of session. Right?
WRONG.
With this week chock-full of committee meetings to introduce committee-raised legislative proposals, the love disappeared out the window. Some background - under normal circumstances, the leadership of each committee (both Democrat and Republican) meets to review all the trends, requests and individually submitted bills. They take recommendations from state agencies and the Legislative Commissioner's Office (LCO), along with the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), to decide what goes on an agenda for committee action and what does not.
Normally, it is a give and take - "I'll let this concept go on if you let that concept go on" - and then there's the, "Well, let's just hear about the concept and more than likely not take further action after the public hearing." The conversations at the committee screening are usually very cordial and full of negotiation.
The agenda is then published and distributed - lobbyists and agencies start to lobby for removing items or adding items prior to the scheduled committee meeting. When the committee day comes, folks expect that some committee members and even the leaders of the opposing party will make statements that they are not likely to support the topic
but will agree to hold a public hearing. Some even request that a roll call vote be taken so they can voice their opposition to the topic.
This week, this process did
not happen in the Insurance and Labor committees. On Tuesday, Insurance and Real Estate convened its first committee meeting. House Co-Chair Rep. Sean Scanlon (D- Guilford) introduced the new staffers assigned to the committee and made a motion to "raise items 1 - 22." There was a second and the House Chair asked for a voice vote.
STOP THE PRESSES.
House Ranking Member Rep. Sampson (R-Southington) intervened and asked that the House Chair summarize the items on the agenda, since they only had titles and some of them were vague at best (e.g. An Act Concerning Changes to the Insurance Statutes). The House Chair then asked which items were of interest, to which the Ranking Member rattled off about a dozen items. At that point the House Chair proceeded to describe who asked for them and what they generally were about. So, now you would think it was time for a voice vote to approve all for the public hearing, right?
NOPE.
Next, the Ranking Member made comments about many of the topics, including those identified as the Governor's proposals. He proceeded to note that this was not the time to take additional insurance mandates and increase the regulations to the insurance industry and large employers, and he also addressed the questionable idea that CT should have its own individual insurance mandatory coverage. Then the debate began. Several members expressed their full opposition to several issues and sought a roll count vote.
UH OH.
Many of us long-timers could tell what was about to happen, and we started to count as soon as Rep. Sampson first started to comment about the agenda items. The head count was 10 Republicans and eight Democrats in the room - not good. As the clerk called the roll, it became quite evident that there were not enough Democrats to win the vote, and quickly after the roll call the committee House Chair announced that the vote would stay open unit 5pm.
HERE WE GO.
No love lost in the Insurance Committee on Tuesday.
Most in the Capitol were talking about the Labor Committee agenda, a union member's delight! Folks figured there would be a robust debate, and the Democrats would surely have their votes in the room. So when the meeting began, most thought they knew the outcome.
NOT SO FAST.
Right out of the gate, Senate Co-Chair Craig Miner began to use parliamentary procedure to work around the agenda. When the committee lawyers were under the gun, the troops arrived in the form of two Democratic caucus senior staffers, who tried to intervene and turn around the parliamentary action on the table. This didn't stop Senator Miner, and finally the committee had to recess and go into individual caucuses to discuss the agenda items and shore up the parliamentary issue.
Forward to two hours later - the Labor Committee just adjourned and no votes were taken. The next meeting is set for next week and they will try for a re-do.
NOW WHAT?
My bet is that the Republicans stick firm on their desire to not let certain items be approved and others to be added to the agenda. With the split between the Democrats and Republicans being only one vote, it's also fair game for the many business interests to focus on getting one or two Democrats to lobby behind the scenes to keep the most progressive labor proposals off the agenda, or threaten their option to vote no and have the proposal fail.
Next week is the final week for committees to take action to support topics for a public hearing. Some say the Republican members might have a slight advantage if they continue to leverage parliamentary procedure, given the anxiety in the business community that it's not the time to take on these new initiatives.
Everyone's waiting to see what the next week brings.
