January 15th, 2021
In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
From Inside The Golden Dome
This Day in CT History
Week 1 of virtual lobbying... lessons learned

As the maiden voyage of the Connecticut legislature comes to a close, we experienced the reality of working under the new virtual joint rules and a legitimate regular session of the House and Senate to tackle the reappointments of several judges.

My favorite new statement came from the House Clerk - Staff and guests please clear the well, legislators please return to the chamber or your virtual portals, the House is about to take a vote! It made me chuckle, as did when Deputy Speaker Bob Godfrey announced - Members prepare yourself and your mouses to cast your vote!

All week long it really didn’t seem as if we were lobbying, even though we covered 18 formal legislative committee meetings and juggled dozens of “lobbying” related zoom calls. The virtual committee meetings were more like power point presentations – statement, slide, statement - or a Q&A session rather than the normal back and forth discussions and debates about topics and positions as well as those humorous moments when the public attendees interject something out of order. Then there was the missing “before and after meeting quality time” where we have the opportunity to set up a client’s one on one meeting, catch up with a legislator to provide feedback, follow up on something they inquired about during a meeting or in the halls of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) or just a simple opportunity to pick their brains for a possible language change. It’s going to be hard to replicate those moments this session - at least for now. 

On the bright side, the committee leaders and ranking members carried forward their caucus leader’s words of respect, understanding and a greater sense of working together - listening to the pros and cons and reaching a decision. As I mentioned last week, the tone for the CT Legislature was set on Opening Day and it’s great to see it carried through at the committee levels - though the heavy lifting and controversy of a public hearing or a committee vote on bills to pass out of committee hasn’t happened yet.

A few observations from the first week of session - the Sullivan & LeShane old stand-by committee members view books have been replaced with a visual authentication voting process; and then there is the new experience where we get a glimpse into committee members’ lives as they attend meetings from home. We get a glimpse of family photos, home decor, furry friends, young children and even some selected back drops which give us an insight into their likes, passions and regular lives! An interesting and up front and personal chance to learn a bit more about who represents us in Hartford!
There certainly were moments of how is this going to work now or what do we do next? Dozens of legislators scratched their heads and wondered how do I vote in Judiciary on the nominated judges while attending the Environment / Government and Administration committee meeting to approve a list of proposed bills when I have only one computer at my disposal?

Then there was the matter of keeping the votes open while the committee went into recess only to have the next up committee call dibs on the virtual committee room... oops! And several times to the public it looked like the committee started with the usual casual banter before the clerk had the public participation portion opened up and we found ourselves joining at the sound of the gavel, missing the color commentary and potential discussions about the day’s agenda. All instances have the leaders scrambling to get committees to implement the current committee protocols routinely with possible changes in the coming weeks.

One consistent protocol mentioned that legislators, lobbyists, staffers, the public and even clients will need to acknowledge and work through is that the process will be slower and we all need to be patient! For some of us that’s a hard one for sure!

And while that gets worked out, for someone like me who is a people person and love, love, love the interactions with people, I’ll have to work that out in another way and find opportunities to get to know the freshmen class of legislators, reacquaint with the sophomore class and play catch up with old familiar friends in order to find a “work around” to this virtual thing! 

As some say, it’s all good - at least for this week!
CT’s Plan to Cut Down on Transportation Emissions

When Connecticut opted into the Transportation and Climate Initiative many speculated what this would mean on controversial programs like traditional cap-and-trade and also how a 40% reduction in emissions would translate to in new renewable energy policy.

Those among the dissenters include the CT Energy Marketers Association, who primarily deals with gasoline and diesel oil, and the CT Truckers Association who are trying to convince the public that this will lead to an increase in the cost of gas.

In reality, the deal is a payment from the largest suppliers of transportation fuels at the wholesale level and is not increasing the the price as a tax on pump but could be perceived as a cost included “behind the pump”.

There certainly is a need to find other mechanisms to help fund the special transportation fund which is on pace to be bankrupt in four years and the legislature and Governor both independently signaled early on in the year that tolls are not going to be pursued this session.

In order for the next steps to take place on the TCI, DEEP will need to start executing quarterly energy auctions in the next two years and lead the state to be another step closer to the ultimate goals.
Plans for the State Pier in New London

If you’re asking yourself, “what ever happened to the big deal in New London at the Pier,” we have the answer for you today. The long awaited redevelopment of the State Pier in New London has been something that many people have been waiting on for years. Governor Lamont made a huge push during the first few months of his tenure to right the ship on its governance and planned to spend millions of state dollars for the redevelopment. The New London Mayor this week said, “We’re in a situation where we can’t support the project, right now,” basically because of a disagreement about how New London local officials have been left out of the discussion. Governor Lamont said this week that “There is no real cheerleaders for it except for me and I can’t want to do this deal more than New London wants to do this deal.” This is a state investment close to $200 million, but after that there is some confusion about ongoing support for the project. In order for Mayor Passero and local officials to move forward there will need to be more discussions with the state, a seat at the table and more engagement from the developers of the offshore wind project, Orstead and Eversource, who have committed to local development during the construction phases of offshore wind.
 
Also, lets talk some trash. A coalition of 74 cities and towns met this week to make recommendations on the future of solid waste and recycling in the state. These communities participated with several stakeholders in the Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management (CCSMM). The recommendations were wide ranging and can be found here. One of the controversial recommendations could include a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system, which would require people to pay more for waste disposal than for recycling. Several local measures on this issue have been discussed and met with resistance from local residents who get concerned about having to buy special bags for their waste and the cost that might be prohibitive on people with low and fixed incomes. Another recommendation was to incent more disposal of food waste, which accounts for a large amount of the weight in local municipal solid waste along with other source reduction methods.
Scheduling Changes Out of an Abundance of Caution
 
As you’ve seen, the first full week of the session brought the usual flurry of committee meetings - some introductory and organizational, and others to raise concepts, signaling the direction those committees will continue on in this session. What was unusual though, was that Legislative Leaders held a session day on Thursday to act on judicial nominations. Leaders initially scheduled that session day for next Wednesday, but due to security concerns in response to planned demonstrations and protests surrounding the Presidential Inauguration, they decided to act sooner. Wednesdays are typically reserved for session days at the early stages of the legislative session.
 
Some committees will not meet at all next week, largely to ensure the safety of legislators and staff, while others will continue to meet virtually. We’ve also seen precautions underway inside the LOB and State Capitol building complex to ramp up security protocols and surveillance. After reporting by the FBI that all 50 state capitols should prepare, CT Capitol Police are working with the CT State Police, Hartford Police, and the CT Army National Guard to plan for any demonstrations that occur this weekend and into next week. State office buildings in Hartford that house other state agencies have also increased security and have called for employees to work remotely next week as an additional precaution.
January 15th, 1878: The Tariffville Train Wreck

Today in 1878, right after hearing the famed evangelist Dwight Moody preach that “repentance is grabbing your bag and coat and getting out of the wrong train and onto the right one,” a group of revival-attending passengers in Hartford boarded a specially ordered train that took them to one of Connecticut’s deadliest train disasters. When an old wooden trestle bridge near the village of Tariffville gave way under the weight of two steam engines, several rail cars fell into the icy waters of the Farmington River below, killing over a dozen people.

The Connecticut Western Railroad train had departed Hartford shortly after 9:00 p.m. and was passing through the community of Tariffville, in the northeast corner of the town of Simsbury, an hour later. As the train’s two locomotives passed over the wooden trestle bridge carrying the rail line over the Farmington, passengers suddenly heard a “sickening groan” as the bridge’s metal joints failed, sending both locomotives and three of the eight passenger cars hurtling into the river below. One engine flipped upside down and became embedded several feet into the muddy riverbank under the force of its own weight. Of the several passenger coaches that derailed, one crashed into the roof of the second, gashing a hole through the roof and sending large wooden beams and showers of splinters flying in all directions. Yet another passenger car crashed through the five-inch-thick ice of the river and was almost completely submerged.

Soon after the wreck occurred, one quick-thinking railroad employee ran to the nearby Tariffville station and telegraphed for help, while other able-bodied passengers ran into nearby Tariffville proper to rouse townspeople from their beds and bring aid to the scene. A relief train carrying doctors and medical supplies arrived from Hartford an hour later. Rescue efforts continued well into the next morning, with rescuers forced to make improvised sleds to maneuver amid the ice and snow that surrounded the terrible scene. In all, 13 people lost their lives in the Tariffville train wreck of 1878, and over 70 more passengers were seriously injured. An official inquiry as to the cause of the accident was unable to determine whether the bridge failure happened because of the weight of the two heavy steam locomotives, or because of poor bridge maintenance by the Connecticut Western Rail Road. It was likely a combination of both factors that contributed to one of the worst train disasters the state ever witnessed, today in Connecticut history.

This article comes from the Office of the State Historian, and CT Humanities.
Sullivan & LeShane, Inc.
www.ctlobby.com | (860) 560-0000