In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
From Inside The Golden Dome
This Day in CT History
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Back in Business
Two special sessions were held this week, Monday for the House and Tuesday for the Senate in order to extend the Governor’s executive orders for private and public employee testing, school masks, his ability to leverage his statutory powers in case there’s a resurgence of infection and to keep the federal funds allocated for the ongoing public health emergency.
The House of Representatives voted 80-60 (eleven not voting) to approve the Governor’s sixth extension, which was followed by the Senate’s 18-15 vote (three not voting) on Tuesday. Governor Lamont’s emergency powers are now set to expire on February 15, 2022—six days after the 2022 session convenes on February 9th.
It was an interesting but long debate. While it was mostly the Republicans challenging the current assessment of Connecticut’s COVID-19 situation, a few Democrats spoke on the House and Senate floor as well.
The most interesting story coming from the Capitol this week was from the House. Before the Special Sessions, a meeting was held in the LOB where legislators and members of the public came to discuss the state’s COVID-19 status. The Capitol Police briefed attendees on the facility’s masking protocols upon entering. Sometime later a complaint was raised that many did not conform to the Governor’s rules on wearing masks inside, and many in attendance had taken their masks off when participating in the discussion. Then Speaker Ritter immediately issued a sternly worded press release outlining the rules and responsibilities of elected officials and the potential harm to staff, other legislators and members of the public this event may have caused. There was some back-and-forth in the media on the specific details and then Monday it become a session issue.
Speaker Ritter, still peeved at the actions of some, opened the session with a stern warning that ANYONE who did not wear a mask while in the building and chamber would be immediately dealt with and then Majority Leader was quick to rise and make a motion to call the question to stop debate, instruct the clerk to call the roll, close out the “people’s work” for the day and immediately adjourn. There was silence in the chamber. The tension was certainly there and many were taken back by the direct and focused message to those participating in the previous hearing from the past week.
Several members of the Republican leadership rose to query the Speaker about the impact and procedures for taking unilateral actions and concerns about the presence of one party, two leaders of the chamber, especially one who is elected by both parties taking unilateral actions, not only on this topic, but for future topics and speakers. After a bit of back-and-forth, the vote was taken to accept the Special Session rules and business began in the House.
In the Senate the atmosphere wasn’t as thick, but debate on the third floor was a bit more heated. Many said that if the executive orders expired, and the Governor felt they were needed, he could issue similar orders almost immediately. But in the end, the vote was taken and two Democrats voted in sync with the Republicans, resulting in a closer than normal outcome that we’re all accustomed to in the Senate.
So another opportunity to be in it together seemed to be passed up and the debate on where Connecticut stands in the COVID environment continues. For now it appears that legislators will continue to focus on their local districts and keep doing what they have been doing: let the Governor hold the reins for another five months to keep the state’s residents safe and healthy.
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Major Legislation Effective October 1st
Today, the time has come for some laws that were passed this year to take effect. The following is not a comprehensive list, as there were hundreds of bills passed last session. However, it covers major legislation, from marijuana, to medical care.
To view the list, click here.
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Sports Gambling Open for Business - Governor Places the First Official Wager
The years of anticipation to be able to place wagers in Connecticut on professional and college sports were grueling, but the day has finally arrived!
Yesterday the state celebrated this historic day at both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun outlining the new law change for gaming which allows both tribal casinos to host on-site sports wagers but will also open up online wagering by next Saturday the 9th. Foxwoods will be partnering with the daily fantasy and sports gaming vendor Draftkings and the Mohegan tribe will be partnering with Fan Duel.
Currently 31 states already have legalized sports betting after the Supreme Court ruled four years ago that states have the ultimate say in whether they want to allow bets to happen or not. Connecticut’s long and contentious battle over sports betting has lasted this long because the tribal nations have had a long lasting compact with the state of Connecticut, agreeing to each contribute 25% of their slot revenue to the state in exchange for being the exclusive provider of brick-and-mortar gaming. The debate that lasted for years was whether that compact extended to sports gaming being done online and if the state would be able to engage other sports vendors for the same privilege. Ultimately a deal was struck where the tribes would receive the first benefit to offer this privilege on-site. The agreement allows the Connecticut Lottery Corporation to also offer online sports wagering and retail sports betting at 15 locations, including ones specifically located in Hartford and Bridgeport. For internet gambling, the state’s tax rate on gross revenues will be 18% for the first five years and then 20% for the next five years, with an option to continue for another five years. The tax rate on sports betting and fantasy contests will be 13.75%.
To make this occasion even more dramatic, the NFL will have the most popular regular season NFL game of the year being played this Sunday night where current Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB and seven-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady comes back to Gillette Stadium to face his old team the New England Patriots. Yesterday, the Governor placed the first official sports bet in a Connecticut casino, $50 on the Connecticut Sun to cover their spread!
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If you Thought the Old Jack-The-Bean Stock Tale was Fun
Local CT farmers are using magic seeds for pumpkins. Earlier this year, lifelong Plainville resident Gary Vincent planted eight giant pumpkin seeds in an unfenced, uncovered garden plot owned by Plainville’s Our Lady of Mercy Church. Vincent began growing giant pumpkins in 1981 after his wife brought home five seeds from the Big E fair. The following year he grew a 200-pound pumpkin and a 275-pounder the year after that.
Vincent’s last remaining 2020 pumpkin now rests on a bed of sand, where he will take an axe to its thick walls, hoping to harvest seeds for next year.
At present, he now has a pumpkin that is estimated at 1,457 pounds, which is too small for Vincent to compete with. There are several other CT residents competing for the top spot and now with fairs going on again the best part is showing the off.
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New DPH Commissioner Prepares for Tough Role
Dr. Manisha Juthani has had a long career in medicine, where she has held many important positions. Dr. Juthani completed residency training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Campus, and was a Chief Resident at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She arrived at Yale School of Medicine in 2002 for Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training and joined the full-time faculty in 2006. She assumed the role of Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program Director in 2012. Now, she assumes a different, yet vital role, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Health. While the new commissioner has been quite candid about her lack of political experience, she is clearly qualified for the position. As the state continues to manage the impact of the pandemic, it is important to have an individual like Dr. Juthani at the the helm of our public health department due to her expertise in infectious diseases and her experience as a physician and clinical administrator.
Juthani takes over the department with the wind at her back. Hospitalizations remain below 300, and weekly positivity rates stand at 2.2%. The commissioner stated that she has a "cautious optimism" about the state's trajectory as the pandemic continues. Juthani said that she does not see an urgent need for further restrictions to return, even as the fall and winter months approach. Connecticut already has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, boosters are being rolled out, and children will soon become eligible to get the jab. However, she did not rule out the chance for a potential spike this Winter. Because of this potential, the new commissioner is placing an emphasis on increasing vaccination rates, especially in communities where access is limited. While quite a few residents are still opposed to the idea of COVID-19 vaccination, Dr. Juthani is used to speaking with patients who are resistant to her counsel, and sees it as her duty to provide vital information and resources to all residents of Connecticut. We wish the new commissioner good luck in her vital new role.
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October 1: Toward a More Perfect Union
On October 1, 2005, Connecticut became the third state in the union to legally recognize same-sex civil unions. Four years earlier, Vermont became the first state to do so after the Vermont Supreme Court mandated that denying same-sex couples the benefits of marriage violated their state constitution. In 2004, Massachusetts’s Supreme judicial court similarly found that it was unconstitutional to prevent same sex couples from marrying. Unlike Vermont and Massachusetts, however, Connecticut’s recognition of same-sex civil unions (Vermont) and same-sex marriage (Massachusetts),was brought about not by judicial fiat, but through legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Jodi Rell in April of 2005.
Appended to the civil union legislation was an amendment that kept the definition of “marriage” as solely between a man and a woman, intended as a compromise to satisfy both gay rights activists and believers in traditional definitions of marriage. That amendment was rendered null and void in 2008, when the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that nothing short of full marriage rights for same-sex couples would satisfy the equality and liberty clauses contained in the Connecticut Constitution. The first same-sex marriage license was issued in Connecticut on November 12, 2008, and the final legal loopholes for gay couples were closed on October 1, 2010, when all previously-issued civil unions were automatically converted into marriages — five years to the day after Connecticut’s civil union legislation first became law.
The full article from the CT Humanities Council can be found here.
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Sullivan & LeShane, Inc.
www.ctlobby.com | (860) 560-0000
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