January 13, 2023

In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
Inside Scoop
This Day in CT History

This Week's News:

Hospitals, other providers face financial headwinds, pressure to rein in healthcare costs...


CT public campaign financing faces a reckoning in self-funders era...

Busy, Busy, Busy


That’s the best way to describe the legislative office building this past week. With 30+ newly minted legislators, as well as a returning sophomore class from the 2020 election filling vice chair spots on the 26 standing committees of the CT General Assembly, there was a lot going on. As you know, the first week of the CT session was a bit delayed with the tragic loss of a memorable and much beloved member of the House of Representatives. This week we saw almost every committee meet in joint session (which is the norm for CT unlike the majority of other states) to set the tone for the new committee co-chairs and ranking members and to allow new legislators to introduce themselves and what they are interested in as far as public policy issues. 


Not much surprise legislatively this week as on Wednesday the entire building took a break to honor the late State Representative Q Williams as his last trip to the state capitol took place on the capitol grounds. This weekend a private service with family and close family friends will take place and a final tip of the hat is set for January 28th at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield for members of the public and state and local governments. Much has been said about the man, and the legislature and many will remember and honor his accomplishments not only this month but definitely throughout the session. 


Returning to the business of the State of Connecticut, we’re starting to see some legislative proposals hitting the desks of the Senate and House clerks as individual legislators have until  Jan 13th to submit their own ideas for potential legislation. A few committees raised proposals submitted by the various state agencies and caucuses with little or no details attached as well as concept bills, or better known in the halls of the legislature as dummy bills, flagging a topic of great interest of the committee. The next step will be for committee leadership to begin to present those proposed bills from individual legislators to be raised and scheduled for a public hearing. Each committee will also raise their own committee bills for public hearing that will have specific substance and details for the public and impacted parties to provide insight and recommendations for changes and improvements to the bill's language. 


It appears that much focus this session will be on preserving the fiscal constraints put in place back in 2017 where the Democrats bolted from then Governor Malloy’s proposed budget and forged a bipartisan plan with Republican Senate and House caucuses to help CT address the declining fiscal condition of the state budget. Also top of mind is the ongoing dilemma of mental health wellbeing, especially among young people. Folks are exploring how to best provide accessible and appropriate services, as well as the growing attention on affordable and available housing in the state, skyrocketing heating costs, the conditions of CT roads and bridges and the drastic rise in motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents happening daily.


This week also marked the opening of adult recreational cannabis sales (known to most as marijuana). The expansion from the sale of marijuana for medical use is now open to those over the age of 21. It made quite the splash on Tuesday as the first doors were open and many are looking to see what impact this change will be on the state coffers and more importantly on the operation of motor vehicles, the workplace and the economy in general. Stay tuned on that one! 


Another quickly developing concern for some is the significant increase in the positive COVID testing rates in Connecticut. Many municipalities are closely watching their local testing rates and following CDC warnings for several CT counties based on the positive rates. Selfishly, as you know, I’ve been a huge supporter of opening the capitol to the public, and we saw that “dream” come true last week. I’d cringe if we had to take a step backwards and see the doors closed again to public access into the state capitol campus buildings. Fingers crossed I’m being too pessimistic!


That’s this week in a nut shell. Catch you next Friday with more of the inside scoop from Hartford. 

CT Officials Announce New Approach to Energy


Connecticut officials are considering a less regional approach to energy, as announced earlier this week at a capitol press conference. The state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is looking to develop a more localized approach to energy production and distribution, in order to better meet the specific needs of individual communities. This shift would involve moving away from large, centralized power plants and instead focusing on smaller, community-based energy projects such as solar and wind power. DEEP is also considering ways to incentivize residents and businesses to become more energy-efficient, such as offering tax credits for energy-efficient appliances and building retrofits.


The move towards a more localized energy approach is in line with Connecticut's goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2040. By decentralizing energy production and distribution, the state hopes to increase the overall resilience of its energy system and better prepare for extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and heat waves. In addition, a more localized energy system would also provide economic benefits, such as creating jobs and boosting economic development in local communities. DEEP also plans to work closely with local communities to ensure that the energy transition is inclusive and equitable, and that all residents have access to clean, affordable energy.


This will involve engaging with community leaders and residents, and working to address any barriers to access that may exist in disadvantaged communities. DEEP also wants to ensure that communities have a say in the energy projects that are developed in their area and that they are able to benefit from the economic opportunities that these projects create. This will require creating a framework for community engagement and stakeholder participation in the energy planning process.

COST's Annual Town Meeting


Lamont and top state officials addressed the CT Council of Small Towns (COST) earlier this week at their annual town meeting. COST members are communities with less than 35,000 population and represent the interests of rural communities, for the most part. Governor Lamont opened the day-long meeting to alleviate them of any fears of budget cuts that could hurt their budget processes. The Governor also gave a small preview of what his budget will look like, including holding municipal aid harmless and offering income tax cuts to the middle class. Lieutenant Governor Bysiewicz offered to be the liaison between communities and state government and at one point during her remarks offered up her cell phone to municipal leaders who might need someone to help them figure out the myriad of state agencies. 


Attorney General Tong spoke about settlements his office received recently and the potential for municipal funds to combat the opioid epidemic and incentives for electrification of bus fleets from the Volkswagen settlement. The day was completed by Department of Revenue Services and Infrastructure Czar, Mark Boughton, who gave an update on competitive infrastructure grants that municipalities could apply for. 

It is (always) Budget Season


As legislators, staff, and lobbyists get back into the Legislative Office Building and capitol grounds, we are seeing an influx of requests come through as well. Many of the legislative proposals that have come across the desks of the various committees have covered many different issue areas. Care about the highway use tax? There’s a few bills for that. How about bear hunting? Here you go. As we continue to track and sift through the various concepts and legislation being proposed, we are also seeing the money committees becoming very busy, and early. Appropriators and members of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding committee are meeting with advocacy groups, stakeholders, and other various interested parties to try and get a sense of what to include (or not to include) in the budget. And we're off!


This week, we saw a few introductory meetings for the Appropriations and Finance Committees. These were very much an initial meeting and relatively simple. Behind the scenes, members of both committees have been meeting to discuss their priorities for the session many of which include budgetary requests. With a $3.3 billion dollar safety net and rosy outlook for the state budget, there will be a lot of requests. We discussed the highway use tax repeal, which several legislators have put bills in for. Many of those requests get referred to the Finance committee. Others include an extension of bond covenant restrictions, HB 5002 and also a homeschooling compensation support bill, HB 5228, among others. For the Appropriators, they have seen some legislative requests as well. The Governor’s budget presentation comes to us in February. Appropriators will be fielding requests for the budget throughout the next few weeks into this year. With so much on the plate of the money committees this year, and so many requests coming in for how to spend the money we apparently have ready, legislators are already inundated with financial requests and this is the start of week two! We are very much looking forward to what comes next, and will be right there as requests continue to fly under the golden dome.

 

January 13: The Traumatized Future Star Who Survived the Hartford Circus Fire


Born today in 1931, Charles Nelson Reilly was a Tony-Award-winning actor, comedian, and beloved TV personality best known for his appearances as a campy character actor on countless game shows, sitcoms, and movies in the 1960s through the 1980s. Later in life, he focused more on directing and voice acting, and after his death in 2007, he was fondly remembered as a kind man whose humor never failed to brighten the scene around him.


It is somewhat ironic, then, that a man known for for his upbeat temperament could never shake the memory of a single traumatic event he experienced during his childhood upbringing in Connecticut. Born in the Bronx in 1931, Reilly moved with his family to Hartford as a young boy and grew up there, eventually attending the prestigious Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford after discovering his love for music and the theater.


When he was 13, he and a friend attended the ill-fated Ringling Bros circus of July 6, 1944, which turned into one of the worst human disasters in Connecticut history after the big top tent caught fire and turned into a hellish death trap.



The Hartford Circus Fire killed over 160 people and injured hundreds more, most of them women and children. Reilly and his friend were able to leap off the bleachers and escape without harm, but later in life, while filming a one-man autobiographical play, Reilly described in detail the horror of seeing children wandering the scene with burned, mutilated faces. The incident so traumatized Reilly that in spite of his lifelong love of acting and the theater, he never sat in an audience again, claiming that being part of a large crowd reminded him of that terrible day in 1944. An actor famous for making people smile, but secretly haunted by a childhood tragedy in Hartford, is remembered today in Connecticut history.



To view the full story on the CT Historian's website, click here.

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