June 11, 2021
In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
From Inside The Golden Dome
Behind the Scenes
This Day in CT History
Keeping with last week’s theme - the race was run, the runners have crossed the finish line and to the victors go the spoils. Not so sure we know who the victors are just yet!

After an abrupt closing of the 2020 Session, the 2021 Session started out with a great deal of enthusiasm from the recently elected 187 members of the legislature, including several dozen freshmen. The legislature brought with it a host of new ideas and issues to tackle and a whole new “process” for how a bill becomes a law – virtual public hearings, virtual committee meetings and even virtual chamber debates and proceedings. As the building remained out of bounds to the public, families and the lobbying corps, the members of the media, legislators, the Governor’s office and his budget office—in addition to a shrunken staff—came to Hartford daily to cobble together the 2021 Legislative Session.

A new set of leaders in three of the four caucuses— except for the Senate Democrats—brought a bunch of newly appointed House committee chairs and vice chairs appointed by newly elected Speaker Matt Ritter (D- Hartford), as well as ranking members appointed by the Republican leaders to lead the way through the clutter, fog and often times challenging, yet-to-be-identified items. The hallmarks of the CT General Assembly—camaraderie and personal relationships between members—were slow to develop as members stayed home listening to thousands of residents speaking out on the hundreds of bills, or voting to send a bill to the House or Senate before the committees’ JF deadlines. There were rocky spots along the way to chamber debates, while tensions between folks sprang up on several occasions.

At times legislators found their own way to mix and mingle and there were moments of humor and chuckles on the House and Senate floors during debate. But what was the defining moment was the ability to work through all the conflicts, challenges and intense focus on changing the state’s underlying culture as it relates to equality, diversity and inclusion. Rather than tackle the issue of the year as a single proposal, it seemed like every committee took up the mantel and incorporated a reboot of how Connecticut looks at its taxes, housing, employment, criminal justice, environment, healthcare and education services and programs. The changes that these proposals set in motion will have a long-term impact on the vision and makeup of the next century.

If there’s one “must do” for every legislature, it’s to pass a spending and revenue plan before the midnight deadline arrives. And for a while it didn’t look like it could be done, but in the end the Governor and the Democratic leaders agreed on a plan and by late Wednesday afternoon the plan was approved and on its way to the Governor. There was still a lot of work to approve the “implementer” bills which actually enact the underlying policies and procedures necessary for the wheels of government to make the plan work. But now they will wait for another day – aka SPECIAL SESSION! As well as the allocation of the millions of federal dollars arriving in Connecticut’s coffers and the controversial recreational marijuana bill.

For someone who has spent the better part of my career as a lobbyist it’s certain to say there was no other session like this one! We learned new ways to interact with legislators, members of the administration and state agencies. We had less contact with our fellow lobbyists and less ability to forge informal alliances and coalitions. It certainly wasn’t as easy as the “old days” when we’d gather a crowd of interested parties in the café and work out the details of some very complicated issues. But as a client once said to me – “if you don’t grow, you die!” And grow we did this session.

What the 2022 Session will bring—no one quite knows. Will they continue to utilize YouTube, Zoom and CT-N for public hearings? Will they return to a fully open door policy for the public, including school children? Will committee votes take place virtually? And most importantly, will legislators return to the side-by-side seating design that creates a buzz, energy and camaraderie on the chamber floors? That was definitely missed this session.

More than likely we won’t know the answers for several months, or maybe even until the fall. Leaders will have a lot to discuss after the final pieces of the 2021 Session are wrapped up and folks have had time to do an after action review of the good, the bad and the ugly, and then figure out how to merge the best of both worlds for 2022. 

Two things we know for certain at this time are:

1) We’ll be back at it sooner than later, and

2) The Land of Steady Habits might not live up to its name in future sessions of the CT General Assembly.

We’ll have to wait and see…
State Bond Package Approved This Week for State Agency Capital Improvements

During the closing hours of the legislative session, the annual bond package was approved for state agency projects which combines both state and federal dollars made available through normal debt balances and COVID-19 relief funds.

Here are the line items in the package that seem to stand out the brightest in the package:

Connecticut Port Authority  
The CPA, which was created in 2014, was given its largest allocation to date which is $50M in FY22 for improvements to deep water ports which also includes dredging projects. 

Department of Economic and Community Development
In a year where equity in urban investment took the spotlight, DECD is receiving a major commitment in state and federal bonded dollars for distressed municipalities to aid their infrastructure. This program authorizes up to $875 million in bonds for a five-year bonding program to fund qualifying projects and grants in distressed communities; establishes a 21-member board to make funding recommendations under the program; authorizes an additional $1.25 billion of bonds for the program that is contingent on agreement between the governor and board and the legislature reauthorizing the program; beginning in FY 22, requires $125 million of the funds available for the state’s Economic Action Plan to be reserved for projects meeting specified criteria.

Department of Housing 
$100M in each of the next two fiscal years is allocated toward the state Flexible Housing Program which was created in 2001. It provides grants, loans, loan guarantees and deferred loans for projects.

State Treasurer 
The bond bill launches the first Connecticut Baby Bond Trust program which will be administered by the State Treasurer. The program, which authorizes up to $600 million in bonds for the program from July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2034. deposits $3,200 into each designated account created for those covered under state Medicaid plans known as HUSKY.

The 2021 regular legislative session is over and its time to take stock of what the results are for towns and cities. This week, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) did just that. They were first and foremost grateful of the increase in funding for towns and cities to the tune of $191 million new dollars in next fiscal year and $237 million in year two of the biennium. Most of that money is coming in the form of a new tiered Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes (PILOT) program and a continuation of the phased in increase in the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula. Both of those programs will benefit larger cities more than smaller towns.
 
In addition to those funding increases, a new program was developed to bond $1.5 Billion dollars over the next 5 years to 32 distressed municipalities will be a game changer. These funds will be able to be utilized to fund capital projects that are most needed in these communities with a focus on urban renewal. There will be more details and program information to come on these programs forthcoming in the budget implementer which did not get passed in regular session, but will be right on its heels in a possible special session for next week. So we’ll have more to come on how that impacts towns and cities next week!
Next Steps on Session Activity

Legislators, staff, and lobbyists worked around the clock from Monday to Wednesday this week right up until the midnight deadline to gain final action on bills of priority.

Now that the regular session has concluded, we are looking forward to sharing with you the final outcomes. In addition to the bills we've worked on together, our team has been keeping track of bills which establish new task forces on a variety of topics, and these will be constituted and looking for new members in the coming weeks. If you're interested in joining a task force, please let us know. Similarly, there are a number bills that require studies of various topics, which will likely inform proposed legislation next session that we want to keep a close eye on.

We will also be on the look out for Governor Lamont to take action by signing each of the bills that passed both chambers. Some of these will be through public bill signing events, and others will be released in batches through press announcements from his office. Lastly, we will continue to update you once each bill that passed get assigned a Public Act number.

Our team will be sharing final session report narratives specific to all of the work we've done together over these last five months with you in early July where we will provide a detailed look at how each proposal fared.
Themes from conversations with Legislators this Session

As you know, we've made an effort to profile a freshmen legislator each week this session which has been especially relevant since we were not in the building and could not meet these new members in person.

Since the regular session ended on Wednesday, we wanted to comment on some common themes we've heard in these conversations. Unlike during the committee process which was all done on zoom, we heard over and over again that when people got into the chambers during the later portions of session, people found better ways to work together.

"Socialization" is important to the process especially for new members to build relationships so that negotiations can start from a place of trust. On the last day, Speaker Ritter paused in between voting on bills to comment on the need for legislators to make extra efforts to get to know each other during the summer and fall months.

He mentioned that one thing that may not have been a positive about the virtual session is the inability to gather and meet people, and to get to understand each other in different situations. People didn’t get to have casual conversations, and going into next year he wants house members to know about where people are from and their hobbies, so that they better understand where other legislators are coming from and what may inform their perspectives.

The speaker called for bipartisan, causal events to be scheduled, with no work talk, so this socialization can occur and members can get to know and trust each other better and be able to better communicate.

Legislative leaders are still unsure how the building will open after session or for next year, but we've heard from some legislators that they did like components of the virtual session, like the virtual public hearings for example. We will keep you in the loop with the latest announcements.
June 11th, 1942: UCONN'S First Black Basketball Player

Harrison “Honey” Fitch, arrived on the University of Connecticut (then Connecticut State College) in the fall of 1932 and he made a solid impression, fast. Fitch, the first Black basketball player for the University of Connecticut (then Connecticut State College) and at the time the only Black student, had already earned the nickname “Honey” for his smooth play at Hillhouse High in New Haven. Popular and talented, he became a three-sport athlete his freshman year (football, basketball and baseball), and was voted by students as the school’s best athlete.

Not everyone was so enamored. On January 27th, 1934, the Connecticut basketball team was scheduled to play against the Coast Guard Academy in New London. The Coast Guard’s athletic administration. however, operated under a publicly avowed but unwritten rule that, since many of its cadets hailed from southern states, Black athletes would not be allowed to compete at the Academy.
Fitch’s arrival with his Connecticut team instantly generated a heated stalemate: the Coast Guard refused to play the the game if he was on the court; the Connecticut team was prepared to walk out if he wasn’t. Undaunted, Fitch took the court and warmed up with his teammates during more than half an hour of back-and-forth negotiation between coaches and officials aimed at breaking the deadlock. For reasons still unknown – perhaps it was part of an uneasy compromise – the game between the teams proceeded, but Connecticut coach John Heldman kept Fitch on the bench for the entire game. Tempers on both teams still ran high and there were plenty of fouls on both sides. At the final buzzer, Connecticut had beaten the Coast Guard team, 31-29.

By all accounts Fitch’s teammates had his back, and they weren’t the only ones. In an account headlined “Fires of Resentment Still Glow,” in February 1934 the Hartford Courant published excerpts of alumni response to the news from the Coast Guard game. “I realize that Coach Heldman did fight hard to have Fitch play and he should be commended for it,” wrote one alumna. “But the fighting did not go far enough. Harry Fitch is one of the best athletes at Connecticut, one of the most clean and fair players, as a glance at his record will show, that Connecticut has; and the silly prejudice prevailing at Coast Guard is no reason whatever for removing Fitch from the line-up.” Rather than conceding to pressure by having Fitch ride the bench, the letter-writer insisted (in all caps), “NO GAME SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLAYED SATURDAY.” Heldman, already an unpopular coach for his overall losing record, resigned in 1935 after a student poll overwhelmingly recommended firing him and he managed to lose to the alumni team.

Between personal financial concerns and the racism of the New London events, Fitch subsequently transferred to American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts to finish his degree, though he is said by his son Brooks Fitch to have maintained affection for UConn and continued to watch Huskies games throughout his life. He played for the “New England Colored All Stars” basketball team in 1945 and 1946 and is still lauded as a top starting forward. He went on to a career working for Monsanto and became a Mason of the highest achievable rank. Harrison “Honey” Fitch died on June 11, 1984 in Wallingford, leaving a legacy of breakthrough achievement, today in Connecticut history.


Here is a link to the full article - Provided by CT Humanities Council.
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