April 9th, 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
Normal is defined as “the usual, average, or typical state or condition”. Ordinary is defined as “with no special or distinctive features; normal”. Typical is defined as “showing the characteristics expected of or popularly associated with a particular person, situation, or thing”.

So as Connecticut and each of us look towards the spring and summer days ahead what are we hoping for? Normal, ordinary or typical? We definitely can all agree that going back to normal isn’t going to happen. Many have suggested that there will be a new normal but I think I’m leaning towards typical for now.

To me, that means that there’s some semblance of an ongoing pattern of actions, behaviors and activities that we can count on. Like the sun coming up, driving to the office with Ray Dunaway on WTIC in the morning and country music on the way home. For the past three months, a typical day as a lobbyist has meant arrive at the office early, check incoming overnight emails, catch up with our lobbying teammates on client and related activities since end of day yesterday, check for any new proposed bills or amendment language, log into zoom and spend the day interfacing with legislative committees. Also, squeezing in one on one or client related zoom calls to refine troublesome proposals, advocating for the ones our clients hope to pass and work to convince committee leadership and committee members to oppose or change the ones our clients are so keen on hearing of their “disappearance”. When we clock our 10 hours later we grab some family time, maybe catch a favorite TV show, read another chapter in a fun book, dig out work form our briefcases and head for a snooze only to repeat the previous day’s activities! For us veteran lobbyists – session means long days with our minds always looking for the next big thing to come in over the transom and staying ahead of the proverbial “8-ball”.

Now that the committee deadlines are almost over, we’re looking to see what normal means for the always chaotic and frantic House and Senate sessions. The few session days that the legislature has held virtually have been orchestrated and highly managed. But they have only dealt with a dozen or so judicial nominations, a couple highly negotiated legislative proposals and then adjourned. With a full session about to start on April 19th in the House and speculated in the Senate, we’re looking for the typical cadence. To hope for ordinary is not going to happen and there will never, at least this session, be normal! Counting the days left in session – 40 to be exact – it’s a safe bet that many bills approved by committees will have a tough time during the House and Senate process. Especially for those “work in progress” ones if they can’t be resolved or if the highly controversial ones aren’t locked and loaded before they are taken up on the floor of each chamber. We do think that the “normal” Senate democratic caucus and republican caucus vote count system will withstand the test of a virtual session but the House – oh mama mia - who knows what will happen on some of the “hot topics”. We’re looking for long caucus sessions before each one of the hot button issues hits the House floor for action.

Speaker Ritter has committed to the House they can count on a “normal” schedule of sessions, ending way before the crack of dawn if at all possible and a commitment to take an extra-long Memorial Day weekend just before the final six go-go days when session ends on June 9th. Senate President Pro Tempore Looney hasn’t yet made the same public announcement, so we shall see. 

Ordinary – no, normal – maybe by June 9th - typical – that’s my bet.  
Hackers Fought the Law, and the Law Lost

Throughout the pandemic, more state agencies then ever before have switched to digital transactions which has given malware and ransomware hackers more of a captive audience to wreak havoc on old legacy systems at the state level.

A recent example of this can be seen at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) where residents who own used or olders vehicles are required to have its emissions level tested on every three years. Hackers a few weeks ago were able to gain access to this network which then puts in doubt (1) Residents being able to register their vehicles and (2) Residents driving vehicles on the road that are out of environmental compliance.

Overall, the state needed to mitigate this occurrence by suspending the requirement so that residents may continue to register vehicles but being able to restore this effort becomes very important. the provider of this technology, Applus Technologies, has said the ability to undergo a full reimplementation of the program will happen in three stages: The remediation process, the restoration process and the "go live" stage. 

While a deeper investigation of this problem will be handled Federally by the FBI, it's a teachable moment for the need and demand for a resilient network to be assembled. The emissions testing system is something that's existed for many years prior to the pandemic and in Connecticut, it's the only oversight for inspecting non-commercial vehicles. Having the ability to embrace a more secure network becomes even more vitally important especially with COVID relief funding that can used to help bolster these state networks.

There's still time to correct these problems but the state must be broaching more active solutions to do this.
A Full House

The housing committee put forward a bold agenda this year with many controversial bills. The committee's hot topic this year has been the issue of getting municipalities to build more affordable housing for their communities. A bill was just passed out of the committee which would require municipalities to open more affordable housing, or face consequences. Other bills approved by the planning and development committee would require training for volunteers of local planning and zoning commissions, and would prohibit commission members from being able to consider the impact a housing project would have on the “character of the community.” The bills aim to tackle exclusionary zoning practices that, for example, try to keep new residential projects to one family homes only. 

These bills have been promoted mainly by DesegregateCT and other housing advocates, who's main goal is to remedy high housing costs and segregation that still exists in Connecticut's wealthiest communities. These proponents still hope to include provisions implementing multi-family housing around train stations and main streets. There will certainly be contentious debate over these bills in the coming weeks as advocates for local control of planning and zoning face off against the affordable housing community.
Judiciary Committee Week

At the Capitol this week, leading up to its JF deadline, the Judiciary Committee met almost every day and voted on a number of bills. Some of the most watched bills they discussed were SB 888: An Act Responsibly and Equitably Regulating Adult-Use Cannabis, HB 6355: An Act Concerning Risk Protection Orders or Warrants, and SB 1091: An Act Concerning Criminal Laws of this State.

SB 888, originally introduced by Governor Lamont, faced a lot of criticism from legislators who are opposed to legalization and from legislators who support legalization but don’t feel this proposal legalizes cannabis in an equitable way. The bill ultimately advanced with a final vote tally of 22-16. Supporters of this bill referred to it as a “work in progress”, indicating that more changes will need to be made before it is voted on by the Senate.

The Judiciary committee also voted to advance HB 6355: An Act Concerning Risk Protection Orders or Warrants, known as the “red flag” law. This bill would, among other things, expand existing law to include concerns raised by household members and medical professionals including physicians who could provide evidence to a Superior Court judge for the seizure of guns. Current law only grants this power to police officers. Additionally, language from other bills that would provide protections to victims of domestic violence, particularly in court proceedings and related to coercive control including the proposal known as “Jennifer’s Law”, were added into SB 1091: An Act Concerning Criminal Laws of this State.

Even with the number of bills that were voted on, we saw many proposals get combined into larger bills before being voted on by the committee, as in the last example above. We will keep watch for other bill consolidation as the legislative process continues. 
Freshmen Legislator Trivia

On Thursday, Sullivan & LeShane partnered with the company Best Trivia Ever to host several members of the Freshmen class in a virtual "JF Party" trivia game. Typically around this time, committees would host social gatherings to acknowledge the work that's gone in so far this session but with the Capitol still closed, a virtual event was the next best thing.

Two teams of bipartisan freshmen battled it out to be able to call themselves the Freshmen Trivia Champions. The winning team earned a Sullivan & LeShane "veni, vidi, vici" mug and a S&L chocolate bar.

The teams were led by veteran lawmakers Representative Christie Carpino (R-Portland) and Representative Michelle Cook (D-Torrington). This was a great opportunity for our team and for the legislators themselves to get to know one another and talk about things outside of their typical committee work. A few participants mentioned that they were meeting for the first time! We know that on the rare occasion that legislators are able to be in the Capitol this session, they are often only in their individual offices or are meeting in small groups with their own caucus. This event proved to be a great opportunity to bring some of the missing "social" aspect back to this virtual session. 
April 9th, 1910: Son of Russian Immigrants Who Rose to Become Both Governor & Barrier-Breaker

Today in 1910, Abraham Alexander Ribicoff was born in a New Britain tenement house to Ashkenazi Jewish parents who had immigrated to Connecticut from Poland. Over the course of his lifetime, he would spend nearly 50 years in public service. The highlight of that half century of service was when he overcame entrenched anti-Semitism to become the state’s first governor of Jewish faith.

After graduating with degrees from NYU and the University of Chicago Law School, Ribicoff set up his own legal practice in Kensington and soon began his meteoric rise through the ranks of Connecticut politics. Beginning in 1938, Ribicoff served for two terms in the Connecticut General Assembly; by the early 1950s, he had also served as a Hartford judge and was twice elected as a US Representative from Connecticut’s first Congressional district.

In 1954, Ribicoff ran for governor as a Democrat and won in spite of entrenched anti-Semitism in a political arena overwhelmingly dominated by Protestant Christians. During his campaign, he repeatedly emphasized his modest upbringing and championed the promise of “the American dream” to immigrants and their families. As governor, he increased state spending on education and welfare programs, supported racial integration in urban and suburban schools, and worked tirelessly to rebuild badly damaged infrastructure after devastating floods hit Connecticut in 1955. Thanks to his popular platform and persistent optimism, Ribicoff was reelected in 1958 by the largest margin in Connecticut history. he was the first — and to date, only — Jewish governor of Connecticut.

Having overcome a religious barrier to high office himself, Ribicoff worked to help another barrier-breaker, John F Kennedy, become America’s first Catholic president. A longtime friend of the fellow New England Democrat, Ribicoff was one of the first politicians to encourage Kennedy to run for vice-president in 1956, and was an ardent supporter of his subsequent (and successful) presidential bid in 1960.

As President, Kennedy appointed Ribicoff to be his secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Ribicoff served in that prestigious post for a year and a half before returning to Connecticut to run for U.S. Senator in 1962. He won handily and served as Senator for nearly two decades before retiring from politics in 1981, having completed a long, distinguished and barrier-breaking career.

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