April 1st, 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
Can you believe it?

The Capitol and Legislative Office Building have been shuttered for more than 381 days and it’s finally going to be open to the public! OOPS – HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY.

I think this is the dream of all who inhabit the halls of the Capitol and LOB, but it’s not going to happen, at least not in the coming days. As many state agencies are seeing an increased number of employees return to the office, the legislature has settled into the virtual committee process for the foreseeable future.

As our team looks to the next couple of weeks of final committee action, we decided to bring the traditional “JF” (joint favorable) party to the freshman class of legislators. Next week the Sullivan & LeShane team is hosting a virtual JF party so that freshmen legislators can have an opportunity to engage with their fellow classmates from both sides to the aisle and have a friendly competition between Team Carpino (led by Rep. Christie Carpino, R-Cromwell) and Team Cook (led by Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington). We’re organizing a bipartisan team for each team captain and hoping to see some fierce jockeying to capture the first ever Freshman JF party trophy!

We’re hoping with a little levity and bipartisan comradery the freshman legislators can embrace the celebration of the end of the committee process and look forward to the robust, long and sometimes chaotic days of chamber sessions. The final JF deadline on April 23rd will mark the start of the next phase of a legislative session - rank and file debate, crazy amendments, and at times the feel of an auction house as the House and Senate race to complete all the business they choose before the midnight deadline of June 9th hits.

Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) announced in his opening day remarks that the House will not meet over Memorial Day so that legislators might be able to participate in local celebrations – or at least family celebrations - of the first holiday of the summer. We haven’t heard an announcement from Senate leaders about also taking a quick breather before they head into the final nine days of session, historically the longest nine days ever! Most people are counting on the down time.

This past week, the legislature punted and pushed out again the Governor’s 90+ executive orders termination to May 20th. This gives their “legal beagles” and bill drafters time to complete their research, identify those orders which deserve a permanent place in state statute, those that should stay in effect for an extended duration of time to be negotiated between the Governor’s office and legislature or to let them expire. Depending on how this research pans out we may very busy following a ton of bills related to these executive orders including long House or Senate floor debates. Couple that with a controversial Governor’s packed agenda, a two year budget and a load of initiatives of the four caucuses, and we’re in for some very long “virtual nights” for sure.

So as we get a breather this week with a day off to enjoy the spring and celebrate a couple of holidays, we’re looking at a busy, complicated and action packed 45 days. If you can’t sleep at 2AM one morning,  you can always tune into CT-N (the capitol TV network) and listen in to what’s hot in Hartford to help you get back to sleep! 
How the State Can Use COVID-19 to “Right Size” Care for Seniors

COVID-19 Relief funds being provided to states and local government agencies included a large amount of flexibility as to how funds are using but a newer opportunity presents itself to state officials who could be looking at reducing the nursing home population in CT.

According to the latest CARES act relief package, there is a 10-percentage point increase (capping it at 95%) reimbursement for Medicaid home-based services which would allow the state for a year to begin phasing in more slots for the CT Home Care Program for Elders. Providing an increased incentive for this essentially is recognition that the paradigm for funding is going to be embracing less dependency on nursing facilities which over time are more expensive and have drained state Medicaid budgets.

How much has this been costing states? On average, those on Medicaid being institutionalized are having state expenses (match 50% by the Federal government) at $7,500 per recipient where home care state expenses are roughly $2,000-$3,000 for each recipient. If this percentage were to raise to a 60% reimbursement for 100 additional slots that would be a maximized savings of up to $600,000! Added with this benefit is the fact that the quality of life for these residents is higher with less risk of infection and more time with family and community members.

Let’s hope this winning proposition is something the state leans into for the next year!
Municipal Recovery

Taking a look around the state, the next big goal for municipalities over the coming months will be “recovery,” which to this point means many things to many people. Nonetheless, the federal government has allocated money for “recovery” for municipalities and there will be a pretty wide opportunity for towns and cities to place much needed dollars into their local economy to spur economic development.
 
In Milford, with a downtown, MetroNorth rail line, and harbor within sight of each other, is poised to continue support transit oriented development and new apartments are set to come on line, which could help business development at a time when more people, particularly from New York, are moving to Connecticut. 
 
In Berlin, they’ve come up with a solution to help residents help local restaurants, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities recently reported. Located on the Economic Devel­opment webpage for the town is a PDF document called Eat, Drink and Stay Local. On this list is every restaurant and coffee shop in Ber­lin, along with their phone number, hours, and whether or not they of­fer dining in, take-out, delivery, and gift cards, along with a link to their website or menu.
 
In West Haven, an Enterprise Zone has been established that aims to entice businesses and real estate to town. Although new to West Haven, the approach is not new to Connecticut the first state in the country to establish a state­wide Enterprise Zone in 1982.
 
We’ll look forward to seeing new and creative economic development solutions in the coming weeks and months from all of our 169 communities looking to leverage those public dollars into private investment.
Federal Funds Highlighted for Child Care Industry

An influx of federal funding, highlighted by a visit to New Haven late last week from Vice President Harris, is coming to Connecticut’s child care industry. Governor Lamont along with leadership of the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) and Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced that they are ready to utilize the approximately $70 million in CARES funding plus another $276 million from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to stabilize the child care industry and expand child care assistance to Connecticut families.

These initiatives are being considered both COVID-19 related stimulus to an industry that’s been hurt more than most but that continued to stay open during the pandemic, as well as an opportunity to bring about long standing policy changes that many in the early childhood community have been advocating for. Officials indicated that the child care industry is one that has been underfunded even before the pandemic. It is also an industry made up of a workforce that is predominately women and women of color.

The OEC announced that they will begin to financially support program operations, offer resources, professional development, and technical assistance to child care centers. In addition to investing in the child care programs themselves, much of this funding will also be used to support parents and families which ties into the Governor’s efforts to encourage a more competitive workforce for the state.

Stay tuned as the Lamont administration continues to roll out more details on this and other pieces of the federal funding package in the coming weeks.  
Freshmen Legislator Profile: Michael Quinn (D-Meriden)

This week we have the pleasure of introducing you to State Representative Michael D. Quinn, who represents the 82nd House District including the towns of Meriden, Middlefield, and Rockfall.
 
Rep. Quinn shared with me that serving in the legislature was always something he thought about doing, and with the unexpected retirement of his predecessor Buddy Altobello, it was an opportunity that he could not let pass.
 
As an attorney who has represented injured workers before the Workers’ Compensation Commission and in personal injury and criminal defense, he is acutely interested in passage of expanded 31-308a benefits in workers’ compensation claims this session.

Though he has nothing to compare it to, Rep. Quinn noted that this session is different than expected, even as a freshman member. He hopes that zoom participation in public hearings will continue in some form once things return to normal as he believes it has allowed more members of the public to participate, since they do not have to give up time to travel to Hartford to testify.

Rep. Quinn requested to serve on the Judiciary Committee, Public Safety Committee, and Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee, and was excited to be granted these assignments as well as the leadership position of Vice Chair on Executive and Legislative Nominations. As an attorney with familiarity in these areas, he felt it was important to be on these committees particularly. He is looking forward to bringing his practical knowledge to the debates on issues the committees consider.

Rep. Quinn has lived in the Meriden part of his district his entire life. He recognizes that Meriden, Middlefield and Rockfall all offer many different options for their residents. He is the proud owner of two Bearded Collies, the younger of which became an AKC conformation champion shortly before the pandemic hit. Rep. Quinn is also an avid Red Sox fan, fire engine photographer, airliner photographer, model builder and collector, as well as the owner of a few classic cars.
April 1st: A Political Cartoonist for the 21st Century Woman

As the first political cartoonist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize, Clarence Daniel “C. D.” Batchelor thought having been born on April Fool’s Day (in 1888) was appropriate to his calling. The cane-collecting, (he died owning more than 500), dapper, Kansas-born, self-styled “character” – “It was just as easy to be a character as not to be one,” he said, “and a hell of a lot more fun!”– used art and irony to speak truth to power throughout a long career. During most of that career, he provided daily editorial cartoons for the New York Daily News.   

Batchelor was a lifelong advocate for women’s rights, and included idealized, romanticized images of confident and capable modern women in much of his work. During his twenties, a majority of his production was created in support of woman suffrage. He produced illustrations and cover art for such publications as the National American Woman Suffrage Association Newsletter,  The Woman Citizen, the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News and The Woman Voter.  In a 1920 interview in The Woman Citizen, Batchelor said artists had had to completely recreate the images of women used in magazines over the past fifteen years because of the “assurance and confidence born of a changed and changing economic status and her approaching political freedom.” When asked about the ideal of the American girl he tried to draw, he said, “I cannot imagine her but intelligent and of aggressive opinion when the Soviet, industrial democracy, or Ibanez is discussed.” 

In later years, Batchelor, like the paper he worked for, took an isolationist stance towards the United States’ possible entry into World War II. His breakthrough 1937 Pulitzer Prize winning cartoon depicting a female skeleton prostitute (War) enticing two young men (“Any European Youth”) with the line, “Come on in, I’ll treat you right, I used to know your daddy,” reflected that anti-war stance. 
After Pearl Harbor, and for the rest of his career, Batchelor’s work displayed an earnest wartime patriotism, and later, fervent anti-communism. In 1943, for his then country-home town of Deep River, he created the artwork that is the centerpiece of the Honor Roll of Deep River citizens who served in war. 

An admirer and artistic creator of the ideal twentieth-century woman, Batchelor seems to have spent his life looking for the real-life incarnation of his artistic creation. A batchelor in name only, when he died in Deep River on September 6, 1977 at 89, he was survived by his fifth wife, Allegra.

Here is a link to the full article - Provided by CT Humanities Council.
Sullivan & LeShane, Inc.
www.ctlobby.com | (860) 560-0000