General Assembly in Special Session this week
House Legislative leaders start gearing up for start of regular session
Capitol news and notes
Some changes to CRMA coming soon
News and notes from around the state
- On Monday of this week, as expected, the CT General Assembly called itself into Special Session to deal with the looming deadline of the gas tax holiday and other issues.
- In addition to extending the gas tax holiday, which was set to expire November 30th, the General Assembly also took up funding for winter assistance, changes to the bottle bill and pandemic bonus for essential workers.
- After a day-long debate, mostly in the House of Representatives, the General Assembly sent to the Governor a gas tax holiday (.25 cents) that will be extended through the remainder of this year. In addition, the proposal phases in the tax in 5 cent increments per month until the full 25 cents is restored beginning April 1, 2023.
- In addition to the gas tax holiday extension, the Legislature also committed close to $30 million to bolster the state’s Low-income Home Energy Assistance program. The $30 million will supplement federal funding that the state receives.
- The Legislature also made changes to the bottle bill by fixing an issue that deals with certain products subject to the bottle bill that have not been able to have proper labels. The Legislature extended the deadline until July 1, 2023 to secure proper labels.
- As usual, Keith Phaneuf does a great job reviewing the details of Monday’s actions. You can go here to read that story.
Democratic House Leaders start to gear up for start of regular session
- With the election behind us and the start of the regular session looming right after the start of the new year when a new General Assembly will be sworn in, changes in some leadership positions in key committees of the General Assembly will be named.
- House Speaker Matt Ritter has moved quickly to name some key member of his caucus as Committee Chairs.
- Earlier this week he named Rep. Maria Horn (D-Salisbury) to the key post of House Co-Chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
- For CRMA, Finance is a very important Committee, and we are pleased that Speaker Ritter has named Rep. Horn to that post. She is an excellent legislator, and we look forward to working with her.
- In addition to Finance, this week Speaker Ritter asked New Haven Rep. Roland Lamar to return as the Chair of the Transportation Committee and he is expected to name Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, who will leave the Public Health Committee and take over the Energy and Technology Committee.
- Ritter also will return Rep. Toni Walker (D-New Haven) to the key spot as chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee and Rep. Steve Stafstrom as chair of the Judiciary Committee.
- Yesterday, Speaker Ritter named Rep. Dorinda Borer (D-West Haven) as a Deputy Speaker.
- The great Mark Paz of CT Mirror has more on who might get what committee chairs, here.
News and notes from around the State Capitol
- While Speaker Ritter has made some announcements of Committee Chairs and some of his deputies, his colleague in the Senate, President Pro Tem Martin Looney, has not yet made any announcements.
- One of the key issues that retailers – and other business – face is the rising cost of health care.
- We expect that issue will once again be in the spotlight in the upcoming long session that begins on January 4.
- The CT Mirror looks at the issue and some of the reasons why health care costs continue to climb, and what the General Assembly might do about it.
- You can go here for that story.
- Our friend Christine Stuart of the CTNewsJunkie has a great story on how CT is on track to pay down its pension debt. You can see that story here.
Some changes to the CRMA coming soon
- With 2023 on the immediate horizon, CRMA has been at work preparing for the upcoming legislative session.
- In addition, some exciting, larger organizational updates are in the works. More on that to come in the next few weeks.
- As you know, CRMA is committed to looking forward, being responsive to our members and representing Connecticut retailers effectively at the State Capitol.
- The initiative we’ve been working on in recent months is consistent with that commitment – watch for more details in upcoming editions of Friday Facts!
News and notes from around the state
- The number of real estate brokers and salespeople in Connecticut spiked during the pandemic, as people who were laid off from their jobs explored new careers and took advantage of remote licensing classes. Hartford Business Journal has the numbers, here.
- A pilot program recently launched to increase female representation in Connecticut boardrooms is a collaboration between Women In Bio-Connecticut and Deloitte. New Haven BIZ has the details here.
- The University of Connecticut has announced the appointment of Anne D’Alleva as its new provost. She had served as dean of the School of Fine Arts since 2015 and has been a UConn faculty member since 1999. Fairfield County Business Journal has news of the appointment here.
- Connecticut is ranked among the best states for finding a job, according to a new report from WalletHub, a personal finances website and blog. The state was ranked No. 9 of 50. The Connecticut Post reports on the survey results here.
- The state held an economic development summit in New Haven this week. New Haven Independent reports on the highlights, here.