CT General Assembly gavels in for the short session.
Gov outlines budget requests
Legislature gets right to work
CRMA Legislative Committee
Other news and notes from around the Capitol
News and notes from around Connecticut
- On Wednesday of this week, the Connecticut General Assembly began the so-called short session by gaveling themselves into regular session. Both the House and the Senate held separate opening day ceremonies and then together held a joint session to welcome the Governor to address them.
- As tradition goes, in the short session the Governor addresses the joint session of the General Assembly and outlines his budget priorities for the year.
- Our friends at CT News Junkie and CT Mirror do a great job of outlining the Gov’s address. You can read their stories here and here.
More on the Governor’s budget address
- Governor Lamont had a lot to say in his budget address, including how he would distribute tax relief to CT residents, including reducing the car tax, and his plans to spend some of those federal dollars that have been flowing to CT, specifically the infrastructure changes he has in mind, as well proposals for increasing State Police levels and a task force to examine the flow of guns into CT.
- All these proposals and more will have to be debated by the various committees of the legislature and voted on by the House and Senate before the statutory adjournment date of May 4, 2022.
- Our friend Chris Keating of the Hartford Courant does a great job of covering the Governor’s budget proposals, here.
- For those of you who would like to do a deep dive into the budget, like members of the General Assembly will have to do, the Legislature’s office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) does just that and you see that by going here.
Legislature gets right to work
- We are all aware that during the past two years, the operation of state government and decisions regarding how CT business and schools etc. will respond to COVID, have been governed by extraordinary powers that the Legislature has granted Governor Lamont.
- Those powers, commonly knowns as Executive Authority, have an expiration date, specifically February 15, and need to be extend by the General Assembly, if they choose to do so.
- So, the first order of business for the General Assembly was to have a full debate on whether those Executive Orders should be extended.
- The Democratic majority in the state House of Representatives Thursday night pushed through a limited set of COVID orders first issued by Gov. Lamont, over Republican claims that the pandemic has eased, and parents and school children are fed up with masks. Hearst Connecticut’s Ken Dixon has the latest news here; CT Mirror here.
- The State Senate is expected to take similar action on Monday, next week.
CRMA Legislative Committee holds first meeting
- The CRMA legislative committee got organized for the short session by holding our first meeting of the session.
- We will continue to hold meetings via conference call for the remainder of the session. If any CRMA member is interested in joining in on those calls, feel free to contact us at tim@ctretailnetwork.com
News and Notes Around the State Capitol
- Someone who was in the Senate Chamber on the Opening Day of the legislative session has tested positive for COVID. NBC Connecticut has the latest here.
- Longtime Republican legislator Craig Miner of Litchfield, one of the longest-serving Republicans in the legislature with 26 years of experience, announced yesterday that he will not be seeking reelection to the state Senate. The Hartford Courant has the news here.
- Minor is another friend of the retail industry that is bowing out. He was a great advocate for our cause and our issues and we will miss him. We send our best to Sen. Minor but will be leaning on him hard this session for the last time.
- State Rep. Harry Arora (R-151) of Greenwich has formed an exploratory committee to consider running for Connecticut State Treasurer. The announcement is reported by Patch here.
- Connecticut cities and towns would receive about $2.85 billion in statutory formula grants in the upcoming fiscal year based on the budget adjustments proposed by Gov. Lamont. CT Mirror breaks down the numbers, town-by-town, here.
News and Notes Around Connecticut
- Connecticut’s tax credit programs for film, television and digital media production have fostered economic development that may not have occurred in their absence, a new study from the Department of Economic and Community Development has found. CT Mirror has the details here.
- Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection began accepting applications for micro-cultivator cannabis licenses Thursday, the start of a 90-day window for submissions. Hearst Connecticut has the update here.
- BlueTriton Brands, whose portfolio includes Poland Spring water, has leased a warehouse near Bradley International Airport to expand its distribution capacity. Connecticut Post has details of the plan here.
- Yale New Haven Health will buy Manchester Memorial Hospital, Rockville General Hospital in Vernon and Waterbury Hospital, along with all of their associated real estate assets, physician clinic operations and outpatient services. Hartford Business Journal has the story here.
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported this week that inflation stood at 7.5% as of January, the largest 12-month increase since February 1982. Fairfield County Business Journal has the data here.
- Connecticut continues to record high levels of death related to COVID-19, even as cases and hospitalizations return to pre-omicron levels. The Hartford Courant reports on the latest numbers here.