Rome Smith & Lutz

House Passes Death Penalty Repeal

Administrator — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:11:53 +0000

The bill repealing the death penalty in Connecticut passed the House late last night by a bipartisan vote of 86-62 after nearly 10 hours of debate. Last week, the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 20-16. Governor Malloy has said that he will sign the bill into law. Copied below is the Governor’s statement released shortly after the House of Representatives passed the repeal:

GOVERNOR MALLOY STATEMENT ON FINAL PASSAGE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT REPEAL LEGISLATION

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy released the following statement on House passage of a bill that will prospectively repeal capital punishment and replace it with a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of release:

“I’m pleased the House passed the bill, and when it gets to my desk I will sign it.

“I want to be careful in the tone of my remarks, out of respect for the gravity of the issue at hand and out of respect for people on both sides of the issue. When I sign this bill, Connecticut will join 16 other states and almost every other industrialized nation in moving toward what I believe is better public policy.

“For decades, we have not had a workable death penalty. Only one person’s been executed in Connecticut in the last 52 years, and he volunteered for it.

“Going forward, we will have a system that allows us to put these people away for life, in living conditions none of us would want to experience. Let’s throw away the key and have them spend the rest of their natural lives in jail.”

The Governor said he will sign the bill if it reached his desk as long as it was prospective in nature. Lieutenant Governor Wyman has also expressed her support for repeal.

2012 Session Convenes and Governor Malloy’s Midterm Budget Adjustment Plan

Administrator — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:08:15 +0000

The Connecticut General Assembly’s 2012 Legislative Session convened today. This is a short 3 month session which will adjourn on Wednesday May 9^th. Because we will be entering the second year of the biennial budget, this session’s budget activity will be to make adjustments to fiscal year 2013. (FY 2013: July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013). Governor Malloy presented his midterm budget adjustment plan for FY 2013 to a joint session of the General Assembly. His budget proposal is a total of $20.7 billion which is balanced on a GAAP basis, and is $5.9 million under the spending cap.

Highlights of the plan include:

Education

o $12 million for enhancing access to early childhood

o $22.4 million to expand availability school models (traditional, magnet, charters etc)

o Increase of $50 million to ECS funding

Pension Reform

o Modifying SEBAC provisions relating to pension funding

o Increased payments over the annually required contribution over the next 12 years

Health and Human Services

o Increase in Private Provider COLA of 1% ($8.5 million)

o $11.7 million to expand childhood vaccine program

o Changes to medication administration for state savings

o Modifying asset eligibility for the Low Income Adult (LIA Program) to $25,000 excluding home and vehicle.

Municipal Aid

o No cuts to formula grants to cities and towns

o Various mandate relief

The following is a link to the midterm budget adjustment documents. The Appropriations Committee will begin holding public hearings on the budget next week. Those hearings will be followed by weeks of sub-committee meetings and budget workshops before the full Appropriations Committee and Finance Committee make their budget recommendations in late March or early April.

The Appropriations and Finance Committee deadlines for reporting out a budget bill are April 4^th and April 5^th, respectively.

Rick Lopes Wins Special Election to Fill 24th Assembly District Seat

Administrator — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:07:13 +0000

Rick Lopes won the open seat special election last night to fill the 24th district house seat vacated by recently elected New Britain Mayor Tim O’Brien. He defeated Republican nominee, Peter Steele, and petitioning candidate and former State Senator, Thomas Bozek. Lopes is a former aide to then State Senator Don DeFronzo and currently a project . . . → Read More: Rick Lopes Wins Special Election to Fill 24th Assembly District Seat

Governor Announces Mark Ojakian as New Chief of Staff

Administrator — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:28:35 +0000

Today, the Governor announced he has named Mark Ojakian as his new chief of staff. He will be replacing Tim Bannon, who announced last month that he will be stepping down. Ojakian is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, and previously served for 16 years as deputy Comptroller under Nancy Wyman. Ojakian officially takes over as chief of staff on January 5^th. The official press release is below.

GOV. MALLOY NAMES MARK OJAKIAN CHIEF OF STAFF

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced he has named Mark Ojakian to serve as Chief of Staff in the Governor’s Office.

Ojakian, who currently is the Deputy Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, will replace outgoing Chief of Staff Tim Bannon, who announced in November his impending plans to depart the position.

“It has been an honor to have Mark in our administration over the past year in his current role, helping direct the charge on the restructuring and streamlining of state government in our efforts to find efficiencies while making government leaner, less expensive, and more effective. He has a tremendous breadth of knowledge, experience, dedication and character, and an extraordinary capacity to produce results for the people of the state,” Governor Malloy said.

“Specifically, he was a big part of the reason we reached an historic agreement with our state employees that will save taxpayers $21.5 billion over the next 20 years.”

Governor Malloy added, “I also want to give a special thanks to Tim Bannon, who agreed to take on the responsibilities of the first year of the administration. He helped model for us an approach to the financial crisis that we inherited, and became a tireless worker on behalf of our agenda to reinvent Connecticut and improve the economic development outlook of this state. I will miss seeing him every day, though he’ll remain a friend and advisor.”

Immediately prior to joining the administration earlier this year, Ojakian served as Deputy Comptroller under Lieutenant Governor Wyman for 16 years when she headed that office.

“Mark and I have been friends, colleagues and members of each other’s families for about 25 years, so I know how much he brings to the table on so many levels,” Lt. Governor Wyman said. “He not only has an incredible understanding of how government works, but knows how to bring the best out of people in order to get things done. He has been and will continue to be a huge asset to the Governor, to me and to the State of Connecticut.”
Ojakian will transition into the role by working alongside Bannon, whose final day with the Office of the Governor will be on January 5.

“In his first year in office, Governor Malloy has demonstrated his determination to change the direction of our state away from stagnation, inaction and limited results to one of growth and prosperity,” Ojakian said. “Reinventing and restructuring our state will not happen overnight, but with a dedicated public servant like the Governor at the helm, I have no doubt we’ll get there.”

In his role as Deputy Comptroller, Ojakian acted as senior policy advisor, had administrative responsibility for over 250 employees and fiscal responsibility for over $1 billion in state accounts. He has served in a number of roles on a variety of boards and commissions throughout his career and has been an integral part of several large public policy initiatives, including implementation of Core-CT, the state’s computerized financial, human resource and payroll software system aimed at modernizing outdated financial reporting functions.

Ojakian received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1975 and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the American University in Washington, DC in 1977. He lives with his husband Jason Veretto in West Hartford. He has two children, Brandon and Kyle, and two grandchildren, Connor and Madison.

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Political Update: Special Election, Rep Paul Davis Appointed Chair of Regulations Review, and Redistricting

Administrator — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:52:35 +0000

January 10^th Special Election:

The open seat special election for the 24^th district house seat vacated by recently elected New Britain Mayor Tim O’Brien will be held on January 10^th. The Republican nominee, Peter Steele, was chosen last week. The Democratic convention was held last night and they nominated Rick Lopes. Lopes defeated both Michael Trueworthy and Sharon Beloin-Saavedra for the nomination and it is not expected that they will file as petitioning candidates. Rick Lopes and Peter Steele will compete in the special election as the endorsed major party candidates.

Paul Davis Appointed House Chairman of Regulation Review Committee

Representative Paul Davis has been appointed chairman of the Regulations Review Committee by Speaker of the House Chris Donovan. He replaced former chairman Tim O’Brien, who recently resigned following taking office as New Britain mayor. Davis has been a member of the committee for 7 years. The Regulation Review committee is bi-partisan and alternates chairmanships every two years. The committee pairs either a Senate Democrat and a House Republican or a Senate Republican and a House Democrat as co-chairs. The Committee is responsible for reviewing regulations proposed by state agencies and approving them before they are implemented.

Redistricting:

Every ten years, following the U.S. Census, the lines for state legislative and Congressional districts are open to be redrawn by a bi-partisan committee. The nine member, bipartisan Reapportionment Committee made up of top legislative leadership, whose charge is preparing a plan for redistricting, has a final meeting today at 4:00pm to vote on portions they have completed. As of today, Democrats and Republicans have reached consensus on the 151 House districts as well as the 36 Senate Districts, but have not reached an agreement on the 5 Congressional districts. If there isn’t agreement at today’s meeting on any portion of the committee’s charge, it can seek a 30-day extension from the Supreme Court. A similar extension was granted in 2001.

Hartford Courant Capitol Watch: State Budget Surplus Projected At $101 Million

Administrator — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:28:44 +0000

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/capitol-watch/hc-with-tax-increases-kicking-in-state-budget-surplus-projected-at-101-million-20111129,0,2931351.story?track=rss

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING

1:45 p.m. EST, November 29, 2011

HARTFORD—

With the largest tax increase in Connecticut history kicking in, the state is projected to generate a surplus of more than $100 million in the current fiscal year – finally pushing the state into the black.

While the number might seem surprising after years of major budget problems, the surplus is attributable to the tax increases that started on July 1 – as well as the state income tax hikes that are retroactive to January 1.

The state’s fiscal health was discussed in detail Tuesday during the annual joint meeting of the legislature’s budget-writing and tax-writing committees in a session that is mandated each year under state law.

“We’re looking at surpluses over the next five years,” said Alan Calandro, the director of the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.

But Calandro said he wasn’t exactly sure what will happen for the rest of the year because the numbers depend heavily on the ups and downs of the stock market, which severely impact the incomes of millionaires and billionaires in Fairfield County. In the annual compilation by Forbes magazine, the number of billionaires in Greenwich has been growing as some hedge funds have outperformed the overall stock market.

“It’s early. The numbers have been fairly static,” Calandro told a joint legislative committee. “The biggest factor is the estimated and final payments that we don’t know about until April.”

The state income tax is the biggest revenue generator by far at $8.5 billion – a stunning number when compared to the numbers of the past. When the state income tax was approved in 1991, for example, the overall state budget was about $7 billion. Now, $8.5 billion of the $20 billion annual budget will be paid through the state income tax as the rates have increased for the state’s wealthiest residents under the new law passed by a proposal by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic-controlled legislature.

Calandro noted that the state income tax is highly volatile – on the high side in the good times and on the low side in the sluggish times.

“We’re always off by a large margin, and the challenge is to find out how we can get closer to projecting that,” he said. “There’s a large piece of volatility coming down the road, and that’s April 15. We’re projecting $100 million [in surplus] now, but that could be different when April rolls around.”

He added, “When we do go into deficit, many times it’s a very large deficit.”

And even though the money is now coming in, the state has spent every penny of the “rainy day fund” for fiscal emergencies and has no cushion in that category.

The state sales tax is the second highest revenue generator at a projected $3.78 billion for the current fiscal year.

Many of the other largest categories are relatively tiny when compared to the income tax. The corporate profits tax will generate a projected $707 million in the current fiscal year, while the cigarette tax will generate $444 million.

While the two Indian casinos in southeastern Connecticut are major centers of employment, the amount that the state receives directly as a percentage of slot machine revenues will be $375 million in the current fiscal year. That is a decrease from the peak for the casinos several years ago – before the national and regional recessions hit the area.

Another factor in the state budget this year and in the future is that 96 percent of state employees decided to join the state’s health plan’s “wellness” program in order to avoid the $1,200 in annual penalties if they did not sign up. The state had projected that 50 percent would sign up – a projection that was far off.

Malloy’s budget director, Ben Barnes, says Connecticut is in a far stronger position than New York State.

“We are in much better shape than many states,” Barnes told legislators. “We did what we had to do. … We did it while preserving the safety net. I’m not going to say it didn’t take a few nicks. … We did not do this on the backs of local governments.”

He added, “We are operating within the constraints of a very challenging budget. … We have solved this short-term problem. … However, we have significant, long-term liabilities.”

Those include large pension payments and health care coverage for state employees who have retired.

Political Update: New Britain Special Election

Administrator — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:10:00 +0000

Newly elected Mayor of New Britain, Tim O’Brien, has resigned his seat in the 24^th Assembly District in the General Assembly. A special election date has not yet been announced. The Governor must issue a writ of Special Election by November 25^th, at which time, the special election must be held within 46 days of the issuance of the writ. It is expected that the election will take place in early January. Pete Steele announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination. He is the current chairman of the New Britain housing authority, and is formerly on the parks and recreation commission, and is on the board of the Human Resources Agency. The Republican convention will be held on November 22nd at 7pm.

Thus far, there are at least three individuals who are seeking the Democratic nomination:

Rick Lopes, an employee for the Department of Administrative Services, former New Britain alderman, and former aide to former State Senator Don DeFronzo.
Michal Trueworthy, New Britain councilor.
Sharon Beloin-Saavedra, president of the New Britain Board of Education.

Primary elections will not be permitted, but any candidate who does not receive the party nomination may qualify to run as a petitioning candidate.

Special Legislative Session on Jobs tomorrow

Administrator — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:24:27 +0000

The General Assembly will convene a special session tomorrow starting at 11:00am. The special session was called by Governor Malloy to focus on job creation. For several weeks, the Governor and legislative leaders have been working together in the hope of creating a comprehensive, bipartisan Jobs bill. The Governor, along with Democratic and Republican leadership are meeting at 6:00pm tonight in the hope of finalizing the jobs legislation.

In addition, legislation creating a $1.1 billion research center for Jackson Laboratories on the campus of the University of Connecticut Health Center will be debated tomorrow.

Here is a link to the power point presentation which was released by the Governor’s office and highlights several initiatives the Governor proposed for tomorrow’s legislative session. We will continue to keep you updated.

Hearings on Jackson Labratory and Jobs Session

Administrator — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:01:22 +0000

This Thursday, there will be a series of hearings at the Legislative Office Building regarding the proposed Jackson Laboratory project at the University of Connecticut Health Center and the upcoming legislative session on jobs. The schedule for the day is as follows:

• The Finance, Revenue and Bonding committee will convene an informational hearing on the Jackson Lab project from 10:30am to noon
• The Commerce Committee will convene a hearing on details for the upcoming jobs session from 12:30pm to 2:30pm
• The public will have an opportunity to speak on the Lab Project and Jobs session in front of the Commerce and Finance committees from 2:30pm to 5:30pm

The list of speakers for the two informational hearings has not been released yet. It is expected that a list of speakers should be released by the end of the day.

Call of the October 26th Special Session on Jobs

Administrator — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:48:57 +0000

The Governor has called the legislature into session to act on legislation related to jobs. It calls the General Assembly in on October 26th at 11:00am to “enact legislation to improve job creation, promote economic growth, create a better business climate, develop a sustainable and competitive workforce, and ensure that Connecticut becomes an international center . . . → Read More: Call of the October 26th Special Session on Jobs