Connecticut lawmakers don’t intend to come back for a special session this year to override Governor Ned Lamont’s vetoes.
The governor vetoed five of the 228 bills sent to him in the recent legislative session.
Neither Republican nor Democratic members of the House have shown interest in overriding the governor’s vetoes, said Democratic Speaker Matthew Ritter.
“To override a veto, you need obviously in the House both parties, you need 101 votes. And at this point in time, I have not received a single call or text with disappointment about a bill being vetoed or a call to go into a special session to override it,” Ritter said.
Ritter, who is a Democrat from Hartford, does take issue with Lamont’s veto of a bill that changed the makeup of the state’s Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority by giving Hartford more representation.
The quasi-public agency is tasked with reducing Connecticut’s trash problem and cutting back the out-of-state shipping of waste.
“That was a very intentional decision on our part," Ritter said. “The city of Hartford has housed that facility for decades. So, the fact that it has a majority Hartford-based Board of Directors, that was very intentional.”
Other bills vetoed include one aimed at reducing state costs, and another would have increased state grants to municipalities from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan fund.
There’s also a bill that would have limited the ability of local tax assessors to adjust municipal tax assessments, and one that would have changed the state Siting Council to allow for more local control of projects that might affect the siting of electricity generation facilities and transmission lines.
