The Connecticut Legislature's two-day special session has come to an end.
Both chambers passed an omnibus bill that was initially supposed to deal with car taxes and school construction bidding, among other last-minute fixes to topics not handled during the regular session.
But less than a week before Governor Ned Lamont called the Legislature into session, it was announced that they would also be voting on whether or not to allow the South Central Regional Water Authority to buy water companies outside of its service area, clearing the way for them to bid on Aquarion, which may be up for sale soon.
The last minute admission drew criticism from some lawmakers.
“We stand here today with essentially an aircraft carrier bill that puts everything we're voting on here today, everything into one bill... on a number of different provisions, none of them, frankly, related to one another,” Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R-Bethlehem) said during the Senate session on Wednesday.
“And what is even more alarming is there's a significant aspect of this particular bill that has never had a public hearing, has never had any level of a discussion.”
Republicans in the Senate tried to separate the water authority legislation from more than a dozen other topics included in the omnibus bill, but were unsuccessful.
Before Thursday’s House session, Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said the measure was expected to be better received in his chamber than it was in the Senate, but that some members of his party were expected to vote no.
“If there's real concerns about this transaction, then we said to them, we would look at subsequent amendments or language to see how it goes," Ritter said. "But on the other side, some might argue that a quasi-public agency running water systems might be better than a private one.”
Multiple lawmakers also complained that the wrong issues were being considered.
“We have actual emergency things going on in our state — we have election integrity issues that I believe ought to be addressed, and should have been addressed before the end of the session," Senator Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott) said. "There's also the matter of the pension issue for our fallen trooper that has, you know, entered the news media in the last several weeks. That's something that I think every member in both parties and the leadership in both parties have expressed a desire to address. But yet, we're not doing that today either.”
Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato (R-Bristol) also expressed disappointment that State Police Trooper Aaron Pelletier’s wife would not be eligible to collect his pension because of state laws.
Policy aside, leaders from both parties seem reluctant to encourage future special sessions.
“Half the people can't come to the special session, so it really stinks because you don't have everybody here,” Ritter said. “Half the people who come are angry because they're here. Half the people don't like the bills that are in the call. Half the people don't like the bills that weren't part of the call. Half the people won't like the food we serve today. Special sessions are awful for legislative leaders.”
“The next time I want to go into a special session, or he (House Majority Leader Jason Rojas) wants to, maybe we'll think twice,” Ritter said.
