Top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are fed up with talking about the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).
“We're here to comment once again on an issue that has really clouded over the Capitol this entire session, unfortunately, for all of us and all of our constituents,” Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) said on Thursday morning.
“I don't ever want to talk about PURA again,” House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) told reporters shortly after. “I don't want them up here lobbying the legislators and talking to legislators. Go do your job, leave us alone.”
The authority has been a hot topic this year because of Connecticut’s high electricity rates. Lawmakers have been at odds over how to lower them, and the makeup of PURA has been at the center of those discussions.
Earlier this year, Governor Ned Lamont (D) endorsed a plan to make PURA a quasi-public agency. Doing so would allow him to appoint Senator John Fonfara (D-Hartford) to PURA’s board, which he had agreed to do in exchange for Fonfara’s vote to reconfirm PURA Chair Marissa Gillett.
Making PURA a quasi-public agency would circumvent the current restriction on sitting lawmakers taking a job in another branch of government.
Harding on Thursday renewed calls that the deal is corrupt, calling for an investigation into the situation from the not-yet-named U.S. district attorney.
“It's everything that is bad about state government,” Harding said. “It's all the issues that people across all political spectrums have with trust in government when they hear things like this.”
On Wednesday, the Connecticut Mirror reported that the plan was off the table because Senate President pro tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) believed it to be too legally complex to deal with before the session ends next month. Anonymous Democratic Senators also told the Mirror that Looney faced an “insurrection” if he pushed the legislation.
In a statement to WSHU, Lamont’s communications director, Rob Blanchard, dismissed Harding’s statements as political theatrics.
“This is more of the same politics and theatrics from Senate Republicans, who can’t even agree with House Republicans on a budget or ways to cut utility rates,” Blanchard said. “Perhaps if they put as much effort into proposing actual legislative ideas as they do visual displays and poster boards, they might be a part of the discussion and progress we continue to make as a state.”
In the meantime, Ritter and Harding said they’re focused on passing a bill addressing electric rates this session.
“I expect we’ll have a really good bill,” Ritter said.
There’s no shortage of legislation on the table; both Republican and Democratic legislators have introduced bills about the issue.
