Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says the state might soon have its own economic stimulus package in response to the coronavirus.
Lamont says he’s almost done negotiating the emergency stimulus package with state legislative leaders. He says he might announce it as soon as Monday.
“And we are going to be able to give you a better idea of what our emergency package looks like later this week. And first thing early next week.”
He says he’d like to supplement any federal help that would come to Connecticut.
“I want to see what the federal government is going to do. But I want to make sure that we are the bridge until the federal support comes through.”
State Senate President Martin Looney says the package includes loans for small businesses through the Connecticut Innovation and the deferment of state student loan payments.
“Also we are looking at deferral of tax payments and other charges for three months. Also in terms of utility payments we want to make sure there won’t be shutoffs for unpaid bills. We also don’t want people accumulating late fees and interest during this time period.”
Looney says legislative leaders are considering ways to get a vote on the legislation while the state Capitol is closed to the public.
“We are looking at whether or not we might be able to amend our rules to allow for remote voting rather than having people be present. Nothing of this has been pinned down yet.”
It would be the first remote vote in the state legislature's history. However, having 187 legislators and their staff at the state Capitol would violate the federal health emergency order.
Read the latest on WSHU’s coronavirus coveragehere.
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