Hetherington: Budget Issues Left Untouched in Session with Fiscal Focus

The 2010 regular session of the legislature is over. It ended on June 21 when the General Assembly reconvened to consider overriding several of the governor's vetoes. The legislature also met in special session on the same day to pass a number of bills that had been lost in the rush of adjournment.

Under the Connecticut's constitution, the regular session held during even-numbered years (like 2010) can consider only bills on fiscal matters and bills raised by committee. Individual legislators cannot propose other legislation. The most they can do is request a committee of cognizance to raise a bill on a particular subject. So if one of us claims ownership of particular legislation passed in an even year, it should sound odd and raise serious questions of credibility.

For example, in the special session on the 21^st, we passed a military ballots bill to make voting easier for military personnel and citizens abroad, in conformity with federal law. HB 5442 was proposed by the Committee on Government Administration and Elections at request of Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, a long-time friend of veterans, who also testified for the proposal. The House passed it unanimously in the regular session, with over 40 members signing-on as co-sponsors.

On another subject, we voted in special session to extend for one year the existing conveyance tax on real property, but excepting properties in short sales and foreclosures. Municipalities were looking for this help with their stressed budgets.

Speaking of land transfers, the annual state conveyance bill was also passed, conveying certain surplus state properties to towns and cities to use for public purposes.

There were, in addition, several generally technical and conforming bills to address omissions and inconsistencies.

These were all rolled together in one big bill that was quickly passed. The majority was obviously in no mood for heavy lifting.

The legislature easily voted to override the governor's veto of a half dozen bills that had passed both houses with unanimous or near-unanimous support.

One of these is intended to help ex-offenders enter the job market by limiting a criminal background check until an applicant has been deemed otherwise qualified. The law applies just to the state and does not affect private employers.

Another override establishes a 23-member Connecticut Sentencing Commission to review our existing criminal sentencing structure and procedure, and propose changes where needed.  

Finally surviving the governor's veto was a transportation bill with a provision that will impact parking for the train in Stamford. The governor's plan was to build a separate and new parking garage in Stamford. The legislature, in this bill, chose instead to rebuild the deteriorating garage that now exists.

Our budget difficulties remain essentially untouched.

There are even claims now of a "surplus" for 2011 based on funds from the rainy day and borrowing. This is the equivalent of getting a new credit card, cashing out the limit, and then claiming to have extra money. The fact remains that we papered-over a deficit of more than $1 billion for 2010-2011 and we can expect a $3-4 billion deficit for 2012-2013.

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Representative John W. Hetherington serves Connecticut's 125th House District, including most of New Canaan and the western portion of Wilton. He can be reached at 800-842-1423 within Connecticut, or 860-240-8700 outside the state.