This story is part of CT Mirror Explains, an ongoing effort to distill our wide-ranging reporting into a "what you need to know" format and provide practical information to our readers.

Connecticut’s General Assembly will convene in special session Wednesday, once again taking a broad view of what constitutes an emergency necessitating action prior to the next regular annual session, which opens Feb. 4.

Based on frequency, there is little special about special sessions. Legislators have returned to Hartford for special sessions at least once in 41 of the 54 years since 1971, when the General Assembly began meeting annually.

The Connecticut Constitution dictates that the legislature, a part-time body whose members typically hold outside jobs, meets in regular session for five months in odd-numbered years and three months in even-numbered years. It imposes no limits on special sessions.

Who decides to call a special session?

The legislature can call itself into session, but typically it is initiated by a governor. He issues “a call,” a proclamation outlining what subjects are to be addressed.

How are the legislators called back?

This used to be cumbersome, requiring a notice delivered to lawmakers by certified mail as much as 15 days in advance, or served in person by a state marshal, police officer or other “indifferent person” at least 24 hours prior to a session convening. Gov. William A. O’Neill once had state troopers hand them a summons to return as they left on the last night of a session without passing a budget.

So there will be cops running around the state over the weekend ordering them back?

Nah, it’s done by email now. The legislature passed a law in 2016 allowing the electronic transmittal of the call. It has to be sent at least 72 hours ahead of the session.

So, the legislators only can act on the subjects outlined by the governor in the call? 

Not exactly. The legislature always has the option of calling its own special session to address other subjects. Legislators literally can be in more than one special session at the same time. 

Sounds confusing. How does that work?

The best way to envision simultaneous special sessions is to picture a computer with several screens open. Just like you toggle back and forth on your computer, the legislature can do that with different special sessions.

How long do special sessions last?

Most are brief, a day or two. There are notable exceptions.

Like when?

The mother of all special sessions was in 1991, the year the income tax was adopted, repealed and took effect after the repeal bill was vetoed, all in a special session that ran through Sept. 19.

And then they went home?

Briefly. Once repeal failed, they moved onto what they called “repair.” They struggled through Thanksgiving, finally calling it quits for the year on Dec. 18.

During a regular session, the legislature takes months to draft bills and submit them to a committee review and public hearing. How do they all that in a special session that lasts a day or two?

They don’t. As we saw Friday, when the governor and lawmakers released a housing bill that will be debated Wednesday in the House, the legislation generally is written before the lawmakers return.

Do they ever do that in special session?

Sometimes. If the House speaker and Senate president pro tem agree, any bill can be “emergency certified” and presented for a floor vote without a hearing or committee review.

Are they barred from holding a public hearing in special session?

No, the legislature writes the rules. 

Aside from the income tax, what are some of the more notable things done in special session?

Connecticut’s groundbreaking system of publicly financing campaigns occurred in a special session called by Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2005. The bill passed in September after a summer of negotiation.

Recreational cannabis was legalized in a special session in a bill that won final passage in the Senate on June 17, 2021. The regular session had ended June 9 with passage by the Senate, but not action by the House.

The Senate passed the bill again in the special, only to see it revised in the House. The Senate passed the final version.

Do legislators get paid extra for special sessions?

No.