Our trusted Connecticut public policy reporting is always free to read. Get it directly in your inbox every morning.
You'll get newsletter-exclusive insights and commentary so you can be part of the conversation.
Subscribe to CT Mirror's free daily newsletter.
Updated Friday, Jan. 6
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, shook up committee leadership assignments in his second day as speaker Thursday, including the removal of Rep. Jeffrey Berger of Waterbury, his one-time rival for majority leader, as co-chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
While House Republicans made it clear they would highlight Democratic legislators’ cooperation with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy — whose unpopularity is marked in recent polls — the Senate GOP took aim at Connecticut’s fiscal woes.
Attorney General George Jepsen’s office filed an appeal Thursday asking the Connecticut Supreme Court to conclude that a trial judge embarked on “an uncharted and legally unsupported path” last week in asserting authority over how the state distributes education aid and sets standards for graduating from high school, serving special-needs students and evaluating teachers.
As Treasurer Denise Nappier discovered Friday, one of the surest ways to provoke a veto from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this year is with legislation that intrudes on what the Malloy administration sees as the prerogatives of the executive branch. Half of his six vetoes involve protecting executive-branch authority.
It’s a question that draws knowing smiles, solemn nods and the occasional nervous laugh from Republicans: Given the depth of Connecticut’s fiscal crisis, would the GOP actually be better off remaining as the General Assembly’s minority party for at least another two years?
The National Rifle Association has taken aim at a proposed changes to Connecticut’s gun laws that would make it easier for law enforcement officials to ask to see the permits of those carrying guns in public.
After struggling to extract spending cuts from legislators last year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will propose a new state budget that gives departments much greater discretion to decide how their money is spent. Sources familiar with the governor’s 2016-17 budget proposal say it won’t assign agency funding to many specific programs, moving instead toward the block-grant system used for state colleges and universities.
They are a trio with impeccable Republican resumes. One served as executive director of the state GOP. All three did stints as a chief of staff for a Republican caucus at the General Assembly. They now serve Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as legislative liaisons, Republicans in the odd position of being paid to explain, defend and advocate the policies of a Democratic administration.
Like about half of the states in the nation, Connecticut has imposed a cap on the amount of money the state government can spend. But each state has approached the problem of controlling the spending habits of its governors and legislature differently, and Connecticut’s spending cap is unique in a number of ways.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has scheduled a Feb. 24 special election to fill three vacant seats in the General Assembly.
With the departure of five senators, Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, took the opportunity Tuesday to change the leadership of more than a dozen committees, effective next month on the opening day of the 2015 session.
House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, changed the leadership of a half-dozen committees Friday as he named Rep. Jeff Berger of Waterbury as the new co-chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and Rep. William Tong of Stamford to lead the Judiciary Committee.
The state’s Judicial and Legislative branches have ordered nearly $7 million in spending cuts Gov. Dannel P. Malloy requested last month, relying heavily on hiring restrictions to reduce costs. And the state’s watchdog agencies also have agreed to find the 1 percent cuts Malloy asked for to help close a small mid-year deficit.
The winners of Tuesday’s legislative races met Thursday in closed caucuses to elect new leaders in three of the General Assembly’s four caucuses, including Rep. Themis Klarides as the first woman to serve as House Republican leader.
Connecticut Democrats maintained their majority in the state Senate in Tuesday’s elections, winning 21 of 36 seats. The Democrats also retained control of the House, but Republicans gained 10 seats.
