Little to report this week.  Normally a 4 day week because of the Monday holiday, but because this was the last weekend before the end of session, the Senate worked late Friday night into Sat A.M and the House came in at noon Saturday and worked all day into the late evening.  Now only 3 days left, but who’s counting.  The 2021 regular session ends at midnight on Wednesday.  If like any normal year, both chambers will probably be working at least 12-14 hour days these last 3 days.  It has been interesting to watch both chambers these last few weeks.  More and more legislators are attending inside the building as the end nears.  However, the Capitol complex is still closed to the public.

Activity this week was 6/1  S.B. #1 passed.  This bill started out in session as a public health bill.  It ended as a bill that declared racism as a public health crisis.  No F.D. related items.

On 6/3, S.B. #261 passed the Senate.

On 6/4, Activity was performed on H.B. #5412, #5420, #6420, #6422 & S.B. #931.

On 6//5 S.B. #261 passed the House & S.B. #660 was passed.

It is hoped to be able to reach an agreement between the Governor and the legislature on a budget document early this week. Each day for the past 2-3weeks it is an on-again off-again announcement of an agreement.

Sports betting has passed, recreational “WEED” has not….. yet.

Without a budget document, at this time, both the Governor’s budget and the current Legislative budget have flat funded (same as last year) the CSFA disability account, both the county and state-wide radio maintenance accounts, and the operating budgets for the Regional Fire Training Schools.  We, as late as today, working with other fire service organizations are still attempting to convince the Legislature to increase these accounts. We continue with the philosophy of “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”. 

I can be reached by email if any questions.

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

All,

It has been said that the days dwindle down to a precious few.  Last week was a 4 day week because of the holiday and the coming week will be a 4 day week also.  When the CGA goes back to work on Tuesday there will only be 9 days left to the regular session, and that is if they work over the last weekend.  They usually do.

Activity this past week which is on my listing are as follows:

Monday 5/24       H.B. #6600 was passed in the House and is on the Senate calendar.

Tuesday 5/25       S.B. #1083 Passed in the House and should be heading to the Governor.

Wednesday 5/26  H.B. #5412 & H.B. #6666 were passed in the House and are on the Senate calendar.

                             S.B. #123 & S.B. #660 were passed in the Senate and are on the House calendar.

Thursday 5/27      H.B. #6646 was passed in the House but does not show on the Senate calendar yet.

Friday  5/28          No sessions on this day.

If any questions you may email to the address on the bottom of the listing.  

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

Down to 2 and a half weeks before adjournment.  Both chambers were in session Tues, Wed, & Thur this past week.  They were busy all days, but some of the bills were “talkers”.  These are bills in which there is a lot of debate and lots of discussion.  Sometimes on days like these, legislators may spend 8-10 hours debating one bill.  

Activity this past week with bills on my list were:

Mon 5/17   H.B. #5653 was passed and sent immediately to the Governor for his signature.

Tues 5/18   H.B. #6420 was passed and sent to the Senate

                   S.B. #1 was passed and sent to the House

                   H.B. #6595 was JF’d out of the Judiciary committee and placed on the House calendar

Thur 5/20   S.B. #141 & S.B. #1083 were passed and sent to the House

                   H.B. #6391 was passed by the House, but it has not shown as being on the Senate calendar yet.

I deleted 7 bills from the listing this week. All had been past their time for a few weeks, but I was waiting to see if they might show up elsewhere.  They were H.B. #5840, #5846, #5852, #6170, S.B. #638, #962 & #1010.  Most were money bills and the money committees are closed to new bills.

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I neglected to mention last week that it appears that S.B. #119 is dead.  It was sent to the Finance committee on 4/28.  If a bill is sent to committee and does not get voted back out within 3 session days or 7?? or 10?? business days, it is considered dead.  Both those times have passed.  The bill was proposed by Sen. Champagne from Vernon, but his district encompasses Ashford, Chaplin, Coventry, Eastford, Ellington, Hampton, Pomfret, Stafford, Tolland, Union, Vernon, Willington & Woodstock.  If anyone from his district reads this and has a rapport with him, you might call him and ask if he can revive the issue.  He may have way to bring it back to life.  This bill would have eliminated fees for volunteer F.D. for criminal history checks. 

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The House is scheduled to be in session Mon, Tues, Wed & Thur next week.  The Senate has not published their schedule at this time.  May be a short week this week as next Monday is Memorial Day.  Long Weekend????

Any questions you can reach me by email.  I’ll try to help   

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

Only 3 and a half weeks until adjournment of the regular 2021 session.  Both chambers met multiple times this past week.  There was still only one day that they were working at the same time.  More legislators are coming into the building, but not into the chambers.  They now have a “button” in their offices in the LOB, and can vote from there.  They are still working under COVID-19 guidelines and the Capitol complex is still closed to the public.

Both chambers did get to move some legislation.  Activity was as follows:

HOUSE

H.B. #5653, H.B. #6302, H.B. #6477 & H.B. #6626 were passed in the House and were sent to the Senate.

It appears that with the changes made by amending H.B. #6626, that the bill is no longer F.D. related.  I will probably be deleting this bill and several others in the next couple weeks.  I usually wait a period of time to see if the abandoned items show up elsewhere.  

H.B. #6595 was referred to the Judiciary committee.

H.B. #6666 was moved from the Appropriations committee onto the House calendar.

SENATE

H.B. #5653 was passed and sent to the Governor for his signature.

S.B. #102, S.B. #121, S.B. #837 & S.B. #983 were passed and sent to the House.

The House is scheduled to be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.  The Senate has not released their schedule.

As always, I am available for any questions.

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

My apologies to all, if you are receiving some of this information twice.  It appears that maybe some may not have received last week’s info until mid-week.  Even though, not too much has occurred since.  No bills have actually passed both chambers.  Bills have moved between committees and from committee to chamber and vice versa.  

Last week activity was as follows:

The Appropriations committee met on Monday and moved several bills out of committee.  They were H.B. #5666, #5722, #6595, #6626, #S.B. #1, #121, #660, #845 & #1002.  All these bills were moved back to their respective chambers.  One bill, S.B. #119 did NOT make it out of committee.  That bill would have exempted volunteer F.D.s and volunteer ambulance companies from the fee for a criminal history records check.  I have notified the advocate for the bill so he may follow up.

The House met in session on Tuesday.  They did not pass any of the bills I have been following, however, they did refer H.B. #6639 & H.B. #6666 to the Appropriations committee.  Before I forget, the Appropriations is meeting as I write and have moved both of these bills back out of committee to the House chamber.  Also, some may note that I have added H.B. #6639 to the listing.  It is possible that this item may be of some interest to Fire Marshals.

Back to last week, the Senate met 2 days, but did not take up any of the bills that I have been following.

I already mentioned some activity of this week.  On Monday, Appropriations is meeting.  The House is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  When the Senate adjourned last Thursday, they told their members to be prepared to be in session on Wednesday, Thursday & possibly Friday.  However, the House has already scheduled Tues, Wed & Thur and they have made a pattern of both chambers not meeting on the same day, because of COVID social distancing.

Again, email with any questions.  Or, if you feel that I have missed something.

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

The Covid 19 pandemic continues to make it’s effect on the 2021 session.  Normally, at this time, most of us are spending almost every week day at the Capitol or LOB.  The Capitol complex continues to remain closed to the public.  This past week the House met on Monday and the Senate met on Tues & Wed.  And they continue to purposely not meet on the same day in any week.  If anyone watches the sessions on CT-N or You Tube you have noted that during a session day, some legislators are in their chambers, some are in their offices in the LOB, and some use a link from their home.

On Monday’s House session, they PASSED H.B. #6422 and that bill is now on the Senate calendar.  They referred H.B. #5666, H.B. #6595, & H.B. #6626 to the Appropriations committee.  They also referred H.B. #5722 to the Finance committee.

On Tuesday’s Senate session, they took up only one bill which was the bill that deals with the religious exemption for immunizations.  They spent 10 hours on that one bill and went home.  On Wednesday’s session, they did not pass anything that was of interest to the F.D.s.  However, they did refer S.B. #1, S.B. #121, S.B. #660, & S.B. #1002 to the Appropriations committee.  They referred S.B. #119 to the Finance committee, and they referred S.B. #845 to the Judiciary committee.

Tomorrow (Monday) all three of these committees will be meeting and all of these bills are on the agendas of each respective committee.  The House is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Thursday of next week,  When the Senate adjourned last week they told their members to expect to meet Wed, Thur, & possibly Fri of the week.  However they are not on the schedule yet.

Email if there are any questions.

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net

The 2021 CGA session continues to move forward albeit slowly.  The Capitol Complex continues to be closed to normal usage.  Meetings are still held via a ZOOM format.  That in itself slows the process.  Per the rules, committee votes that are by a roll call requires that the individual legislators must be seen as well as heard when casting their votes.  The system does not always coordinate both actions which require many repeat responses.

Only the House met in session this past week, and only one item was on their agenda.  That was the religious exemption immunization bill that was 17 hours in length.

Also this past week, 2 bills were JF’d out of committee.  H.B. #6439 is the budget bill and S.B. #887 is the Bonding bill.  Within H.B. #6439, the Regional Fire Schools (RFS) Operating budgets, State & County radio maintenance funds, the CSFA disability fund and the Firefighters Fund (cancer) items were flat funded the same as last year.  H.B. #5666, the training funding for distressed municipalities was funded to the $70,000.00 level in the budget bill.  S.B. #887, the bonding bill, did not provide for any new monies for the Capital Improvement Project for the RFS.

Next week the House is scheduled to meet on Monday and the Senate is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bills added to their respective calendars this week were H.B. #5653, #6646, #6666 & S.B. #1083.

Ted Schroll, Jr.
Legislative Representative
Email  thschroll@snet.net

Session activity has slowed down now that most committees are closed to new bills.  There were few committee meetings last week except Judiciary, Finance, & Appropriations.  Judicial reached it’s JF day on Friday.  Finance and Appropriations are still meeting but will each reach their JF day by weeks end.  

Many bills that had been JFd out of committee continue to be released from the LCO.  Released this week and placed on their respective calendars are:  H.B. #5420, 5722, 6302, 6386, 6477, & 6484.  Also included are:  S.B. #1, 102, 660, 845, 846, 926, 982, 983, & 1002.

The Senate met in session on Friday for several hours and passed several bills.  None appeared to have any F.D. significance.  The House is scheduled to meet in session on Monday.  They usually do not release their agenda until one hour before session, so we will not know the agenda until Monday A.M.

As usual, you can email me if any questions.

Ted Schroll Jr., Legislative Representative
Connecticut State Firefighters Association
Email  thschroll@snet.net