Is it an 'emergency?' Accusations fly at CT Capitol over fast-tracked votes
Democrats and Republicans are pointing fingers at each other over a massive package of "emergency" legislation making changes to schools, Amazon warehouses, recycling and voting.
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Accusations are flying between Democrats and Republicans in Hartford, as Connecticut lawmakers take a final vote on a massive package of “emergency-certified” legislation that bypassed the usual public hearing process.
The 139 pages of bills impact everything from school shooter drills to recycled soda cans and Amazon workers.
Republicans called the vote a power grab by Democrats, who hold super-majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. But Democrats insisted they had no choice because some GOP lawmakers held important bills hostage with threats of a day-long filibuster.
“I was told that they said this would be 19 hours,” said Connecticut House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford). “I go, 'Nineteen hours for a bill that passed 151-to-nothing?' That’s an abuse.”
Republican leaders said that this was no excuse for eliminating the usual vetting process, which often results in changes to proposals based on public input.
“Certainly it was frustrating, but this process is frustrating all of the time,” House GOP leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford) told reporters on Thursday. “It doesn’t mean that we should then be creating an e-cert and passing those bills.”
