Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed his first bill of the 2012 session, a measure similar to a bill he vetoed last year over objections it would have limited the independence of charter revision commissions.
"I continue to disapprove of this concept, because it unnecessarily restricts the independence and authority of charter review commissions," Malloy wrote in his veto message.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and 137-5 in the House.
One-year-olds and 18-year-olds are still wrongly losing Medicaid coverage because of administrative glitches and confusing notices, despite pledges from Department of Social Services officials to address the issues, according to the researchers who identified the problems.
The problem -- blamed in part on staff lost to retirements and antiquated technology -- is one of a slew of issues DSS is coping with, including facing potential federal sanctions over the state's food stamp program.
Read moreAfter a spring marked by declining revenue projections and a handful of questionable cost-cutting moves, legislators from both parties conceded Thursday that the state's fiscal outlook emerged from the session as murky as when it entered.
"I worry about the state's finances all the time," the governor told reporters one day after the session closed. But, "I think financially we're still in a pretty good place."
Read moreConnecticut residents could be shopping for beer and liquor on Sundays as soon as May 20, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday morning.
Malloy made his remarks at the first of three post-session press conferences scheduled Thursday by him, House and Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats. Only House Democrats have no conference, a first in recent years.
Read moreGov. Dannel P. Malloy closed the annual session of the General Assembly early Thursday with a speech that attempted to reset the mood and message of an administration that struggled keep the breakneck pace of its first year.
With a 10-minute, 30-second speech delivered minutes after midnight, Malloy showed uncharacteristic touches of humility, even as he boasted of great progress since taking office 16 months ago in a state with a stagnant economy, an aging population and, in his view, a dour outlook.
The day after the annual legislative session ends is typically a time for all sides to declare victory, lament defeat, or spin one into the other. Below, our list of winners and losers from the 2012 session.
Not everything that didn’t get done is dead; legislators are expected to return for a special session in the coming weeks to vote on budget implementation bills that could incorporate proposals that didn’t get through in the regular session.
Key measures needed to implement the next state budget and an overdue fix to a debt-riddled anti-pollution program were earmarked for a special session Wednesday even as lawmakers scrambled to pass more bills before the midnight adjournment deadline.
A huge energy bill with a number of critical components for running key state programs is another major casualty in this session, despite non-stop efforts over the last several days in particular to craft language acceptable to those who could assure its passage.
On a closing day marked by partisan friction, the House of Representatives found a rare moment of harmony Wednesday evening, unanimously passing a bill imposing penalties on Connecticut's utilities for poor performance in restoring blackouts.
But other bills, including priorities of House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, and Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, were destined to die at midnight, the constitutional adjournment deadline of the 2012 session.
On the final night, every legislator is a king or queen, able to kill legislation by threat of delay.
Read moreOn the last day of the session, when time is the legislature's most precious commodity, the Connecticut Senate lavished a long farewell Wednesday on 86-year-old Sen. Edith G. Prague, an indomitable political voice in Hartford. Over 30 years, she has impressed, influenced and exasperated.
Read moreBill Cosby never met state Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, until Wednesday. But after hearing her passion for mentoring urban youth, the actor, comic and activist had his own unique way of complimenting her: With a smile, he vowed to commit voter fraud on her behalf.
"I'm going to illegally cross the line in Connecticut and vote," said Cosby, who lives in Massachusetts. "There are some people in this room who are ready to get things straight."
In what one lawmaker terms 'revolutionary,' the legislature has approved an environmental bill that represents a sea-change in how the state and shoreline communities can manage the shoreline in a changing environment.
The bill responds to the ravages of Irene and acknowledges the need to consider rising sea levels generated by global climate change.
Read moreThe Connecticut Senate gave final approval early Wednesday to what the national advocacy group Common Cause said would be the strongest campaign-finance disclosure law in the United States.
But the general counsel for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the bill is plagued by practical and constitutional flaws, an assessment that appears to raise the possibility of a veto by the governor.
As the Senate voted 22-13 to give final approval late Tuesday to a revised $20.5 billion budget for next year, both parties saw state finances on the cusp of a major change.
There was no agreement on the nature of that change: Democrats see the budget closing small deficits and preserving vital services until a recovery, while Republicans predict that gimmicks in the plan mean another looming budget crisis.
Read moreGov. Dannel P. Malloy took to the radio airwaves in New York Tuesday to celebrate the changes to the education system and teacher tenure he has won in the education bill making its way through the Connecticut legislature.
"We were stuck in the mud [on real reform]. That all ends," the Democratic governor told WCBS, a New York City radio station, this afternoon. "We are going to hold people accountable for driving achievement."
The House of Representatives voted early Tuesday to approve a revised $20.5 billion budget for the next fiscal year that preserves most of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's initiatives for education and nonprofit social services while closing a $200 million-plus shortfall in current finances.
After five months of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insisting that a souring fiscal outlook wouldn't derail one of his biggest campaign promises, the oft-pledged conversion to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles officially landed on the political back-burner early Tuesday.
Both the governor's budget director and the House chairwoman of the legislature's budget-writing panel conceded that the first payment tied to the GAAP conversion was sacrificed to help solve the current budget deficit.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders used a mix of programmatic cuts, borrowing and a raid on transportation and other special funds to preserve nearly three-fourths of the governor's proposed education spending.
Residents will be able to register to vote and cast a ballot on Election Day starting next year under a measure given final approval Saturday by the state Senate.
The Democratic-controlled chamber voted 19-16, largely along party lines, to approve the measure, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he will sign.
The Senate voted unanimously Saturday to adopt and send to the House a bill imposing penalties on Connecticut's utilities for poor performance, a reaction to extended blackouts after storms last August and October. Lawmakers did not mandate the most expensive solution to minimizing power outages: the burying of overhead utility lines.
Read more"He brings experience. He's been elected."
Mike Clark on endorsing State Sen. Andrew Roraback for the Republican nomination for the 5th Congressional District race.
Get the latest headlines right to your mobile
Visit m.ctmirror.org on your mobile device
FOLLOW US ON: 
PROUD SPONSOR
MINIMUM WAGE IN CONNECTICUT
January 1, 1980 $3.12
January 1, 1981 $3.37
October 1, 1987 $3.75
October 1, 1988 $4.25
April 1, 1991 $4.27
October 1, 1996 $4.77
Septem 1, 1997 $5.18
January 1, 1999 $5.65
January 1, 2000 $6.15
January 1, 2001 $6.40
January 1, 2002 $6.70
January 1, 2003 $6.90
January 1, 2004 $7.10
January 1, 2006 $7.40
January 1, 2007 $7.65
January 1, 2009 $8.00
January 1, 2010 $8.25
PROUD SPONSOR
