As committees’ JF deadlines begin to hit, bills will start dropping like flies. And everyone is taking stock to see whose pet bills will die. Will the business community see its priorities being left on the editing room floor? Or some speculate that perhaps it will be the Governor’s initiatives that get left behind. It won’t be long before we know.

It’s probably an understatement to say that when the Governor presented her budget proposal back in February, many of her proposals were overshadowed by the surprise income tax revelation. But now after a month has passed and the Democratic leadership has delved deeper, they truly believe that indeed the “the devil is in the details.”

Senate President Don Williams was one of the first to point out the perceived flaws in the Governor’s proposals. As Williams put it, “Her [Rell’s] commitment to health care in CT is insufficient and inadequate.” Williams doubted Rell’s Charter Oak plan would reach even a fraction of the uninsured. He instead pushed forward with his own Health CT First plan as a Medicaid-for-all type model.

More legislators followed suit and proposed their own universal healthcare legislation, opening up the playing field. The House Speaker, Jim Amann, supports some form of preventive care, expansion to cover all CT’s children, and development of state purchasing pools. House Majority Leader Chris Donovan is one of the loudest advocates for a single payer system. Many believe it’s because if labor can take the healthcare factor off the table for union negotiations, then they can bargain for increased raises and improved work place rules.

Never the quitter, the Governor is now pushing back to reassert her position and commitment to healthcare. On Wednesday, Rell issued a press release suggesting that it is, in fact, the legislature that has not taken proper action on this issue. She urged the legislature to get behind the Charter Oak Health Plan and “get it done now”.

Similar tugs of war are occurring over energy and education as well. Each time the Governor submits testimony or presents her take on an issue, the Democrats are out spinning their proposals. And it’s not about to end. It’s been difficult for the Secretary of OPM to gain legislators’ ears since on many occasions he’s been omitted from appearing on the speakers’ list at public hearings. “Invited guests only” informational hearings are now the rule of the day.

So what’s the Governor doing about it? Taking it to the streets - retooling her initiatives, emphasizing that they are the solutions that CT desperately needs, and challenging the legislature to take action will either motivate... or have the complete opposite effect. The next couple weeks of deadlines will give us a good idea of how this strategy pans out.

Just last year, Connecticut became one of the many states looking to court the film industry in an attempt to spur economic development. Connecticut was successful in passing legislation to lure the lucrative industry within our borders and many have benefited as a result. Now in the 2007 legislative session, everyone at the Capitol is looking to have the legislation expanded so they too can take part in what has become a feeding frenzy over the $96 million that production has brought to Connecticut in the past six months.

Speaker Amann lead last year’s charge and is at it again. He’s championing two bills before the Commerce and Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committees to increase the scope of the existing credits to include investments in infrastructure such as qualifying construction projects. Just recently, reports of the industry’s benefits have been cited around the state. This was especially the case in the towns of Stamford and New Haven where small businesses such as dry cleaners have reported over $90,000 in sales in one week!

Uma Thurman and Joaquin Phoenix have filmed here already and Hollywood heavyweights like Robert DeNiro and Bruce Willis are scheduled to follow. Success brings success. Larry Clark, Chairman of Sonalysts Inc. of Waterford said his business has gotten more inquiries recently from the entertainment world than in the past 10 years! And Ron Wexler, Vice President of ESPN Original Entertainment admitted that filming in Canada used to be the cost effective norm, but now “we consider our backyard as an initial option.” ESPN just filmed “The Bronx is Burning”, a mini-series about the 1977 NY Yankees, and Oscar winning film producer, Howard Baldwin, has recently started shooting his film, “The Jackie Robinson Story”, here.

CT is certainly beginning to make a name for itself as the next Hollywood hotspot, but now the attention turns to making sure we don’t fizzle out. The tax credits created a huge incentive for creating an influx of film industry activity here in Connecticut, but these new initiatives will focus on sustaining that growth for the long term through an infrastructure incentive program. If passed, the expansion could greatly benefit every aspect of Connecticut’s economy from the service industries to energy and health care. So if things go as well as legislators hope – lookout Hollywood!