Even after a budget battle with the Democrats and taking some heat on increasing the states income tax from not only her own party, but also a good number of the independent voters, Governor Rell is standing tall with the people of Connecticut according to the newest Quinnipiac University Poll. Overall, 69% of CT voters approve of the job Rell is doing. That number is down from 72% approval back in February, but is still remarkable as one of the highest approval ratings for any Governor in the country. "It's the longest political honeymoon I've ever seen," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz.

Interestingly, the drop in approval ratings came more from Republicans than Democrats. Sixty-seven percent of Democrats approve of the job the Governor is doing, only a 1% drop from February. However, the Republican approval rating fell 7%, although to a still high 71%. Schwartz attributed the Republican drop to conservative Republicans that were unhappy with the Governor's income tax proposal.

The legislature's approval is 45%, a slight dip from 47% back in February. As might be expected with a Democratic majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, 55% of Democratic voters approve of the way the state legislature is handling its job compared to only 41% of Republicans.

Voters also weighed in on the budget plans put out by the Govenor, the Democrats, and the Republicans, as well as various tax issues. Some of the results could be expected - nobody really likes to pay taxes - but some were a bit more surprising.

Despite the Governor's vast approval rating, she wasn't the winner when it came to favorable budget proposals. Voters preferred Republicans' no tax hike budget plan with 41% of the vote, compared to 33% for the Democrats' proposal to raise income taxes for higher income individuals, and just 16% for Rell's plan to increase the state income tax to pay for education.

Republican leaders hailed this outcome as proof that people understand that the Democrats' tax cuts for "90% of taxpayers" are not legit and that a no tax increase budget is possible. Assistant Senate Minority Leader John McKinney was adamant that more and more people are leaving CT or spending most of the year in another state to get away from the high taxes. "People are voting with their feet," he explained, "CT is one of 2 states losing population." McKinney, Senate Minority Leader DeLuca, and House Minority Leader Cafero all expressed that they believe that this poll would drive debate to control spending and increase the likelihood that a budget will come out without a tax increase. "[Williams will] dismiss this poll at his peril," stated Cafero.

But in yet another spin, while voters prefer a no tax hike package, when examining taxes individually, 50% of voters say they would pay higher income taxes to provide health insurance for more people and 49% said the same for education. Looks like there are some mixed signals being sent out and none of the approval ratings for any of the tax proposals are by any means a mandate. Legislators have 17 days to decide if any of this information is valuable enough to consider and what impact it will have on a two-year spending plan.

The first few days of the legislative session always entails the time honored tradition of adopting rules of the joint rules for the two year session. These rules have been historically accepted and adhered to by both parties - Republicans and Democrats alike. Recently, the 2007 legislative session has proven that just maybe some rules really are meant to be used to turn a defeat into a victory!

Rule #15 has seen quite the workout since the beginning of session. Most members of the General Assembly, as well as the public, don't pay much attention to the long detailed rule of engagement until they need to figure out how to get a particular issue back on track. If you walked around the LOB next week and took a survey on what does Rule #15 say, you might get answers like: Can't steal a base in Fenway Park? or Won't allow the Whalers to return to Hartford? or maybe Oh yeah, that's the one that says UConn men's basketball teams get an automatic berth at this year's NCAA championships!

The truth is Rule #15 really allows the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate to resurrect a bill that failed to be acted upon by a committee. It also allows the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate to certify in writing that if a bill is not yet in file copy, that they can move it onto the floor for debate as long as a copy of the bill with a fiscal note is on the desks of all members prior to taking action. These are big changes on how bills make it through the process. Several bills this session have been resurrected by the application of Rule #15, essentially taking away any leverage of a committee chair or the Republican members of the committee. The power of filibustering during a tight committee deadline all but evaporated!

But not to be out foxed, the opponents of a particular bill still have several options up their sleeves if they really are out to kill a particular bill. They can file enough amendments in the House to chew up valuable debate time and force a bill to be tabled, they can file multiple amendments to hold up the bill from being considered for debate, or they can "stake out" a committee where the unpopular bill has been sent on a referral and kill it there.

With such quick turn around comes confusion and as a result, often attendance at committee meetings is sparse. A well orchestrated effort by opposing members can use attendance to their advantage to catch the supporters off guard. In this situation, it is the number of votes present that matters, not the makeup of the committee, and often the votes are not kept open all day since the committee meets immediately before session begins. But, so far this session, it doesn't seem like the "sneak attack" has been employed.

Because of the potential usage of Rule #15, nothing will be as it seems. Bills that were dead by an intentional lack of action can be brought back to life by seasoned lobbyists and "rule savvy" legislators that understand that knowing the rules is sometimes better than having the votes!

Still ahead for the House and Senate is the big stuff: universal health care, tackling escalating gas prices, curbing electric rates, same sex marriage, the expansion of the bottle bill, and CT's two-year tax and spending plan. With 17 working days left and lots of long hours of negotiating ahead, many in the Capitol are seeing long, long days ahead before this session of the General Assembly will officially be over.

According to the joint rules of the legislature, after a bill is passed by both the House and Senate during session, the Governor has 5 calendar days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, from when a bill is presented to sign or veto the bill. After session has adjourned, the bill becomes a law unless the Governor vetoes the bill within 15 calendar days after presentment. It takes at least 2/3 of the members of each house to override the Governor's veto. The Democrats currently have the numbers to do so in both chambers.

As the House and Senate pass bills, S&L will continue to post the bills that are of interest to our clients that have been signed into law and become public acts (PA) or special acts (SA), or vetoed, by Governor Rell. For a list of bills passed, but not yet acted upon by the Governor, please click the link below.

PA 07-11 (HB 5186) AN ACT CONCERNING THE EVACUATION OF PETS AND SERVICE ANIMALS AND APPROVAL OF THE LOCAL EMERGENCY PLAN OF OPERATIONS

PA 07-18 (SB 229) AN ACT CONCERNING LISTS OF PROVIDERS AND NOTIFICATION OF TERMINATION OR WITHDRAWAL OF PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS

PA 07-21 (SB 1212) AN ACT CONCERNING COVERAGE BY THE CONNECTICUT INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION