In the past few years, the legislature has passed numerous ethics and elections prohibitions related to lobbyists and state contractors. Now, in the wake of the recent scandal related to personal actions taken by a sitting senator, it seems the legislators are turning the tables on themselves.

Recently, the House Democrats unveiled their ethics package. The package calls for the revision of the state codes of ethics for public officials, creation of legislative sub-committees to handle disciplinary matters related to misconduct of legislators, and establishing standards for municipal ethics.

The House Dems are proposing to ban legislators from working for quasi-public agencies and serving on their boards, and tightening current gift restrictions. They also include giving judges power to revoke or reduce the pensions of state and municipal elected or appointed officials and employees, and quasi public agency directors, members, and employees who are convicted of a crime that "violates the public's trust". Defining that gray area is still up in the air. These pension revocations would be applied back ten years.

By 2010, the goal is also to expand State Code of Ethics to cover municipal officials and employees and municipal quasi-public agency officials and employees. Lobbyists aren't out of the woods yet either. The House Dems originally wanted to establish municipal lobbying requirements and rules and prohibit lobbyists from serving on a municipal, state, and quasi-public boards and commissions.

These new ethics proposals went through the Government Administration and Elections Committee this week. Democrats and Republicans were split on a number of measures including whether the legislature would allow Superior Court judges to revoke the pensions of state officials convicted on committing crimes, including Governor Rowland and a number of other legislators. The committee also voted against prohibiting lobbyists from serving on boards and agencies. GAE Co Chair Gayle Slossberg commented that lobbyists are "good people who do good things and have great knowledge and experience." Three other ethics bills were voted to the floor for further debate. We'll keep you posted as Connecticut moves on Ethics Reform III.

As they say today is "hump" day for the 2008 legislative session. It marks the first day of spring and the exact middle of the short session. It also coincides with the traditional Easter Break and marks the end of a hectic period of public hearing and final reporting days (JF) for many committees.

The first 6 to 7 weeks of session were riddled with more committee meetings and public hearings than hearing rooms could sometimes accommodate. All but three of the committees' JF deadlines have been reached, leaving only the Judiciary Committee, which ends their stretch on this coming Monday, March 24, the Appropriations Committee, finishing on Tuesday, April 1, and then the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee on Thursday, April 3.

The Judiciary Committee has kept to their traditional motto: chaos is the chairmen's best friend. Organized, well managed chaos is a silent weapon that all chairmen have in their quiver in order to take control over a wild ride in the powerful committee. By holding plenty of public hearings, everyone can be heard, and leaving the JF for pure legislative proposals for the last week, a perceived bottleneck works to get people to focus and really decide what's important. It also provides some entertainment while the majority party negotiated with the Governor's office and the minority party to see what issues really matter. Come Tuesday, you can bet there will be plenty of disappointed people.

Crunch time is a good phrase to describe the next two weeks for all - legislators and lobbyists. Everyone and we mean EVERYONE has an interest in the Appropriations and Finance Committee's decisions. From getting your bills on the agenda, making sure it gets up to LCO before the 5PM deadline, and then, most importantly, being sure there's a line item for any spending that's required to implement your initiative or to support your favorite programs. Of course, the opposite side of the coin is did your tax proposal get reflected in the revenue package or if you wanted an increased fee or tax bill killed, did it get "left out"?

Any bill with a fiscal note expending state dollars needs two things: approval of the Apps committee and funding in the two-year budget plan. For those proposals that seek to add new or increased fines, cut taxes, increase taxes, or allocate new state bond dollars, they also need two things: approval by the Finance, Revenue & Bonding committee and a spot in the revenue estimates. The Finance Committee will be holding the last of their public hearings this Monday and then we will see a few meetings pop up to address all the bills that the committee introduced, and then another meeting to JF all those bills that were sent to them. The Appropriations Committee, and especially their sub-committees, met very early this year and it is rumored that we could see the Appropriations Committee voting on a budget as early as this coming Wednesday, March 26. That leaves the next four days to review, select and approve the various proposals that implement the budget.

Passover, which begins on a Saturday, falls after committees have finished and will have an unlikely impact on the schedule of the legislature this year. Much of the hard ball lobbying will be in caucus meetings and between committee chairs and ranking members.

By mid-April, the heat will be on high. Sessions will start to be scheduled on a regular basis, most likely every Wednesday with a Tuesday or Thursday sprinkled in. The Senate and House will be referring bills to their respective meetings of cognizance and bills will be flung around the building like ping pong balls. The big race to the finish is about to begin - Ready - Set - Go!

Last year, Governor Rell appointed former Congressman Rob Simmons to be the first Business Advocate for Connecticut. As a strong voice for small business and eastern Connecticut defense manufacturing, he was perfectly suited to this position after his defeat to current Congressman Joe Courtney (D) a year ago.

The mission of the Business Advocate is to speak for and promote free enterprise in Connecticut. The goal is to build an environment that is friendly to business. Governor M. Jodi Rell has said that she wants the Business Advocate to cut through the "red tape" and navigate the "alphabet soup" of government in an effort to promote business.

The Office of the Business Advocate:

• Is charged with assisting businesses that are experiencing difficulty navigating through state regulations and governmental issues
• Handles complaints from businesses
• Intercedes and facilitates potential resolution of regulatory difficulties with state agencies
• Coordinates efforts for projects involving multiple departments and agencies where regulations are an issue
• Supports companies with business information services
• Charged with offering policy recommendations on streamlining and improving the operation of government to assist in creating a pro-business environment
• Charged with initiating legislative initiatives that encourage growth and relocation of businesses to Connecticut
• Charged with reviewing the regulatory impact of state agency regulations on businesses

Most recently, Simmons joined legislators at a press conference to support a full repeal of the business entity tax in Connecticut. The business entity tax was implemented in 2002 to close a revenue gap in the state budget. One hundred twenty thousand businesses in Connecticut are subject to this $250 annual tax "to exist". Last week, SB 400 An Act Eliminating the Business Entity Tax was voted favorably to the Finance Committee where it is awaiting further action.

For more information on the Office of the Business Advocate, click the link below.