This week marked a turning point for the state legislature. The powerful Appropriations and Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committees completed their work as the clock struck 5 pm on their deadlines. The Appropriations' last day to act upon legislation either referred to them or on legislation that they crafted themselves, such as the budget, was on Tuesday, April 1. The Finance Committee had until Thursday, April 3 to complete their business, but decided to wrap things up a day earlier so as to not conflict with the previously scheduled House and Senate sessions.

It's not uncommon for both of these committees to leave an abundance of bills to die on the vine as a result of a tight expenditure plan and modest revenue package. These two committees have received several nicknames over the years including the "Bill Hotel" and the "Graveyard", for good reason, as only a small handful of bills actually see the light of day after being blessed with a referral to either one of these committees.

Now the pace will change. Session days will begin to appear on the calendar, more likely several days a week, and committee meetings will be called into action at a moments notice. The meetings become chaotic at best and last only a few minutes just prior to the opening of another session day. What seems to be the biggest hurdle is being sure a member of the Senate is in attendance since the rules are clear that at least one member from each chamber must be in attendance and voting for the meeting to be considered legal.

The House and Senate chambers will begin to refer bills "around the horn" to committees that have cognizance over their content. Depending on the content of a bill, it might visit nearly every committee in the process before its ready for action on the floor. In order for committees to move the bill as fast as possible, a committee meeting might be called during a recess of both chambers so that it can be acted upon within the tight timeframes. Committee meetings take place in the hall outside the House or Senate Chambers.

To complicate matters, it's entirely possible that you can be standing in one place to hear three, four, and sometimes five committee meeting all at once! If a bill is amended on the floor then it could be subjected to an automatic referral. This has at times led a chamber to call a recess so that committee could meet on it, vote on it and then refer it back to the floor so it could be voted on by the whole chamber only moments later.

Time and chaos are the greatest allies for legislators and lobbyist alike at this point. Bills that are acted upon early in the session are many times used as cover for budget negotiations between leaders and the Governor's office. More often than not they have a minimal if any fiscal note so they can be debated and adopted well before the final budget is ready for action. Those bills that find a fiscal note of any amount have to wait patiently until the final budget is approved and be sure to have the costs reflected in the line items in order to be ready for debate and action. If it is the case that a bill needs significant committee referrals, by the time the bill has made it through the loop and back, floor time for debate gets tighter and tighter. If you want the bill to pass, that can be a problem, but if you're looking to kill a bill, it's the perfect spot to find yourself - too little time left for a long, drawn out debate.

Legislators and lobbyists alike need to keep very close tabs on their bills at this point because the pace is fast. The consequences of not keeping a close eye can be dire and irreversible actions can kill your proposal. Now is the time for a strategic approach to lobbying coupled with precision execution. Those who engage in tactical plans just might not see success by May 7.

Though we are smack in the middle of legislative session, let's not forget that we're also in an election year! Below is an update on what's happening on the election front:

House
58th House District (Enfield)
Republican Susan Lavelli-Hozempa is looking to challenge Rep. Kathleen Tallarita (D) for the second election in a row. Lavelli-Hozempa chairs the finance committee on the Board of Education. Lavelli- Hozempa wants to focus on taxes, business regulation, and a three-strike law. Tallarita easily defeated Lavelli-Hozempa in 2006.

60th House District (Windsor, Windsor Locks)
A primary seems to be in the cards for this seat. Adam Gutcheon, a member of the Windsor school board, is raising money to challenge incumbent Rep. Peggy Sayers (D-Windsor Locks). The convention could be a close one. The Journal Inquirer notes that Gutcheon won five of Windsor's convention delegates for the May 20 nominating convention, while Sayers has all six from Windsor Locks.

61st District (Suffield, parts of East Granby and Windsor)
Rep. Ruth Fahrbach (R) is retiring. After years of this district being a Republican safe haven, Fahrbach won her last election with only 51% of the vote. This seat could be a toss-up.

77th District (Bristol)
Bristol Democrat Christopher Wright is challenging first-term Republican State Rep. Ron Burns (R), who won by only 145 votes in 2006. Wright, one of former state Sen. Gardner Wright's children, said he wants to represent the area in Hartford so he can "fight for cleaner air and cleaner water, better schools and better health care for all our citizens so that we can continue the promise made by those who came before us to leave our children a state better, stronger, cleaner and healthier than the one we live in today."

151st District (Part of Greenwich)
Rep. Claudia "Dolly" Powers (R) is also retiring. This seat is in a historically Republican stronghold, although Democrat Ed Krumeich came within 132 votes of Powers in 2006. Alfred Camillo Jr., a former Republican Town Committee chair, is running for the seat.

Senate
7th District (Enfield, East Granby, Granby, Somers, Suffield, Windsor, and Windsor Locks)
Rep. Karen Jarmoc (D-Enfield) has formed an exploratory committee with the State Election Enforcement Commission as she contemplates a possible challenge to Sen. John A. Kissel's 7th district seat this fall. Jarmoc, who is in her first term as a state representative, said, "I'm leaving open the possibility of a Senate race. I see the potential to make a difference on a regional level, to extend beyond Enfield."

8th District (Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Hartland, New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury, parts of Torrington, Granby and Harwinton)
Sen. Thomas Herlihy (R-Simsbury) is retiring as well. This is also a traditional Republican district, but saw another close race in 2006. This seat could be another toss-up.

Moira Kunkel Wertheimer R.N., J.D., recently announced her intention to form an exploratory committee for the 8th District Connecticut State Senate seat. Wertheimer, a Republican, is currently serving her second term as a Simsbury Selectman. "Our residents need a strong voice in Hartford to represent their concerns on a state-wide level. When the Connecticut General Assembly makes decisions affecting our towns, I want to ensure the people in our district are heard," she said.

24th District (Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman and part of Bethel)
Sen. David Cappiello (R) is running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy. His seat has also been safely Republican for some time. Michael McLachlan, Danbury Mayor Boughton's chief of staff, is running for the seat as a Republican.

30th district (Brookfield, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Warren, Washington, Winchester, part of Torrington)
Sen. Andrew Roraback has a challenger. Winchester Selectman Mike Renzullo announced that he has formed an Exploratory Committee to run for the State Senate, 30th District, challenging four-term incumbent Senator Andrew Roraback.

If elected Renzullo would stress renewable energy/energy conservation, expanding redevelopment efforts in the northwest corner, bringing new businesses to CT, and an increased emphasis on stem cell research/establishing new facilities in northwest CT.

Roraback defeated his last Democratic opponent in 2006 by a more than 2-1 margin.

36th District (Greenwich, parts of New Canaan and Stamford)
Sen. William Nickerson (R-Greenwich) is retiring. Bradley Airport head L. Scott Frantz is seeking his seat as a Republican. Frantz is currently chairman of the Connecticut Development Authority, and a co- founder of Haebler Capital Inc. in Cos Cob. This will be his first run for elected office. Former Republican State Representative Janet Lockton, who was considering running for the seat, has stepped aside for Frantz. No Greenwich Democrat has been elected to this House seat since 1912.

We'll keep you in the loop as more challengers announce their election plans!

Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and State Procurement

With all the recent changes in state contracting, it's hard to keep current on whom to do business with Connecticut. Transparency, competitive, and a broad bidder pool are all the catch phrases for DAS and the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) when they talk about the purchase of goods and services.

Anyone interested in contracting with state agencies needs to know the rules these days or could be left out in the cold based on the penalty of inappropriate communication with state agencies. Want to know how to sell to the state? DAS handles all procurement except information technology, which is under the cognizant of DoIT. DAS has an updated website dedicated to answering frequently asked questions about the process such as:

• How do I get on the approved vendor list
• How can my company get on a state contract?
• Do I need to register my company before participating in the bid process?
• How do I find current bids?
• How do I find current contracts and bid results?
• Does DAS offer a bidder notification?

Click on any of the questions above to be directed to the DAS answers on the website. The site includes a search engine to find open bids that may be of interest to your company. You can also have new bids emailed to you as they are released daily.

Certain ethics rules apply to state contractors. Each year, the Office of State Ethics releases a guide for contractors regarding state ethics.

In addition, effective January 2009, PA 07-1 (SB 1600) AN ACT CONCERNING CLEAN CONTRACTING STANDARDS will go into effect. Governor Rell noted that the bill requires state agencies to hold contractors to a higher standard - more specifically, it requires the state to perform a cost-benefit analysis before contracting out state services to private consultants. The bill will also create a clean contracting standards board. The new board will have various responsibilities associated with state contracting processes, including adopting procurement regulations and reviewing, monitoring, and auditing state contracting agencies' procurement processes to ensure compliance with procurement policies. The board may recommend termination of an existing contract for cause.

The bill also requires the board to review all new proposed privatization contracts to ensure that the state saves money without jeopardizing the quality of services - an issue that had been a sticking point in previous versions of the bill.

If you need any assistance with the state procurement process, please contact Paddi at (860) 560-0000.