The 2010 Legislative Session is switching into its next gear as committee public hearings wrap up and committee Joint Favorable (JF) deadlines become the next obstacle. This week marked the JF deadlines for a handful of committees but the more labor intensive committees won't see their deadlines until next week - at least. So far, the committees that have passed their JF deadlines include; Aging, Banks, Childrens, General Law, Higher Education, Housing, Insurance, Labor, Public Safety, Transportation, and Veterans. Committees which will complete their deadlines next week consist of; Commerce, Education, Energy & Technology, Environment, Government Administrations Elections, Human Services, Planning & Development, and Public Health.

The three largest committees, Judiciary, Appropriations and Finance, won't reach their deadlines until the beginning of April. These three committees contain the largest numbers of serving members and their bills tend to be more analytical and controversial, causing longer review and much longer debates.

By law, all legislative committees must report out their bills or resolutions for further consideration by other committees or the full General Assembly, otherwise they die. Committee chairs work diligently with other committee members to vote out appropriate bills in which they believe should continue on. When committees JF a bill, it's processed through the Legislative Commissioners Office, which will analyze the bills constitutionally. The bill is then transferred to the Office of Legislative Research, where a legislative summary is drafted about the bills intention. The bill is also reviewed by the Legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis, which looks to see if the bill creates any fiscal impact to municipalities or the State of Connecticut.

When the reviews are complete, the bills are given a House or Senate calendar number and then they are ready for action on either the floor of the House or Senate. At this point the House or Senate will either take action on the bill or refer it to another committee of cognizance, which brings us to yet another deadline that needs to be met.

The long session nights soon approach us, as the House and Senate calendars begin to fill up with bills ready for action. It is almost time to switch our gears into the final push as we soon enter the final month of the 2010 Legislative Session.

With the statewide elections heating up, a new Quinnipiac University Poll was released Thursday which displays some interesting polling numbers from voters. Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,451 registered voters from March 9-15 and according to the poll, many of Connecticut's voters remain "undecided" in the Democratic and Republican primary race for Governor and Attorney General.

Among the Democrats for Governor, businessman Ned Lamont leads 28 percent to Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy's 18 percent. Besides Lamont and Malloy, no other candidate tops 4 percent. On the Republican side, former Ireland Ambassador Tom Foley leads with 30 percent for the primary, but 50 percent of voters still remain undecided. And again, no other candidate besides Foley tops 4 percent.

In the Attorney General race, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz leads the Democratic primary with 54 percent, followed by former State Sen. George Jepsen at 10 percent, but 31 percent of voters still remain undecided. State Sen. Andrew Roraback leads the republican primary with 13 percent, but 66 percent of voters are undecided and no other candidate is currently polling above 9 percent.

Additionally in election news, Avon attorney Martha Dean kicked off her bid for the Republican nomination for attorney general on Tuesday. Dean was the GOP's nominee in 2002, when she waged an unsuccessful race against Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

This Sunday on "Face the State", Susan Raff fills in for Dennis House and talks to Q-Poll Director Doug Schwartz about the latest numbers. Raff also has state Rep. Tony Guerrera and state Sen. Michael McLachlan on to discuss seat belts on school buses. "Face the State" broadcasts this Sunday at 11:00PM on WFSB News Channel 3. Check it out!

Surprisingly, the topic of Connecticut's state budget is not the highlight of the current legislative session. But ideas to find revenue sources and cost saving measures continue to float around the Legislative Office Building. Many legislators around the building are emphasizing that the state needs to do more with less, but with this mantra, there are always others that are trying to find ways to get more so they can do more, or at least keep what is in place.

The Government Administration and Elections Committee held a public hearing Wednesday to hear a couple bills which would either eliminate or consolidate state agencies. Both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, are open to hear ideas about cost saving measures within state government, but the plans must result in actual savings, if to be considered and successfully weave their way through the process.

On one side of the aisle, the Republicans, are pushing for consolidation of state agencies and the elimination of some legislative commissions. Over the past couple sessions, Governor Rell has advocated for a consolidation of a number of small commissions, but there has never been a vote in either the House or Senate. But the bill is once again present this year and with significantly more interest.

Governor Rell's proposal would eliminate six state commissions: the Commission on Children, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Aging, the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, the African- American Affairs Commission and the Asian American Affairs Commission. It also would place the currently independent Board of Firearms Permit Examiners under the Department of Public Safety. The governor estimates that the changes would save $1.7 million.

The Democrats on the other hand have recommended their own proposal which would make government more efficient by considering the merger of some agencies. Democrats have said that they do agree that some sort of streamlining but they are considering all options at this point.

The Democrat's bill would establish a steering committee which would be charged with recommending a plan for the merger of the Departments of Public Health, Developmental Services, Children and Families, Mental Health and Addiction Services, and Social Services into the Department of Human Services. If this bill were to pass and a steering committee were to be created, most likely no mergers would take place this legislative session. The steering committee would take months to formulate a plan to merger the agencies. The bill, however, specifies that the plan should not result in state employee layoffs and should not affect existing programs.