2026: It's Gonna Be a Long Short Session

The legislative session is off to the races, race being the optimal word as we’re in a “short session” this year. Short sessions occur every other year after the year a budget is passed.  During these sessions, passing any kind of legislation that requires any additional money is pretty rare, so a lot of times the legislation passed during “short session” years winds up tying up loose ends of bills that just couldn’t make their way to the finish line the previous year.  This makes it a little hard to be planful or reactive, especially when rapid-fire chaos is happening from the oval office. 

Still the most significant thing to happen so far this legislative year was the passage of SB-83, which I highlighted in last week’s newsletter.  This adds a bunch of additional funds towards projects that may be impacted by the federal government and in particular the Big Beautiful Bill’s attacks on liberal states like Connecticut. The rest of the week has been largely assigning bill numbers and forming coalitions to see what is going to gain traction during this madcap race. 

Criticism of what has been prioritized in bills like SB-83 is fair game, and certainly there’s bound to be disagreement there. What’s not fair is CT House Republicans, including our own Rep. David Yaccarino, releasing statements denouncing the Dems for not extending the federal policy of “No taxes on tips and overtime” (perhaps one of the only non-risible aspects of the Big Beautiful Bill).  This highlights a common bunk tactic of CT GOP attacks that voters should be aware of.  The implication is there was some kind of common sense bill that might have helped working class voters that CT Dems chose to vote down.  The truth is far different.  Remember SB-83, which I just mentioned?  Well, Republicans proposed an amendment to that bill which basically replaced the entire bill with a different set of priorities that they liked better.  That’s what got voted down.  The substitute bill pretending to be an amendment which completely changed the entire language and priorities and intention of the bill they were seeking to “amend”.  

Similar tactics could be afoot in Rep Yaccarino’s proposed bill aimed at changing the Education Cost Sharing formula.  I should point out that this bill is actually a really good start, and it also proposes a new foundation limit to disperse to towns that is higher than the one currently being proposed by CT Dems.   But whereas SB-7, the Dems bill, has over 20 co-sponsors, Rep. Yaccarino’s bill was released by himself, in collaboration with no one.  I would hope he is sincere in this proposal and not just creating a scenario where he can excuse himself from accountability from those in his constituency (including yours truly) who’ve criticized his office for not fighting harder for more state dollars to return back to North Haven’s schools, but we’ve also seen this kind of thing before.   

Proposing a bill you know will not pass rather than actually working across the aisle is a common tactic.  Sen. Cicarella did the same thing last year, proposing not one, not two, but three bills on ECS and Education cost-sharing so he could put it in his literature that he was “fighting for education”.   None of these bills even got to a public hearing.   This is not fighting for education dollars.  It’s theatrics, all orchestrated to fulfill the familiar goal of painting the ruling party as irresponsible spend-happy elites who are taking tax money that should going towards funding schools or giving you a tax break and instead giving it to layabouts cashing free checks from the public benefits charge or illegal immigrants living on the dole.   It’s a tired (and patently false) narrative for sure, but an appealing one in a wealthy state where working families too often get the short end of the stick.

Committee assignments often will tell you where a legislator’s priorities will lie for the year.   Our legislators tend to gravitate towards more administrative committees, which are not as sexy as things like Labor or Housing, but still very important.  This year, Rep. Yaccarino is a ranking member of the Executive and Legislative Nominations committee and is a member of the Energy & Technology, Finance Revenue & Bonding, and General Law committees.  Sen. Cicarella is a ranking member of General Law and Public Safety and Security, and a member of the Judiciary, Veterans and Military Affairs, and Government Oversight (dude, I know) committees.   We’ll be keeping a close on what they’re up to as the year progresses.