State utility companies UIL Holdings Corp. and Northeast Utilities are loaded for a legislative battle this year, with 39 registered lobbyists, more than any other industry group, for the upcoming General Assembly session where storm preparation and outage response will be key issues.
But the two utility giants aren’t the only companies and organizations that will be well-represented in Hartford during the legislative session starting Feb. 8.
Connecticut’s largest interest groups from energy and health care to education and telecommunications have dozens of lobbyists registered to advocate for their interests, a Hartford Business Journal computer analysis of lobbyist registration data has found.
UIL has the most registered lobbyists with 23, and NU is fourth with 16.
Other groups with the most hired guns include the Connecticut Hospital Association (19), Connecticut Voices for Children (17), Connecticut Fund for the Environment (16), AT&T (16), the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (14) and the Connecticut Education Association (14), according to HBJ’s analysis of data from the Office of State Ethics.
Connecticut’s lobbying industry is big business, with companies and organizations spending north of $36 million a year to ensure that their interests are well represented in Hartford. Even though 2012 is a shortened legislative session, the stakes are still high for many industry groups to shape public policy decisions.
Building up a strong cadre of lobbyists is part of making sure their voices are heard, experts said.
UIL, which acquired three natural gas utilities in 2010, wants to ensure that Connecticut makes proper investments to expand the natural gas infrastructure, company spokesman Michael West said. The utilities giant launched a campaign last year to switch potential customers from fuel oil to natural gas to heat their homes.
But the biggest issue for the energy industry is the legislature’s consideration of possible new standards and penalties for utilities, resulting from major storms in August and October that knocked out power twice to close to 1 million residents. Some customers were without service for more than a week.
Panels and reports examining the state and utility preparation and response to the storms have recommended everything from utility performance standards to infrastructure hardening to increased communication among utilities and government officials.
“What legislation comes out of that, and what proposals come from that is the big question for us,” West said.
NU, which faced the largest criticism for its subsidiary Connecticut Light & Power’s response following the October storm, declined to comment for this story.
With 39 registered lobbyists, NU and UIL will make sure their voices are heard when the issues do arise.
“There are so many moving parts that you don’t know what is going on at this point,” West said.
West said UIL fielded a similar number of lobbyists last year when the big issue was energy policy reform. Of the 23 registered UIL lobbyists, 12 are active full-time in Hartford and the rest are in-house people called to testify on specific issues.
Not all lobbyists registered with companies or organizations work for them on a full-time basis. In fact most don’t. Some lobbyists may be called to work on a single issue or testify for a particular company or organization, and in many cases lobbyists are registered with many different groups.
Some of the registered lobbyists could also be leftover from 2011.
Well-known Capitol lobbyist Jay Malcynsky of Gaffney, Bennett and Associates, for example, is registered to lobby for more than 30 organizations, state ethics records show, ranging from financial services firms to companies in the TV production and energy industries including NU and NBC Universal.
“Lobbying has become a full-time career for an awful large number of people,” Malcynsky said.
Other influence peddlers may not even step foot in the state Capitol.
Administrative lobbyists, for example, spend their time at state agencies to influence the implementation of certain laws and regulations including things like permitting, grants, loans, bonds, licenses or contracts. Of the $37 million spent by organizations to influence Connecticut government in 2011, about 21 percent was allocated to administrative lobbyists, ethics data shows.
In Connecticut, individuals or entities are required to register as a lobbyist with the Office of State Ethics if they spend or receive $2,000 or more in a year on lobbying services.
The $2,000 threshold applies to various activities including expenses for research, reports, polls, media buys, activities fostering good will, or paralegal salaries.
There are also different types of lobbyists. In many cases, organizations will hire outside lobbying firms, or business organizations, to do their bidding. In other scenarios, businesses will have their own in-house communicator, which is a salaried employee who lobbies. NU, for example, has registered 12 outside lobbyists, and four in-house communicators, state ethics records show.
In recent years the state’s lobbying industry has been impacted by the economic downturn. Annual spending on lobbying services in Connecticut topped out at $41.9 million in 2007 but fell as low as $30.5 million in 2010, state ethics data shows.
Those numbers are a bit skewed because organizations spend more on lobbying services in odd-numbered years when the legislature convenes for a longer six month session, said Carol Carson, executive director of the Office of State Ethics.
Even still, 2010 marked the lowest spending levels in more than a decade.
During 2011’s budget battle, when lawmakers sparred over how to tackle a $3.5 billion deficit, lobbyist spending totaled $36.7 million.
Patricia LeShane, chief executive officer of Hartford-based Sullivan & LeShane, a communications firm whose services include lobbying, said some companies have pulled back on lobbying spending in recent years, but when issues arise that could impact their business they typically seek out representation in Hartford.
“It’s a mixed bag in terms of spending,” LeShane said. “When there is a huge amount of interest on particular issues, there is increased activity.”
LeShane said typically clients will sign one- or two year contracts for services, but the firm has long-term relationships with many organizations that bring in repeat business.
Malcynsky, of Gaffney, Bennett, said even though Connecticut has a part-time legislature, lobbying has become a full-time job especially with the number of task forces, special committees and boards that have been created in recent years to tackle major issues on a year-round basis.
Special sessions like the October jobs summit, also increases activity, forcing interest groups to stay informed throughout the year.
With education being the top issue in 2012, it’s no surprise the state’s teachers union is gearing up. The Connecticut Education Association (CEA), which represents about 41,000 K-12 public school teachers, has 14 reregistered lobbyists. Other organizations involved with education, including the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, New Haven Board of Education and Connecticut Collation for Achievement Now, each have six or more lobbyists registered with the state.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has made education a top priority and there will likely be legislation to change teacher tenure, evaluation and dismissal rules as well as changes to the way state education funds are disbursed to school districts, raising the stakes for all of those involved.
CEA spokeswoman Nancy Andrews said many of the organization’s staff are experts on policies such as school finance and teacher professional development, which will be major issues in the upcoming session.
“CEA registered a significant number of staff members because they are collaborating with classroom teachers every day,” Andrews said. “We trust legislators will want to tap the teachers’ view on education reform that CEA staff know well.”
The healthcare industry will also be well represented in Hartford this session. Besides the Connecticut Hospital Association, Cigna Corp., the Community Health Network of Connecticut, Connecticut State Medical Society, Yale New Haven Health System, Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities, and Hospital for Special Care each have seven or more lobbyists registered to do their bidding.
Officials from the health care sector, which is traditionally the most heavily lobbied industry, say the ever changing legal and regulatory environment, as well as the financial pressures felt by many hospitals and doctor’s practices, make having their voice heard as important as ever.
As Connecticut chooses how it will implement some of the sweeping changes mandated by federal health care reform, a lot is at stake for the industry, officials said.
In particular, how Connecticut decides to implement its federally mandated health insurance exchange, which will serve as an online marketplace for individuals and small businesses to obtain insurance coverage, will have a major impact on hospitals, physicians and insurers.
“It’s more important than ever that hospitals have an effective voice today,” said Michele Sharp, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Hospital Association. “The complexities involved with care delivery — including patient access, coverage, technology, practice developments, reimbursement, [and] access to capital… in today’s hospital environment are extreme and increasing daily. Also at this time, hospitals are facing significant financial pressure, which is exacerbated by proposed cuts at the federal level and the implementation of healthcare reform.”
In telecommunications, AT&T leads the way with 16 registered lobbyists. CSC Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision, has 12 registered lobbyists. Verizon Wireless has 10 and Comcast has seven.
Besides storm related legislation, telecom officials say there are regulatory, consumer, technology, and local community issues that arise on a regular basis that impact their businesses in Connecticut.
Ensuring that the state’s older regulations keep up with new modern technologies is also a continual battle.
For AT&T, breaking down barriers to expand wireless broadband access will be a particularly important issue.
“The process of making this technology available to consumers is cumbersome and in many cases made impossible by arbitrary rules, which restrict the building of new wireless sites,” said AT&T spokesman Chuck Coursey. “Connecticut should eliminate unnecessary barriers to investment and ensure that the rules providers must follow are fair and reasonable.”
The Connecticut Business & Industry Association always has a sizable contingent at the state capitol. While 2012 will not address as many business issues as last year, the group still has 14 registered lobbyists as it seeks to push policies that cut the size and cost of government and regulatory red tape, and lower the achievement gap.
South Windsor sport and concert ticket exchange TicketNetwork has nine registered lobbyists. The company has advocated for legislation giving more freedom to the secondary ticket market, making it easier for people to transfer and resell their tickets. The legislation would also force venues to disclose how many tickets they are releasing for the general public.
Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket and Mohegan Sun resort casino in Uncasville each has about a half dozen registered lobbyists. The Native American-operated businesses advocate for their exclusivity contracts for casino gambling and address upcoming issues such as online gaming, Keno and off-track betting.
HBJ staff writer John A. Lahtinen contributed to this report
