Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal for a constitutional “lock box” for transportation funds never received a vote from either chamber this session.
It also wasn’t included in the call for an upcoming special session to close next year’s budget deficit, making the odds long that the initiative will go to voters in November.
The lock box on the Special Transportation Fund gained the necessary three-fourths majority in the Senate during a December special session, but gained only a majority of the votes in the House.
If a proposed constitutional amendment fails to gain three-quarters of the votes in each chamber, it must get a simple majority from consecutive General Assemblies before it can go to voters during a statewide election.
The would mean the lock box needs approval from the General Assembly elected in November before it goes on the November 2018 ballot.
Malloy could call a special session during the summer if he believes he has the support for the proposal. But otherwise, it’ll have to wait.
Meanwhile, other notable legislation died this session, including
• Two bills that would have affected the Department of Motor Vehicles — Malloy’s proposal to outsource more agency work and Secretary of the State Denise W. Merrill’s plan to automatically enroll everyone eligible to vote as part of DMV transactions.
Neither bill got a vote from either chamber.
Malloy proposed outsourcing registration transactions to outside vendors as a way to decrease wait times at the DMV. His proposal also would have allowed car owners to renew their registration even if they were delinquent on their motor vehicle taxes, a provision that the legislature’s Transportation Committee removed from the bill after complaints from municipalities.
Merrill, meanwhile, said her proposal would greatly increase the state’s voter rolls in an effort to ultimately boost voter turnout.
Anyone who didn’t want to register to vote could opt out, and those not eligible to do so couldn’t use the DMV to get around prohibitions.
Merrill’s office released a letter to reporters last month from the U.S. Justice Department indicating the agency intends to file a lawsuit against the state for failing to properly use its DMV system to register voters.
The Justice Department’s letter cites a number of violations of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act by the DMV, including failing to notify residents that they already have the option to register to vote through agency transactions.
• A paid family medical leave program to provide compensation for lost wages to anyone taking time off from work under the existing Family Medical Leave Act. The bill also never came up for debate in either chamber after clearing the committee level.
Rep. Kelly J.S. Luxenberg, D-Manchester, a co-sponsor of the bill, said she believes the legislation likely stalled because of debate on Comptroller Kevin Lembo’s public retirement system during a tough budget year.
Both bills relied on withholdings from eligible employees’ paychecks to fund the benefit and the system’s operating cost, and Luxenberg said she didn’t think lawmakers wanted to push both initiatives this year.
“I’m definitely disappointed, but I think we all recognized the reality of what we were doing,” she said.
According to a study released this year, Luxenberg’s proposal would require a withholding of 0.54 percent of employee earnings to provide 100 percent reimbursement of wages, up to $1,000 per week, for 12 weeks to employees eligible for family leave for the birth or adoption of a child or to care for a sick relative.
Luxenberg said the report helped garner some additional support, as did changes to last year’s proposal to remove any costs to businesses.
She said she plans to continue working to build bipartisan support and address other concerns before reintroducing the bill again next session, if she’s re-elected.
• Despite being included in an early tax bill, lawmakers decided not to act on legislation that would authorize fantasy sports after Attorney General George Jepsen warned it could risk Connecticut’s slot machine revenue-sharing agreement with the state’s two federally recognized Indian tribes.
• A proposal to study the impact of allowing a third casino in Connecticut died in committee. Meanwhile, the two federally recognized tribes did not submit a proposal for legislative approval to open a jointly owned, third casino to compete with the MGM Resorts International casino in Springfield, saying they’ll return with a site next year.
• A proposal creating a new class C felony for those who attach weapons to drones has failed for the second year in a row. While it passed in the House, it didn’t come up for a Senate vote.
• The House failed to vote on a bill dubbed “Cecil’s Law” that would ban the importing, possessing, offering for sale or transporting in Connecticut big game specimens, including certain elephants, lions, leopards, and two rhinoceros species.
[This story includes Associated Press reporting.]
More political and government reporting from the Journal Inquirer is available here.
