Connecticut’s legislature will reconvene in special session at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Hartford to take up a bill to legalize recreational marijuana use.
Lawmakers already passed a biennial budget but they could not enact the marijuana bill before the close of the regular session on June 9 when Republicans in the House of Representatives threatened a filibuster. The Senate the previous day and by a 19-17 vote, had approved the bill, which would launch a mechanism next May.
Social-justice provisions in the bill include licensing priority for communities most harmed by the war on drugs, and erase many low-level convictions for marijuana-related offenses.
Neighboring Rhode Island, in the latest battle-of-the-states iteration regarding so-called sin revenue, is weighing a similar measure. Its Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday sent a legalization bill to the full Senate floor, with debate expected next week.The bill would create an independent cannabis control panel to issue retailing licenses.
Connecticut’s $46.7 billion biennial budget and $335 million bonding bill passed with bipartisan support in both the Senate and House. It includes no significant tax increases and omits a call by progressives to increase capital gains taxes on the state’s highest earners and create a “consumption tax.”
During the special session, the legislature will also vote on an implementer bill, an adjunct to the budget that directs how to spend the funds.
“The implementer, obviously, will be a matter for a special session and that’s a complex issue,” said Senate Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven.
The bonding bill will target schools, transportation and technology upgrades to the state capitol complex. It includes a new fee on heavy trucks, which could generate $90 million annually.
Critics said the fee would force consumers to absorb higher costs.
“I think it’s going to raise costs on food. I think it’s going to raise costs on things like heating oil, clothing, gasoline … I just think it’s a trickle-down tax that’s very regressive,” said Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme, a transportation committee member.
The budget includes funding for a “CT Baby Bonds” program that state Treasurer Shawn Wooden championed. Funded through the state’s general obligation bonds, it will create a trust for the benefit of children born into poverty. A child will become eligible for the bonds if their birth was covered by the state’s Medicaid program, CT Husky A, which insures pregnant women.
When a beneficiary reaches age 18 and completes a financial education requirement, the funds can be used for targeted eligible purposes including educational expenses, an in-state home purchase or business investment, or contrinution toward retirement savings.
According to Wooden, the legislation is the first in the nation.
“While Connecticut has the highest annual income per capita in the country, it also has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the nation and economic disparities, including the wealth gap have been widening over the past decade,” Wooden said. The new bond package authorizes $50 million per year for 12 years.
Lawmakers did not pass Gov. Ned Lamont’s transportation climate initiative, a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade plan that would require large gasoline and diesel fuel suppliers to purchase credits for pollution. Lamont officials had estimated that the measure could have raised up to $89 million by 2023.
The governor said he hopes for further debate on it during the special session.
Lamont in late May signed legislation to legalize online gaming and sports wagering in Connecticut. This followed an enabling agreement among his administration and the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.
Connecticut has been riding the momentum of a wave of bond-rating upgrades, its first since 1990. Moody’s Investors Service, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings all raised their general obligation ratings in the past month.
After the GO upgrades, Kroll and S&P rate Connecticut AA and A-plus, respectively. Moody’s Investors Service assigns its Aa3 rating, while Fitch assigns AA-minus.
In addition, Fitch upgradeds Connecticut’s special tax obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure purposes to AA-minus from A-plus.