HARTFORD, Conn. — As the clock ticks on this legislative session, lawmakers are working until the final second.
"It is busy until the stroke of midnight," said State Senator Heather Somers, a Republican representing the 18th district.
Both the state House and Senate took up some final bills Wednesday to wrap up several months of working together, democrats and Republicans, to pass legislation.
From the beginning stages of their committees.
"It’s nice to see the bipartisan working together. One thing I always stress is in all of our committees, we really are bipartisan. We work together," Somers said.
To the final votes on the House and Senate floors.
"We hold this lightning in a bottle on a yearly basis you have to renew that commitment to work together. It is not, it’s not guaranteed in the future," said Speaker of the House Matt Ritter.
During this session, several significant pieces of legislation were passed.
Including the state budget, which creates the largest income tax cut in the state’s history.
All but 13 Republicans voted for the $51 billion two-year state budget and a handful even voted for a major gun control bill that’s already being challenged in court.
"We have made our income tax more progressive by reducing the tax at the lower end, the lower tiers of the income tax. That’s an important breakthrough in our 30-year effort to make the income tax more progressive," said Senate President Pro-Tempore Martin Looney.
Among some of the other bills passed was a bill that allows for the killing of bears in some circumstances, and creates a fine for the intentional feeding of bears. Also, early voting and the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in more than a decade.
"We always want to be responsive to the needs to the people at a given time and raise legislation that we’re hearing about from our constituents and we think will be important policy for the people of our state," Looney said.
While other issues did not make it, like paid sick days and a rent cap.
Lawmakers said having the funds to make things happen this session, was key.
"You can focus on priorities and what positive impact do you want to have on the state of Connecticut versus how can we make ends meet?" said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora.
Governor Lamont is expected to address the General Assembly just after midnight.
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Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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