Connecticut’s General Assembly opened its annual session Wednesday in stark contrast to a bitterly divided Congress, voting by acclamation for Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven and House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford to once again lead the two chambers.
The only note of discord arose from the Senate Democratic majority declining to join the other three caucuses, the House Democratic majority and Senate and House GOP minorities, in discouraging the COVID-era practice of allowing lawmakers to speak and vote remotely on legislation during committee meetings.
But the disagreement was a brief distraction as state legislators began their 2-year terms without the kind of division seen in the U.S. House of Representatives, where factions within the small GOP majority threatened to block the election of a speaker and swearing in of its members earlier this month.
“We are all equally frustrated, regardless of our ideologies, of watching that type of turmoil go on,” said House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora. R-North Branford.
To underscore the difference, it was Candelora who nominated the Democratic speaker for a third term. In the Senate, Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, delivered a seconding speech on behalf of Looney.
“We will certainly have different viewpoints and different ideologies on legislation, but we have a speaker that is going to listen to all sides, and regardless of which side of the vote you were on, we have a speaker that’s going to protect the institution,” Candelora said.
Ritter is only the third to serve more than two terms as speaker. The first was his father, Thomas D. Ritter, who broke what had been a two-term tradition. Tom Ritter was one of four former speakers seated on the expanded rostrum Wednesday when Matt Ritter entered to applause with his wife, Dr. Marilyn Katz, and their two children.
The oath of office was administered by the speaker’s mother, Christine Keller, a retired justice of Connecticut Supreme Court.
In the Senate, which has no informal limit on holding the top leadership post, Looney began his sixth term as president pro tem Wednesday.
On a day when the Democratic majorities in both houses grew stronger, Ritter welcomed 20 new members to the House with a ringing defense of the General Assembly’s tradition of unlimited debate, one of the practices intended to preserve the voices of the Republican minority.
Democrats won majorities of 102-49 in the House and 25-11 in the Senate in November, making net gains of four seats in the House and one in the Senate. Democrats have won strong majorities every two years since 2018, after nearly losing control in 2016.
Both Ritter and Looney have refrained from using their numbers to end debate and call a vote — as is allowed in the rules — even at the end of an annual session when the tradition of unlimited debate shifts power to the GOP minority. Simply by talking, they can kill a bill.
“While this chamber now boasts a historically strong Democratic majority, let us not forget that our most enduring achievements have always come from working together,” Looney said. “Bipartisanship is not a relic of the past but a guiding principle for our future.”
In the House, Ritter raised a gavel and mentioned that children often ask how frequently he uses the gavel to silence unruly House members. And they ask him how aggressively he wields it.
Not all all, Ritter said.
Three of the four former speakers on the rostrum glanced at the fourth, Richard J. Balducci. They grinned. Balducci, a football coach and martial arts practitioner, knew why. He did not have Matt Ritter’s soft touch. In fact, Balducci regularly broke gavels. His final tally over two terms: 23.
“This could be a weapon with unmatched power if you let it be so, but you don’t govern by gavel,” Ritter said. “It is what a lot of states do. It is what Washington does.”
Ritter is aware that the tradition of unlimited debate frustrates some of his own members, especially when time runs short and Republicans talk to run out the clock, leaving bills to die from inaction when the constitutional adjournment deadline is reached. He turned to face them.
“I’m going to remind you on this side of the aisle that the last I checked, the Democrats are the chairs of all committees. The last I checked, you have a majority on all committees. So when we get to the last week of session, and your bill can’t run because there’s no time, it’s probably more your fault than theirs,” Ritter said, nodding towards the Republicans.
Then he turned to the Republicans and reminded them that the tradition of unlimited debate is just that — a tradition, and one that shouldn’t be abused.
“The the reality is if all you do is talk to obstruct and delay, and you don’t partner in governance, the response will be swift to deal with that, right?” Ritter said.
His message was applauded.
Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, negotiated a rules change with Candelora that would have moved the General Assembly towards ending remote participation in committee meetings.
Instead, the change was only made to the House rules, rendering it largely symbolic given that the General Assembly only has joint committees of House and Senate members.
“We need to start bringing people back,” Candelora said. “This change is one small step forward.”
Connecticut is one of 10 states with legislatures that permit virtual voting by their members, most at the discretion of their leaders. Only Massachusetts and Connecticut allow virtual voting as a matter of right, he said.
“We’re an outlier,” Candelora said.
The new House rule allows a committee chair to require a lawmaker to be physically present to debate or amend a bill in committee, though they could vote remotely. But it will not apply to senators, only representatives.
Virtual testimony in public hearings, which also began during the pandemic, never was at issue. There is a broad consensus that it improves public access.
Looney said he sees remote participation by lawmakers as a plus, a question of efficiency in a part-time legislature.
“I think this is one of the few aspects of what we did during the pandemic that has had enduring value beyond that,” Looney said. “It allows people to to participate in in debate and committee remotely. We think that’s a good thing — obviously, more options for people who may have child care or other issues, or if there’s bad weather or something else.”
Under the new rules, legislators in both chambers still can vote remotely on floor votes via their laptops, a function that only works if they are in the Capitol or adjacent Legislative Office Building.