In The Loop – April 29, 2022
With light clearly shining at the end of the tunnel, the CT General Assembly is about to hit the final mile.
This marathon of a session—that started on February 9th, and reaches its finish line on May 4th—has certainly had its ups and downs, its curves, its straightaways, and its share of cheering and jeering as it plodded through the hundreds of proposed bills and the finalized two-year spending and taxing proposals.
As the rumors around the halls of the Capitol turn to a possible rally of some kind this Saturday, there’s a lot of chatter about the leeriness of the legislature as a whole to “face the state.”
The public still has limited access to lawmakers at the Capitol, as well as the Legislative Office Building (LOB). The public is restricted to the first floor of the LOB (working offices of legislators and committee rooms are on the second and fifth floors of the LOB). At the Capitol, access is restricted to the first and second floors of the building. For those of you not familiar—the House Chamber and House leadership/caucus offices are located on the second floor, but the Senate Chamber and leader/caucus offices are located on the third floor. The public is tightly screened and the number of organized groups are limited at any given time. The typical legislative events, which may bring several thousand interested citizens to the Capitol, have tight restrictions, including the requirement to hold these events outside on the Capitol lawn, the adjoining State Armory or the Bushnell Theater (located across the street).