5/5/10

The 2010 General Assembly Session came screeching to a halt on May 5th, with the Senate (for the second year in a row) skidding right past the finish line to complete a last, hurried vote almost 10 minutes past the midnight deadline. Lawmakers are expected to re-convene in the next month or so to take up some unfinished legislation (the municipal conveyance tax and state land transfers) and the vexing issue of campaign finance.

As was the case last year, the Session was dominated almost entirely by budget concerns, focusing initially on filling the $350 million budget gap in the current FY10 budget, and eventually turning to the challenge of filling the almost $700 million deficit projected in FY11, which begins July 1st 2010. A final budget negotiated between Governor Rell and Democratic leaders passed the House at 11:50 pm Wednesday night - 10 minutes before the close. For an informative view of the budget deal see this post on the Courant's Political Watch blog.

Lawmakers provided some good news and some bad news for environmental advocates. DEP's Clean Water Fund received $80 million in general obligation bonds and $100 million in revenue bonds over the FY11-12 period. Also in the good news category, was passage of landmark energy legislation and a compromise bill preventing a series of rollbacks weakening or blocking DEP permitting and regulatory processes. The energy bill (Senate Bill 493) contains a number of key provisions:

• Provisions that will ensure enough solar power to run 100,000 homes statewide
• Expanded energy efficient appliance standards
• Energy efficiency financing for efficient furnaces, and combined heat and power
• Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing authority enabling municipalities to establish innovative financing programs to help homeowners and businesses afford clean energy and large scale energy
• efficiency investments
• Expansion of the "Project 150" program to build Class 1 wind and hydro projects
• A fuel cell pilot program for installation of fuel cells at state buildings

Unfortunately, Governor Rell has yet to sign this legislation into law.

In a key victory, environmental advocates were pleased that lawmakers stood firm against industry efforts to roll back environmental protections through a series of bills that would have imposed automatic approvals on permit applications, limited the state's authority to safeguard its natural resources, reduced the public's ability to intervene in environmental proceedings, and derailed the permitting process by sending general permits through an unnecessary and complicated review process.

Claiming that inefficient or overzealous environmental regulation was costing jobs by driving business out of the state, industry lobbyists succeeded in promoting these bills through a number of committees, including the Environment Committee. In the last few minutes of the Session, the Senate approved compromise legislation (HB 5208) establishing an ombudsman in the Department of Economic and Community Development to help businesses more quickly and efficiently navigate the agency permitting process for projects. Environmentalists also supported measures in the bill that build upon existing DEP efforts to streamline its permitting process for businesses. Kudos go to our partners at CT Fund for the Environment for providing key leadership and legal expertise in this effort.

On the bad news front, the final budget deal swept another $5 million from the Community Investment Act, in addition to the $5 million already swept in FY10. This program is currently the only state source of funding for open space acquisitions. The legislation also contained provisions borrowing against revenues anticipated through the CT Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF), effectively diverting at least 35% of these funds each year for the next eight (8) years. CEEF saves citizens money, supports Connecticut businesses, and prevents greenhouse gas pollution. It also supports more than 11,800 direct and indirect jobs statewide (Navigant Consulting, 2009). CEEF allowed the state to access $38.5 million in federal stimulus funding in 2009. The fund supports the Energy Solutions program that identifies opportunities for improving household energy efficiency and helps homeowners access upgrades like windows, insulation, efficient hot water heaters, and more. Small businesses can get help with efficiency improvements.

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