More than 18 months after COVID-19 began spreading throughout Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont asked the state legislature Wednesday for the sixth extension of his extraordinary powers to govern during the pandemic.
After consulting with lawmakers, Lamont wants to push the extension to Feb. 15 — nearly a week after the next regular legislative session begins. If approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature in votes by the House and Senate next week, lawmakers would not need to hold any additional special sessions near the Christmas or New Year’s holidays when attendance by legislators is traditionally lower.
Lamont’s emergency powers have been narrowed sharply since March and April 2020 when he was mandating the closure of “nonessential” businesses in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
Some Republicans and conservatives have blasted Lamont as “King Ned,” saying that the legislature has granted the governor too much power, and the state must return to three equal branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial. Lamont’s powershave been extended five times since last year. The most recent extension by the legislature came in mid-July after partisan debates as all Republicans and some Democrats voted against the extension.
The legislature is able to block any of Lamont’s executive orders if a majority of the top six leaders in the House and Senate vote to do that. House Speaker Matt Ritter said recently that if any of the six leaders want to block an order, they should contact him and he would arrange a vote. The Democrats control four of the six votes, effectively allowing them to uphold any of Lamont’s orders if they vote together.
With a reduced number of executive orders, what authority is Lamont looking to keep?
Vaccination mandate for state employees
Workers in state-owned or controlled buildings must be vaccinated or tested on a regular basis to “ensure that critical state services continue without disruption.” This vaccination mandate also applies to both contractors and state employees who work at or visit state hospital buildings, such as the UConn Health in Farmington.
In his letter to legislative leaders, Lamont said the vaccinations would ensure that “the public, our state employees, and vulnerable populations in the care of the state have adequate protection from a higher risk of infection, serious disease, hospitalization, and death.”
Nursing home employees
Lamont is seeking to extend requiring vaccinations for workers in nursing homes and other long-term care homes so that “we maintain the progress we have made in protecting our elderly and most vulnerable residents.”
Masks in schools
First, Lamont wants to extend the executive order that requires vaccinations or regular testing for employees in schools and day care centers. Second, he wants to continue the requirement for wearing masks in schools so that “we use the scientifically proven tools at our disposal to protect our children, most of whom are not yet eligible for the vaccine, from this disease.”
Helping the homeless
Lamont wants to extend an order that helps the homeless and those surviving domestic violence to obtain proper housing during the pandemic in places like hotels and motels, where the virus is less likely to spread than in a crowded homeless shelter with multiple bunk beds within several feet of each other.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency helps pay for these accommodations in the same way as helping survivors of disasters, and Lamont wants that to continue.
“Despite speculation to the contrary, the federal government has made it clear that we would not receive the roughly $2 million per quarter in FEMA reimbursement for such efforts without the executive order and the emergency declarations that enabled it,” Lamont said. “To date, Connecticut has received more than $7.7 million in cumulative reimbursements related to this order, with approximately $8 million in additional reimbursements pending.”
In addition, he says the state has already received more than $3.5 million in federal funding for food stamps, and that money “will not continue without a renewal of the emergency declaration.”
Evictions
By changing the rules for evictions, Lamont says he wants to continue the process that has “greatly increased the chances that both landlords and tenants receive financial relief that keeps residents in their homes and keeps landlords solvent.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
