Presentation
Bipartisanship in the State Legislature
Bob Cave introduced Derek Slap (Democrat representative for Avon and West Hartford) and Tim LeGeyt (Republican representative for Canton) as an example of the successful result of bipartisanship.
The representatives acknowledged that bipartisanship doesn't always happen, but it can be productive when it does. Tim announced that he will not run for reelection next year. Leslee Hill will run for his district. When Tim was first elected, the state house of representatives was composed of 114 Democrats and 37 Republicans. The Democrats could ignore the Republicans when passing bills, and they charged ahead. In 2017 many more Republicans had been elected, and the Democrats had a majority of only four votes. With some representatives crossing over to back the other party on various legislation, the Democrats didn't always have a reliable majority and had to pay attention to Republican initiatives.
The budget process was truly bipartisan, because it had to be to pass. The decision was made to keep the governor out of negotiations. This was necessary to pass a budget that the governor couldn't block, so that there was support from both parties. The governor vetoed the first budget, but it could be passed again with a large enough majority to override his veto. Derek quoted Chris Buckley, who said, "Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship."
The Democrats were especially interested in funding of higher education, while the Republicans wanted greater cuts in that area. The Democrats wanted candidate assistance and and funding of teachers' pensions. The governor wanted one-third of pensions paid by towns. Both Democrats and Republicans hated that suggestion, because it would have resulted in huge increases in property taxes. Derek was concerned that West Hartford would have lost state support on which it depends. The next cycle will not be any easier. The new federal tax law has implications for the state with its limitations on deductible state and local taxes.
The two men agreed that for bipartisanship to work it is important to find the humanity in one another. They must forget about labels and consider what they have in common. It is hard to expect the legislature to be less partisan when the electorate is more partisan. In order to work together, it is necessary to challenge comfortable ideas. Craig Buhrendorf asked about a package proposed by the Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth to overhaul the state's tax and funding structure. The reps stated that the whole package may make sense, but there are tough parts for each side. It would be hard to pass such a major initiative in a five-week session. There are so many sins of the past that weight on the budget.
Bob Cave was concerned about young people leaving the state. The outflow is about 2,000 people a month. Legislators are even more concerned about the wealth that is leaving the state because of the tax burden which has grown in recent years.
Leslee Hill wondered whether the legislature has the will to challenge the SEBAC (state employees' unions) agreement approved in 2017. In order to challenge the agreement now, there must be the declaration of an emergency, which would have to be ratified by the state supreme court. It is more likely to happen in two years when layoffs are allowed. There can be a reduction in employees at this time through attrition. There was agreement that the issue of overtime in pension calculations should be abolished. It has been reduced in recent years by calculating the average overtime over 20 years rather than three years as in the past. There is some discussion of privatizing some functions currently handled by the state.
A show of hands demonstrated that there is fairly broad support for highway tolls. Of course the devil is always in the details. Where should they be? How will they be assessed? How will the money be used? Bipartisan support will be essential to that change.
This was a very good discussion. May there be more.