Legislative Session

Time is quickly running out on Connecticut’s 2011 legislative session. After a long holiday weekend, the General Assembly is scheduled to return to Hartford on Tuesday for a full week of votes. This year’s session ends June 8. Several key bills await action. Lawmakers plan to vote on the governor’s plan to cover a $400 million gap in the two-year, $40.1 billion budget. With that vote, legislators could also approve a tentative, two-year $1.6 billion labor savings agreement, pending ratification by state employee union members.

Saying it will help Arizona compete for new jobs, Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill providing tax breaks to business owners and investors. The centerpiece of the bill, which the Legislature approved last week, is a 25 percent reduction on individual income tax paid on capital gains, the profits made on investments. The capital gains reduction will be phased in over three years starting in 2013 and applies only to assets purchased in 2012 or later. The 2012 legislation signed Friday by Brewer was approved a year after the Republican governor and the...

MONTPELIER -- Governor James Douglas wants a lamp that is a replica of a famous 19th-century nude statue removed from his State House office before the legislative session starts next month. The lamp, installed on his desk recently as part of a State House restoration project, is a replica of a statue of a chained slave. It was crafted by a Vermont artist in 1843 and became an icon of the abolitionist movement before the Civil War. "The governor does not object to the art," said Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs.

Senate Democrats said Thursday they plan to resurrect a failed bipartisan job creation bill that died in the House of Representatives during the final day of the legislative session. Senate President Donald Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said he believes components of Senate Bill 1, one of the Senate Democrats' top priorities for the three-month session, can be woven into the remaining budget-related bills that lawmakers plan to approve during a special session. The legislators are looking at a possible session on June 25. Williams said he was puzzled over why the bill wasn't called...

Connecticut lawmakers closed out a legislative session on Wednesday that finally resolved some perennial issues at the state Capitol, with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy crediting them with making "positive, meaningful change. " Over the past three months, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly has voted to legalize medical marijuana for adults, abolish the death penalty for future crimes and allow the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays. Lawmakers also approved an education overhaul bill that backers say stands a better chance than past efforts at closing the state's achievement gap between rich...

Arizona lawmakers approved tax cut legislation Thursday as they wrapped up their regular session, despite complaints that they courted danger by moving forward with proposals put on their desks just hours earlier. The Legislature also completed action on Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to redesign the state government's personnel system by making it more like those of private businesses. The Senate approved the changes on a 21-9 vote Wednesday, and the House's 38-18 vote Thursday sent it to the governor.

A long-stalled bill letting governments in New Jersey post legal notices on their websites rather than in newspapers is again on hold. The bill was scheduled for a vote on the last day of New Jersey's legislative session but was pulled late Monday afternoon. Newspapers ran a full-page open letter Monday from the industry's trade group, the New Jersey Press Association, arguing the change would make government less transparent. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, an Essex County Democrat, had said she favored moving ahead with the legislation...

The leader of the Rhode Island Senate said a new tax on sightseeing tickets should be repealed. Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat, said yesterday that she would seek to eliminate the tax in next year's legislative session. The General Assembly voted two months ago to impose the state's 7 percent sales tax on tickets for sightseeing tours. The tax takes effect Oct. 1 and is expected to generate just over $1 million annually. Paiva Weed said she has heard from tourism leaders who say it will hurt tourism.

Local college students and other activists are planning to rally in favor of marijuana reform at the Connecticut state Capitol on the opening day of the legislative session. University of Connecticut's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy says they will call on legislators to further reform marijuana policy and pass medical marijuana legislation during the new session. Last summer legislators voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In 2007 a medical marijuana bill was vetoed by then-Gov.

Marshfield's home rule petition for a municipal wind turbine has been reported out of a legislative committee with a favorable recommendation, Town Planner Paul Halkiotis told the Planning Board on Monday. The wind turbine proposed for Carolina Hill would go on about 2 acres of town land, but Marshfield needs permission from the Legislature to remove limits on how the conservation land can be used. Halkiotis said the town hopes lawmakers approve the petition before the end of the legislative session.

Connecticut lawmakers closed out a legislative session on Wednesday that finally resolved some perennial issues at the state Capitol, with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy crediting them with making "positive, meaningful change. " Over the past three months, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly has voted to legalize medical marijuana for adults, abolish the death penalty for future crimes and allow the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays. Lawmakers also approved an education overhaul bill that backers say stands a better chance than past efforts at closing the state's achievement gap between rich...

A bill that would require battery-operated smoke detectors to be installed temporarily whenever a one- or two-family private residence is occupied during interior alterations or additions requiring a building permit has passed both chambers of the Connecticut legislature. The Senate passed the measure unanimously Wednesday, shortly before the legislative session ended. Under the legislation, carbon monoxide detectors would be required if there is a fireplace, fuel-burning appliance or attached garage.

Arizona lawmakers approved tax cut legislation Thursday as they wrapped up their regular session, despite complaints that they courted danger by moving forward with proposals put on their desks just hours earlier. The Legislature also completed action on Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to redesign the state government's personnel system by making it more like those of private businesses. The Senate approved the changes on a 21-9 vote Wednesday, and the House's 38-18 vote Thursday sent it to the governor.

Marshfield's home rule petition for a municipal wind turbine has been reported out of a legislative committee with a favorable recommendation, Town Planner Paul Halkiotis told the Planning Board on Monday. The wind turbine proposed for Carolina Hill would go on about 2 acres of town land, but Marshfield needs permission from the Legislature to remove limits on how the conservation land can be used. Halkiotis said the town hopes lawmakers approve the petition before the end of the legislative session.

State Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty said Wednesday that he would resign as cochairman of the Judiciary Committee at the end of the legislative session, citing a Globe column that criticized him for stifling a proposal to eliminate the statute of limitations on prosecuting child sexual abuse crimes. O'Flaherty, who has long represented Chelsea, said in an e-mail to columnist Kevin Cullen that Cullen's column on Tuesday "has resonated with me since I first read it. " The legislator said he took issue with being depicted as someone "unconcerned about the murder of children's souls,"...

Local college students and other activists are planning to rally in favor of marijuana reform at the Connecticut state Capitol on the opening day of the legislative session. University of Connecticut's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy says they will call on legislators to further reform marijuana policy and pass medical marijuana legislation during the new session. Last summer legislators voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In 2007 a medical marijuana bill was vetoed by then-Gov.

A task force studying the future of Connecticut's 16 state-run technical high schools is asking for the public's opinions. The General Assembly created the task force earlier this year, and it must report its recommendations before the 2012 legislative session starts in February. The group is holding a public hearing at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford to get opinions from students, parents and anyone else with an interest in the schools.

A bill that would require battery-operated smoke detectors to be installed temporarily whenever a one- or two-family private residence is occupied during interior alterations or additions requiring a building permit has passed both chambers of the Connecticut legislature. The Senate passed the measure unanimously Wednesday, shortly before the legislative session ended. Under the legislation, carbon monoxide detectors would be required if there is a fireplace, fuel-burning appliance or attached garage.

Republican state Rep. Chris Coutu (KOO'-too) of Norwich will be gone from the legislature and off the campaign trail as he heads to military training in South Carolina. The Norwich Bulletin and The Day of New London report that Coutu, who is seeking the Republican Party nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney, will be in training from Feb. 5 to April 18 at Fort Jackson, S.C. The 35-year-old Coutu is a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard. He says his office will open a campaign headquarters and send staff and volunteers to Republican Party events...

TRENTON, N.J. - Alex DeCroce - the Republican leader of the New Jersey Assembly, who is credited by Governor Chris Christie with helping him get his start in politics - died at 75 in the State House as the legislative session was wrapping up. Legislators, aides, and other staff members stood stunned as they learned that Mr. DeCroce, 75, had collapsed and died around 11 p.m. Monday in a men's room. They had been working with him all evening as the Legislature dealt with a flurry of last-minute bills.