The Connecticut House voted Monday night for two emergency bills, one reflecting a widening disagreement with Gov. Ned Lamont over spending and another responding to President Donald J. Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and LGBTQ services, including gender-affirming care.
Ignoring a hinted veto and long-distance lobbying by a governor traveling on a trade mission to India, the House voted overwhelmingly for a bill that would provide a supplemental $40 million appropriation for special education that the governor says would run counter to the state’s spending cap.
Passed on a vote of 140-5, the relatively modest special-education spending measure could be a harbinger of difficult budget negotiations for Lamont, a Democrat whose fiscal conservatism in a time of surplus revenues is a source of friction with elements of the legislature’s Democratic majorities.
The other bill was a partisan measure that would provide funding for Planned Parenthood, refugee resettlement agencies and other nonprofits struggling with federal funding freezes or threatened losses, including several that provide health care and counseling to an LGBTQ clientele.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said the Democrats were happy to take their first concrete legislative step in reaction to Trump’s promise of mass deportations and his orders stripping funding from refugee resettlement funding, gender-affirming care and anything promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We want to send a message that we support these organizations,” Ritter said. “We support the individuals and the families that utilize these organizations, and we want to show that the government of Connecticut has a very different opinion on how we treat people with respect and dignity.”
Republicans proposed an amendment to the partisan bill that would have imposed a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, echoing an order by Trump that resulted in the NCAA bowing to the president rather than risk the loss of federal funding. The GOP amendment failed, 89-49.
House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said another Democratic provision requiring local school districts to enact policies limiting federal immigration agents’ access to schools was Democratic grandstanding.
“To me, it looks more as if the Democrats want to make their political statement to what is going on at the federal [level],” Candelora said.
Taken together, the two bills made for a mismatched double-feature weeks before the General Assembly typically holds floor votes. One bill was intended to rebuke a Republican president rejected three times by Connecticut voters; the other, a twice-elected Democratic governor with a high approval rating.
House Bill 7066, the measure defying Trump on immigration and providing funding to groups at odds with his executive orders, passed on a 94-49 vote, with every Republican and two Democrats, Rep. Pat Boyd of Pomfret and Rep. Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill, opposed.
Republicans questioned if the bill, which would require every school district to designate at least one administrator at each school to be responsible for interacting with federal immigration authorities, was setting the stage for conflicts with immigration agents.
Democrats said the intention was clarity, not conflict.
House Bill 7067, which includes the $40 million in supplemental special education funding for local school districts, passed 140-5, with only four Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Jill Barry of Glastonbury, opposed to spending that the Lamont administration had branded “irresponsible.”
Ritter sharply brought down the gavel after the voting closed on HB 7067 and loudly announced, “One hundred and forty votes.” His words seemed directed towards the governor, not the chamber.
In an interview, he called the overwhelming vote both evidence of the commitment to help municipalities struggling with rising special education costs and a rebuke to the governor over his administration’s rhetoric and suggestion that the bill would violate the spending cap.
“For 140 people to vote on this meant that this is a serious issue worth more negotiation. It was nuanced. It’s not a violation of anything,” Ritter said after the vote. “I would say we’ve got to just cool the rhetoric and stop using such strident words in our press releases. And the vote tonight was a symbol of that.”
Candelora called the special education vote a difficult one, pitting his caucus’ support for greater aid to local districts against a desire to back the governor on his defense of the spending cap.
“The governor’s not wrong in his concerns, and we need to take them into consideration,” Candelora said. But his caucus also proposed an amendment that would have upped the supplemental appropriation to $108 million, a sum that would cover all special education costs currently facing municipalities.
Candelora complained before the vote that the governor facilitated his fellow Democrats’ effort to ignore budget problems last spring, permitting them to assign hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic grants to higher education and other programs — but not to Medicaid, special education and other areas now demanding more money.
“Democrats and the governor chose to ignore us,” Candelora said. “And now we are here.”
The governor’s office had no comment on the vote. The Senate has scheduled votes on both bills Tuesday.
The bills had other unrelated provisions: language speeding review of hospital purchases, a prohibition on Chinese-made drones, a fix on the calculation of motor vehicle taxes, and a section that could accelerate the new era of collegiate athletes being paid at the University of Connecticut.
The two bills arrived on the House floor under an emergency-certification process that fast-tracks legislation without vetting by legislative committees. The Lamont administration had pressed the legislature for a quick vote on a provision inspired by the bankruptcy and potential sale of three hospitals.
It would create an expedited state approval process for the acquisition of hospitals that have filed for bankruptcy — an attempt to shorten the timeline if a new buyer emerges for the three hospitals owned by Prospect Medical Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January.
“We came in to do this,” Ritter said. “There’s talk that there are buyers. I don’t know the names, but the governor’s office was like, ‘We need this done by March 1.’”
The state’s approval for major health care transactions, known as the certificate of need, requires providers to obtain approval from the Office of Health Strategy before making any major changes, such as mergers, large purchases of equipment or facilities, or shuttering services.
OHS and the Lamont administration faced criticism over the time required to approve the pending deal for Yale New Haven Health to acquire the three Prospect-owned hospitals: Waterbury, Manchester Memorial and Rockville General Hospitals.
The governor’s office has not taken a public position on the increased funding for Planned Parenthood and the other non-profits.
Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, complained that Democrats could not explain how the beneficiaries were chosen.
“Was there an open process that people came forward and asked for money specifically? Was there notification for people to come forward and ask for this money?” Nuccio asked.
“No, all of these organizations had contacted different members of the General Assembly,” replied Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, the co-chair of the Appropriations Committee. “Do I have all the names of the members that were contacted? No, I do not, but we had multiple people that were contacted.”
Planned Parenthood would be the biggest beneficiary, granted $800,000 in the bill.
The organization representing the Catholic bishops objected.
“Giving more taxpayer money, even one cent, let alone $800,000, to those in the abortion business is truly tragic,” said Chris Healy, executive director of Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference. “We can only pray for those in power to reject this horrible idea.”
The bill also would provide $387,500 for the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, $225,000 for New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center and grants of $62,500 each for other groups.
Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, which lost significant federal funding, would receive $225,000.
Rep. Jay Case, R-Winchester, said the funding choices ignored more immediate needs.
“We have people sleeping outside at night. We have nothing here for that,” Case said. “We’re not here tonight helping them.”
Case voted against the bill.
Another provision would allow UConn and other schools to promise revenue sharing as they recruit athletes.
The NCAA recently settled an antitrust case by agreeing to a system allowing schools to share a portion of their revenue with student-athletes, up to about $20 million annually per school. The settlement is to be finalized in April.
“I have not heard that the University of Connecticut or any other institution plans to reach that high,” said Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, co-chair of the Higher Education Committee.
Haddad said athletes already can make endorsement deals, but the bill would give universities to participate in ways not currently allowed
“The university will be able to participate in these NIL deals in a way that has not happened before, and that only enhances their opportunities to enhance their own revenue stream for their athletic programs,” he said.
An NIL deal refers to the ability of a college athlete to make an agreement for the use of their name, image or likeness.
CT Mirror staff writer Katy Golvala contributed to this report.
This story was originally published by The Connecticut Mirror Feb. 25, 2025.
