A Travesty in the Connecticut General Assembly

This evening on the 5:00 P.M. and 6:P.M. WTNH newscasts, Senator Williams (Senate President) announced that he and Representative Sharkey (Speaker of the House) are putting together a “bi-partisan” committee to assemble gun control legislation package that Williams has sated he wants enacted by the end or February. 

There is only one way to accomplish that given the normal flow of legislation within the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA). That way is emergency certification.  The following is the definition of emergency certification from the CGA List of Legislative Terms (http://cga.ct.gov/html/Terms.htm#E)

EMERGENCY CERTIFICATION

A procedure by which the speaker and president pro tempore jointly propose a bill and send it directly to the House or Senate, floor for action without any committee referrals or public hearings. 

The emergency certification process thwarts (bypasses - circumvents) the normal committee reviews and approvals and all public hearings.  It brings the legislation directly to the floor of the House and/or Senate without the input of committee members or the public. 

The effort will probably be based on Senate Bill S.B. 1 submitted by Senator Williams the Senate President. 

It is not possible at this time to determine what other legislation might be folded in, but a good guess would include S.B. 122 as it incorporates the most draconian measures short of repealing Sections 7 and 15, Article First, of the Connecticut Constitution. 

Now is the time to contact your legislators and press them to stop this travesty of government.  Emergency Certification is for responding to events like Hurricane Sandy.  It is not to deal with permanent changes in civil rights or the revision of the state constitution. 

More later when I have some detail…