2018 Mid-Session Legislative Update from Senator Kissel

Senator John A. Kissel (R-Enfield) addresses the Senate Chamber during the 2018 Legislative Session in Hartford

By: Senator John A. Kissel

It is hard to believe, but we have already passed the half way point for the 2018 legislative session and soon the Connecticut State Senate will be in our senate chambers discussing many bills that have already made it through each respective committee process.

Did you know that in the General Assembly’s Joint Rules each committee has a deadline by which they must report bills out – this is referred to as a JF Deadline (Joint Favorable Deadline)? These deadlines refer to the cutoff dates to forward legislation to another committee or to the floor of the House or Senate.

In the Judiciary Committee, a committee which I Co-Chair, our JF Deadline was Wednesday, April 4th. This day is always a very exciting day at the capitol – the committee had until 5 p.m. to get the legislation it wanted to see survive the process to the legislative commissioner’s office. I am happy to report that we have worked together in a bipartisan fashion to raise many bills out of committee.

The next big deadlines approaching are the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee JF deadline on Friday, April 6th and the Appropriations Committee’s JF deadline, which I am a member of, is Thursday, April 5th. These deadlines are extremely important as these two committees deal with all things fiscally related.

Throughout the next few weeks I will remain attentive and open to conversations with my fellow legislators and committee members to help create a plan that puts our state on a better path; a path that creates predictability for our North-Central Connecticut businesses and a plan which creates stability for our North-Central Connecticut families.