Candelora and Kelly Urge Legislature’s Public Health Emergency Committee to Meet

Candelora and Kelly Urge Legislature’s Public Health Emergency Committee to Meet

GOP leaders request “transparent, public” conversation

to allow “the people’s voice to be heard.”

House and Senate Republican leaders Vincent Candelora and Kevin Kelly have requested that the legislature’s Public Health Emergency Committee convene to discuss and potentially vote on Gov. Ned Lamont’s extension of his public health emergency declaration.

In a Jan. 26 letter to legislative leaders and Public Health Committee leaders, Candelora and Kelly stated that the issue “merit a discussion in public.”

Candelora said, “To allow the governor’s request for an extension to simply go into effect by default, with no additional conversation or debate, is unacceptable to our caucuses and the people we represent. State lawmakers have the means and capacity to help the governor guide Connecticut toward recovery, and I think it’s reasonable to expect that our colleagues will also view this moment as an opportunity to have a public conversation about establishing the General Assembly as collaborators in developing pandemic-related policies to help the communities we serve.”

Kelly said, “Republicans continue to insist that the people’s voices be heard in Connecticut government. We in the legislature are the people’s voice. This committee should meet to discuss these issues in a transparent fashion.  The pandemic is the number one issue for Connecticut. It impacts all of us. Republican lawmakers want to empower the people we represent, and that empowerment requires an open, thoughtful public conversation. Why would anyone want to prevent this discussion from happening?”

Candelora and Kelly on Tuesday rejected the idea of extending the governor’s broad-based emergency powers to April 20, and said they are disappointed that legislative Democrats balked when presented with an opportunity to reassert the General Assembly as a co-equal branch of government.