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The General Assembly has been remarkably busy since the adjournment of our Regular Session June 3. I’ve included in this e-mail newsletter a brief description of some important initiatives recently enacted.
Comprehensive Reform
for Teacher Certification
One new law, enacted during a Special Session in late June, provides for the first time in nearly 25 years comprehensive reform to several of the state’s teacher certification programs. Looming teacher shortages — estimates suggest as many as one-third of the state’s teachers will retire within just a few years — made passage of the bill a priority this year.
 During this year’s regular session the bill received virtually unanimous
support in three separate committees and each legislative chamber, but
the session expired without final passage. I was able to convince
legislative leaders to include the measure in the June Special Session.
This bill maintains Connecticut’s high standards while streamlining the certification process for new teachers and veteran teachers relocating from other states. It also expands the alternative route to certification for people interested in switching career paths and entering the teaching profession.
The best education policies and curricula in the world are only as good as the teachers we have delivering those lessons in the classroom, and these broad-based adjustments will allow us to expeditiously deploy more highly trained, well-qualified educators statewide.
Veto Overrides
A few other new laws, which I’ve outlined below, were enacted when the legislature voted in mid-July to override vetoes by Governor Rell.
Mandatory Consensus
Revenue Forecasting
The inability of the legislative and executive branches of government to agree on revenue estimates has delayed and complicated the state budget process this year. That was the reason we enacted legislation to implement consensus revenue forecasting designed to resolve budget differences between the two governmental branches and help streamline the state budget process.  The law requires budget analysts of the executive and legislative branches to issue consensus revenue estimates up to three times a year to guide the governor’s budget proposal and the budget approved by the legislature.
If the legislative and the executive branches cannot agree on revenue estimates, the legislation requires the state comptroller’s office to provide the revenue estimates. This way, all parties will have one bottom line to work toward to better serve the residents of Connecticut.
Consensus revenue forecasting is used by 26 states to streamline their budgeting efforts, and the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting recommends the process coast-to-coast. Eight of the nine states with the very highest bond ratings credit consensus forecasting for their ratings.
Safeguarding Corrections Officers
After a drastic increase in the number of inmate assaults on corrections officers, a legislative task force recommended a subcommittee be established to monitor the health and safety of Connecticut corrections officers. The new committee must document all assaults committed by inmates, investigate them fully, and then compile and classify data in an effort to eliminate future assaults.
Working to Protect Long Island Sound
The legislature also voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill to establish a Bi-State Long Island Sound Commission. Back in 2005, the Broadwater Energy Corporation proposed building a quarter-mile long liquefied natural gas terminal in the middle of Long Island Sound. This floating factory, had it been approved, would have begun the industrialization of one of Connecticut’s most valuable environmental and recreational resources. But elected officials from New York and Connecticut — emboldened by environmental groups — fought and won against this wrong-headed proposal.
With the creation of this 14-member Bi-State Long Island Sound Commission (with New York,) when such threats to the Sound arise, this commission will review major environmental, ecological, and energy issues involving Long Island Sound and the lower Hudson River Valley, seek consensus on strategies, and recommend legislative action. The commission takes effect as soon as New York adopts similar legislation.
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