Republicans are crying foul, claiming that Democrats are looking to limit freedoms and circumvent the democratic process after committees capped public testimony for two hearings this week.
Legislative committees at the Capitol have proposed a variety of bills that some families are calling an attack on personal freedoms, including two bills outlining vaccine authority and requirements in the state, a gun control bill brought by Gov. Ned Lamont and a bill that would replace the state’s homeschooling statute with extensive oversights to ensure “equivalent education.”
Public hearings on all three issues are slated for Wednesday morning.
While many families are discussing plans to move out of the state should the legislative proposals pass, others are organizing letter-writing campaigns, submitting testimony and gathering support to storm the Capitol in opposition.
In preparation, the Public Health Committee, which has raised the vaccine bills, has capped testimony for the public hearing at midnight, with speakers limited to 3 minutes each. The Education Committee, which authored the homeschooling bill, has capped testimony at 24 hours.
The homeschooling bill, HB 5468, currently has more than 600 written testimonies in opposition to the bill and a handful in support.
The vaccine bills on Friday had just 26 and 29 submitted testimonies, respectively.
Sen. Stephen Harding, on behalf of the Senate Republican Caucus, issued a statement regarding the hearing limits.
“What about Freedom of Speech? The party of ‘No Kings’ really likes to govern by fiat in Connecticut, don’t they? They do it because they can,” Harding wrote, pointing to the emergency session last week that approved along party lines legislation that failed last session when time expired.
“Supermajority Democrats are the ones raising these highly controversial bills on Wednesday. Instead of silencing the public and turning them away, Democrats should stay and do the job they were elected to do. Look Connecticut citizens in the eyes and hear their testimony.”
He called for residents to show up in large numbers at the Capitol Wednesday.
Right to be heard
House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, House ranking member of the Public Health Committee, released a similar statement about the public health hearing.
“Residents should take note: this is the new way Democrats are doing business in the legislature. This decision comes on the heels of their recent omnibus bill, passed under an emergency certification that conveniently bypassed public hearings altogether, and now they’re capping testimony on bills that strip parents of their voice, their rights, and for many families, close the courthouse door on their ability to challenge the state’s controversial elimination of the religious exemption for school vaccines,” Candelora and Klarides-Ditria wrote.
The pair criticized Lamont’s vaccine bill, which would give the public health commissioner authority to set the state’s vaccine requirements as also limiting the democratic process by “cutting out the legislature and parents entirely.”
In light of the change, “the legislature should offer the public the maximum input possible,” Candelora and Klarides-Ditria wrote.
Republicans were recently vocal in criticizing Democrats for going ahead with legislative meetings despite snow closing the Capitol building and the governor’s emergency declaration. While the meetings went ahead on YouTube Live, it deprived some members of the public of participating in the process, they said. Democrats said that the legislature, many state employees and public workers routinely engage in remote work.
“They can’t praise Connecticut’s open public hearing process, including the ability to testify remotely, and then slam the door shut the moment residents line up to oppose their agenda. Every Connecticut citizen who wants to be heard deserves that right,” the House Republicans said.
But committee co-chairs said in statements Friday that the time allotted to hear testimony was plenty.
“The Public Health Committee will hear more than thirteen hours of testimony on Wednesday from Connecticut residents on the vital issue of vaccination policies,” committee co-chairs Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey and Sen. Saud Anwar said in a joint statement. “The committee will also accept unlimited written testimony from anyone in the state before, during, and after the hearing. We welcome all voices on this important issue.”
Rep. Jennifer Leeper, co-chair of the Education Committee called testimony “critically important” to understanding the impacts of the proposed legislation but suggested that “a national call” for opposition testimony to the bill could lengthen the list of speakers.
“Hearing from the public on any legislation we propose is a critically important part of us learning how what we are proposing could impact the diverse range of stakeholders involved,” Leeper said. “Given that we don’t limit public testimony to only CT residents and that a national call was put out to advocates in opposition to this bill, we believe that limiting testimony to 24 hours is a sufficient amount of time to hear all the perspectives.”
She also said that the opportunity to offer written testimony is unlimited.
“There is state precedent for this. Should anyone not be able to testify during that 24 hours, we have no limit on written testimony and encourage anyone to submit written testimony before, during, or after the hearing. This bill will receive a thorough and detailed public discussion, and all perspectives will have the opportunity to be heard.”
Education Committee co-chair Sen. Doug McCrory could not be reached for comment.