Gov. Lamont officially calls for special session on police accountability, absentee voting, other issues

Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday officially called the General Assembly to meet in a special session set to begin Tuesday at 9 a.m.

The legislature will weigh four issues in the special session: police transparency and accountability; expanded absentee balloting for the state’s upcoming elections; relaxed telehealth restrictions; and more affordable access to prescription drugs, equipment and supplies used to treat diabetes.

“COVID-19 has interrupted nearly all state business, and as we continue to navigate this pandemic there are several urgent items that we need to consider in order to move our state forward,” Lamont said in a statement. “Taking up these topics makes an awful lot of sense in this current environment, and through my discussions with legislative leaders I am glad that we’ve reached a consensus on the importance of tackling these issues and getting them done now.”

Lamont has touted those four issues in recent weeks, while deflecting calls from legislators to address other subjects such as affordable housing and health equity.

“I’m pretty cautious what you can do in a two- or three-day special session,” Lamont said last week. “I like what we’re focused on now, which is voting rights and absentee voting, as well as police accountability. There may be a couple of other things we can get done without big public hearings, but I think the public has a right to weigh in on bigger issues and bigger decisions, and that will probably have to wait until the fall.”

Lawmakers, including the governor, have expressed optimism about passing the police accountability bill, drafted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing protests nationwide. During a virtual hearing Friday, members of the Judiciary Committee heard public input on a 65-page draft bill proposed last week.

Lamont said Tuesday that lawmakers had not reached consensus on all aspects of the bill but were “broadly there.”

Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.

———

©2020 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.)

Visit The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) at www.courant.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.