By State Rep. Tina Courpas
Representing the 149th District has been the privilege of a lifetime. Thank you to the citizens of the district for electing me to represent you in Hartford.
The legislative session in Hartford ended on June 4. The work of the legislature is to work on substantive policy issues, and I will continue this work unabated. One thing I saw firsthand in Hartford in the 2025 session, however which I did not expect is how profoundly the structure and processes of our CT legislature affect our policy outcomes. We have sound structures and processes in CT, but party imbalance (the supermajority) in CT severely undermines those structures and processes, and our state democracy.
A supermajority breeds lack of respect for tenets as fundamental as Constitutional questions.
In CT, as in many states most laws pass the legislature with a simple majority (51%) of both houses. However, decisions which have more gravity may require more. For example, an amendment to the CT constitution requires a 3/4 (75%) vote, and a change to the spending cap requires a 3/5 (60%) vote, in both houses.
In March, the Education Committee on which I sit, considered a Bill for universal preschool, a worthy goal and a $2-300 million expenditure, requiring a diversion of funds away from paying down pension debt in CT. Our CT Constitution requires that any such diversion requires a 3/5 (60%) vote of each house. I asked in the Education Committee whether this bill would require a 3/5 vote and was told by the Chairman, no. The Office of Fiscal Analysis (a nonpartisan government office) stated that he was wrong – a 3/5 vote was required. I then asked the question twice when the amended Bill reached the House floor and was told no. I asked again, and finally the Speaker of the House called for a recess of the chamber, consulted with legal counsel and confirmed that a 3/5 vote was indeed required. Google: “Tina Courpas 3/5 vote Hartford Courant” for the full story. Watch CT-N on May 31, 2025, for the full video. I appreciated Speaker Matt Ritter’s fair and accurate final conclusion.
I was shocked that this question was so repeatedly ignored, over bipartisan expert advice to the contrary and when asked on the record three times. However, when one party has the votes to pass any Bill regardless of whether 51% or 3/5 (60%) is required, this kind of disregard for important tenets of our government can result. A supermajority can use the process to undermine the minority’s ability to review Bills.
On June 2, our 693-page state budget was posted (at 3:54 am) with 12 hours for the minority to review it before a vote. HB 5002, the omnibus housing Bill, which started as one page, and went to 93, then 160, was similarly made available with inadequate time to review. The supermajority controls this process.
There used to be no such 12-hour required review window – obtaining even this was a hard-fought win by the minority. Additional reforms such as requiring a 24-hour review window of any bill over 50 pages have been rejected.
What is the result of this practice of “dropping” hundreds of pages of legislation with insufficient time to review it? Sometimes legislators are forced to vote on Bills they have not even read or digested. When this happens, the people have lost their right to representation.
A supermajority can undermine the Committee process through “aircraft carrier” Bills. The Committee process is the legislature’s deep dive into subject matter areas.
The Committee drafts the Bill, holds a public hearing, and recommends (or does not) the Bill to the full legislature. When a Bill is voted out of committee, it is supposed to mean that Committee works is complete.
However, it is a frequent practice that a committee (controlled by the supermajority) will vote on a bill which contains nothing more than a title. The bill is an “aircraft carrier” with no cargo on it. Later, multiple smaller bills are added to it and the now full aircraft carrier is brought to the floor for a vote. The final aircraft carrier has little relationship to the bill the committee passed, subverting the committee process.
The structure of our state government matters a lot, and our lopsided legislature undermines that structure. This would be true regardless of which party holds the supermajority. A legislature with party balance has a healthy amount of tension to keep these problems in check. Bipartisan balance is key not only to lasting policy, but to the very structures of our democracy.
