You asked about Constitutional provisions and rules governing the introduction of bills during the even-year (short) sessions and whether the number of non-fiscal bills has increased over the last few short sessions. You also wanted to know if out-of-state residents may testify at public hearings.

SUMMARY

During a short session the only bills that may be introduced are those (1) dealing with budget, revenue, and financial matters; (2) raised by subject matter committees; (3) correcting technical defects in the statutes; and (4) certified by the president pro tempore and the speaker as emergency in nature. It is not possible to determine if the number of non-fiscal bills being introduced is increasing without looking at each bill individually since no tracking system categories them. The total number of bills introduced has gone up and down over the last five short sessions. The rules neither specifically authorize or prohibit out-of-state residents from testifying at public hearings.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

Section two of Article Third of the Connecticut Constitution provides that in even-year sessions the General Assembly "shall consider no business other than budgetary, revenue and financial matters, bills and resolutions raised by committees of the general assembly and those matters certified in writing by the speaker of the house of representatives and the president pro tempore of the senate to be of an emergency nature. " Section 13 of Article Third gives each house the power to "determine the rules of its own proceedings. " CGS § 2-1a also gives each house the authority "to adopt rules for the orderly conduct of its affairs," authorizes adoption of joint rules applicable to both houses, and states that such rules "shall have the force and effect of law. "

Rule 9 of the Joint Rules governs "committee bills," which are bills the committee votes to have the Legislative Commissioners Office draft in formal statutory language based on principles expressed in proposed bills, and "raised bills", which are original bills the committee votes on its own to draft without reference to proposed bills. Subsection (j) of joint rule 9 of the current rules lays out the limitations on introduction of bills for the 2002 legislative session. It states:

In the 2002 session only bills and resolutions relating to budgetary, revenue and financial matters, committee bills and resolutions to correct technical defects in the statutes, bills and resolutions raised by committees of the General Assembly and bills and resolutions relating to matters certified in writing by the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate to be of an emergency nature may be introduced.

NUMBER OF NON-FISCAL BILLS INTRODUCED

It is impossible to say whether or not the number of non-fiscal bills introduced in short sessions has increased over the last few years without going through all of the bills one at a time to determine which are not fiscal in nature. The total number of bills has increased and decreased over the last four short sessions as shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1: Bills Introduced in Even Year Sessions

Year	House	Senate	Total
2000	930	640	1570
1998	750	614	1364
1996	839	705	1544
1994	875	421	1296

Thus far in 2002, a total of 1,363 bills have been introduced: 747 House bills and 616 Senate bills. But more bills can still be introduced this session, so these numbers are not final.

TESTIMONY OF OUT-OF-STATE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AT PUBLIC HEARINGS

Nothing in the Constitution, statutes, or legislative rules (joint, house, or senate rules) directly addresses who may testify at public hearings. Joint Rule 6 governs public hearings. It gives the presiding chairperson the authority to convene the hearing and to determine the order of testimony of witness and the length of time each witness may testify, giving "due regard for the convenience of the public. " It allows members of the public who wish to testify at a public hearing to place their names on a list, which must be made available at a time and place determined by the chairperson.

People from out of state do testify at public hearings, sometimes at the invitation of the committee or individual legislators and sometimes at the behest of groups or organizations that are advocating for or against bills before a committee.

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