Like most days this time of year, it was a busy day at the Capitol. I decided to take a few moments after getting home and eating dinner to write a few words about the events today at the Capitol. I cannot say that I will have the time to write a daily report every day, but I will try to as much as possible.
I am a member of both the Public Health Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Both had public hearings at the same time. Since I have not perfected the art of being in two places at once, I had to alternate between the two.
The Public Health Committee hearing was on a long list of bills. One of them was a bill HB5308 to address a problem many health professionals (doctors, dentists, etc.) have said that are having with insurance companies having arbitrary policies on payments. Here is what HB5308 says:
The Judiciary Committee held a hearing on very significant issue. At issue was the incident last year when William Sullivan, former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, prevented a court decision from being released because he thought it might be embarrassing to another member of the Supreme Court, Peter Zarella, who Justice Sullivan knew Gov. Rell was about to name as his successor.
The fact that Sullivan resigned suddenly from office at the end the last year's legislative session, combined with the "hold" placed on this particular decision of the court, made the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee suspicious that Sullivan and perhaps others wanted to ram the Zarella nomination through a legislative confirmation vote before legislators had time to find out whether they thought he would be a good choice. In other words, did the Chief Justice try to prevent the legislature from exercising its responsibility to oversee the choices of who gets on the Supreme Court?
Ironically, the court decision that was held out of the public eye was a decision about whether certain administrative functions of the Court system should be exempt from public disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Sullivan appeared apologetic for what he had done, and denied that he did it to help Zarella win the vote for Chief Justice in the legislature. But he also said that he kept the public from seeing the Court's decision in order to keep Zarella from being embarrassed during the time that Zarella was being considered for Chief Justice by the legislature.
Whatever happened, Zarella was forced withdraw his nomination and Gov. Rell has since named a different person - Chase Rogers - to be her new choice for Chief Justice.
Finally, the Appropriations Committee, which I am not a member of, has been holding hearings on Gov. Rell's proposed budget. The public portions of the hearings are held in the evenings, and today's hearing included funding for the state's public colleges and universities. I mention this because a New Britain resident, known for his blog "spazeboy", testified in support of funding for community colleges. He is a student at Tunxis Community College. He was very articulate and raised good points.
I am a member of both the Public Health Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Both had public hearings at the same time. Since I have not perfected the art of being in two places at once, I had to alternate between the two.
The Public Health Committee hearing was on a long list of bills. One of them was a bill HB5308 to address a problem many health professionals (doctors, dentists, etc.) have said that are having with insurance companies having arbitrary policies on payments. Here is what HB5308 says:
That chapter 700c of the general statutes be amended to (1) require that contracts between managed care organizations or preferred provider networks and physicians include provisions that: (A) Provide an explanation of the physician payment methodology, the time periods for physician payments, the information to be relied on to calculate payments and adjustments and the process to be relied on to resolve disputes concerning physician payments; and (B) require that managed care organizations or preferred provider networks provide to each participating physician a complete copy of all current procedural terminology codes and all current reimbursements for such codes that determine the physician's reimbursement for the entire contract period; and (2) prohibit provisions in such contracts that allow managed care organizations or preferred provider networks to unilaterally change any term or provision of the agreed-upon contract.We heard from both health professionals, who support the bill, and at least one insurance company - Anthem - testified against the bill. Anther bill, HB6841, is similar to HB5308, except that it creates a task force to study doing what HB5308 would do. Because the co-chairs (the House chair and the Senate chair) of the Public Health Committee decided to draft HB6841 in official legal form, it looks more likely that the committee will vote on that bill.
The Judiciary Committee held a hearing on very significant issue. At issue was the incident last year when William Sullivan, former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, prevented a court decision from being released because he thought it might be embarrassing to another member of the Supreme Court, Peter Zarella, who Justice Sullivan knew Gov. Rell was about to name as his successor.
The fact that Sullivan resigned suddenly from office at the end the last year's legislative session, combined with the "hold" placed on this particular decision of the court, made the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee suspicious that Sullivan and perhaps others wanted to ram the Zarella nomination through a legislative confirmation vote before legislators had time to find out whether they thought he would be a good choice. In other words, did the Chief Justice try to prevent the legislature from exercising its responsibility to oversee the choices of who gets on the Supreme Court?
Ironically, the court decision that was held out of the public eye was a decision about whether certain administrative functions of the Court system should be exempt from public disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Sullivan appeared apologetic for what he had done, and denied that he did it to help Zarella win the vote for Chief Justice in the legislature. But he also said that he kept the public from seeing the Court's decision in order to keep Zarella from being embarrassed during the time that Zarella was being considered for Chief Justice by the legislature.
Whatever happened, Zarella was forced withdraw his nomination and Gov. Rell has since named a different person - Chase Rogers - to be her new choice for Chief Justice.
Finally, the Appropriations Committee, which I am not a member of, has been holding hearings on Gov. Rell's proposed budget. The public portions of the hearings are held in the evenings, and today's hearing included funding for the state's public colleges and universities. I mention this because a New Britain resident, known for his blog "spazeboy", testified in support of funding for community colleges. He is a student at Tunxis Community College. He was very articulate and raised good points.
