Legislative Update 4/1/03

In other news, a second front in our battle opened up this week, as legislative leadership charged the Government Administration and Elections Committee with the task of reviewing all the organizational and structural recommendations contained in the Governor's budget. The Commission's Jack Shannahan, the Trust's Helen Higgins and I all introduced testimony supporting the Coalition's cultural reorganization plan (copies of our testimony are available here) at an initial hearing of that committee yesterday and met with Committee Co-chair Representative Jim O'Rourke, who is very supportive of the Coalition's counter proposal. We'll be working the rest of the committee hard in the next few days and will be corresponding with those of you with legislators on that body later today to urge supporting letters and phone calls.
Most importantly, top leadership in both the House and Senate are now actively participating in this discussion. On the House side, Deputy Speaker Melody Currey is taking an active role in resolving the tourism district consolidation mess ( a key component of the Governor's plan) and in framing a more balanced approach to the accompanying issue of cultural
reorganization. We've met with her at length and have been encouraged by her responsiveness to our concerns for organizational and funding parity for heritage and the arts. On the Senate side, staff in Senate President Pro
Tempore Kevin Sullivan's office asked us yesterday to come in to brief them on our concerns with the Governor's recommendations and on the details of our counter-proposal.

It is, of course, far, far too early to predict where all this will go, but it is a very encouraging sign that our issue is so clearly in play at these levels and is getting such careful attention.

This development simultaneously should give us pause and hope. The Governor's continued support for his cultural merger plan reminds us that we still have a hard political road to hoe in the next couple of months, but the fact that he abandoned several of his other consolidation proposals in the face of determined opposition from affected constituencies should remind
us that grassroots advocacy campaigns are indeed effective.

We need to keep up the pressure. If you have not yet contacted your local representatives to register your opposition to the Governor's merger proposal and to press the case for organizational and funding parity between the arts and heritage, please do so today!


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			Legislative Update 4/1/03
			We're making headway! At the invitation of the Appropriations Committee leadership and in consultation with Senator Mary Ann Hanley and Representative Shawn Johnston, the co-chair of the sub-committee on elementary and secondary education, in the last few days we've hammered out and put in play a formal Heritage Coalition counter-proposal to the Governor's cultural consolidation recommendations that gives organizational form to our basic objectives of organizational and funding equity between the arts and heritage/humanities. The Coalition's plan: preserves the organizational integrity and current granting programs of the Connecticut Humanities Council, Connecticut Historical Commission and Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation; proposes a consolidation of all the state's heritage properties, now scattered across three state agencies, under the administration of the Commission; links the directors of the state's heritage, arts and tourism entities in a collaborative "Connecticut Cultural Affairs Council" modeled on a successful cultural organization process pioneered in Maine; ensures increased legislative accountability and administrative efficiency by locating legislative oversight for the state's cultural activity, now scattered across the legislature, in a single committee - Appropriation's sub-committee on elementary and secondary education - and by consolidating fiscal management services for these agencies under the Connecticut State Library. click here for links to an organizational chart and rationale for the plan. In other news, a second front in our battle opened up this week, as legislative leadership charged the Government Administration and Elections Committee with the task of reviewing all the organizational and structural recommendations contained in the Governor's budget. The Commission's Jack Shannahan, the Trust's Helen Higgins and I all introduced testimony supporting the Coalition's cultural reorganization plan (copies of our testimony are available here) at an initial hearing of that committee yesterday and met with Committee Co-chair Representative Jim O'Rourke, who is very supportive of the Coalition's counter proposal. We'll be working the rest of the committee hard in the next few days and will be corresponding with those of you with legislators on that body later today to urge supporting letters and phone calls. Most importantly, top leadership in both the House and Senate are now actively participating in this discussion. On the House side, Deputy Speaker Melody Currey is taking an active role in resolving the tourism district consolidation mess ( a key component of the Governor's plan) and in framing a more balanced approach to the accompanying issue of cultural reorganization. We've met with her at length and have been encouraged by her responsiveness to our concerns for organizational and funding parity for heritage and the arts. On the Senate side, staff in Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin Sullivan's office asked us yesterday to come in to brief them on our concerns with the Governor's recommendations and on the details of our counter-proposal. It is, of course, far, far too early to predict where all this will go, but it is a very encouraging sign that our issue is so clearly in play at these levels and is getting such careful attention. On the down side, while the Governor has recently backed off his proposals to eliminate key commissions like the Permanent Commission for the Status of Women and to merge small state agencies like the Elections and Ethics Commissions, OPM Secretary Marc Ryan reiterated the administration's strong commitment to its cultural consolidation proposal in testimony yesterday before the Government Administration and Elections Committee. This development simultaneously should give us pause and hope. The Governor's continued support for his cultural merger plan reminds us that we still have a hard political road to hoe in the next couple of months, but the fact that he abandoned several of his other consolidation proposals in the face of determined opposition from affected constituencies should remind us that grassroots advocacy campaigns are indeed effective. We need to keep up the pressure. If you have not yet contacted your local representatives to register your opposition to the Governor's merger proposal and to press the case for organizational and funding parity between the arts and heritage, please do so today! We'll keep you posted. Take heart! We're still very much in the game!