A last-minute effort to speed up the legalization of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants to this summer has been scrapped, prompting minority House Republicans to end a filibuster that threatened the final day of the 2013 General Assembly session.
House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, who announced the deal, also said his caucus wouldn?t block a second last-minute change that had sparked the filibuster -- a measure that would allow the state to spend $750 million in new financing pledged to a special budget reserve.
Also Wednesday afternoon, key Democratic leaders in the House and Senate insisted they remain unaware of who had arranged the driver's license change, or why.
?I was told they (Democrats) have every intention of taking it out? now, Cafero told reporters just after 3 p.m. outside of the Hall of the House.
Two hours earlier, the GOP leader had accused majority Democrats in the legislature of ?an outrageous power grab.?
Cafero had specifically objected to an early draft of a major omnibus policy bill needed to implement the next state budget. In one section, it changed the legalization date for driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants from Jan. 1, 2015 -- as spelled out in a bill adopted last week -- to July 1 of this year.
Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill, but did appreciate the 2015 implementation date, Cafero said, since it gave time for a task force to study the issue and recommend ways to ?fine tune? the implementation process.
That section had prompted Cafero to threaten to effectively shut down the final day of the session, which adjourns at midnight according to a provision in the state Constitution.
Though Republicans hold just 52 seats of 151 in the House, the minority holds considerable influence in the session?s final days.
Because of the mandatory adjournment deadline, and because legislative rules allow for unlimited discussion, the minority can sink any bill simply by continuing the floor debate.
Cafero said his office had been in contact with representatives for House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, also a Democrat.
?It?s still a great mystery? how this change in the legalization date was added, Cafero said. ?The little budget implementer fairy came down and worked its way into? the bill.
Gabe Rosenberg, Sharkey's spokesman, said shortly afterward that "we have no idea how or when it was changed. And as soon as we became aware it was changed, we changed it back."
The Democratic leaders of the legislature?s Transportation Committee, Rep. Tony Guerrera of Rocky Hill and Sen. Andrew Maynard of Stonington, both said they were surprised to see the change this morning as well.
?I was shocked when I saw the date on it,? Guerrera said, adding that the Department of Motor Vehicles has indicated it doesn?t think it could implement the new law as soon as this July.
?I?m appalled that any change would come without notification to us,? Maynard said.
Cafero also said the House GOP would drop its threat to use a filibuster to sink a second last-minute legislative change, this one involving a major bonding package approved late Tuesday in the Senate.
That bills orders $750 million in borrowing to help with Malloy?s promised conversion of state finances to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Unlike the modified cash basis system currently used, under GAAP, expenses must be promptly assigned to the year in which they were incurred. In the context of the state budget, that would end an array of accounting gimmicks that have pushed current expenses into future years.
If GAAP standards are used, state finances are deep in the red. State analysts recently pegged the GAAP differential at $1.2 billion.
Malloy originally planned to close that margin by setting aside $80 million annually for 15 years starting in July. But the governor and legislature had to close a big projected deficit just to balance the next budget, and the idea of paying cash to build the entire GAAP reserve was scrapped.
By borrowing $750 million now -- a move that adds $218 million in interest costs -- that leaves just $450 million additional that Malloy and lawmakers must reserve?by 2028 to complete the GAAP conversion.
Both the governor and his fellow Democrats in the House and Senate have insisted that borrowing for GAAP has an advantage: It would force the state to save the funds it puts into reserve.
The state would pledge in its bond covenant -- effectively a contract with the investors who buy its bonds -- to use the proceeds only to address the GAAP problem, he said.
But Cafero noted that Section 69 of the bonding bill allows the state to spend the borrowed GAAP dollars if the governor declares ?an emergency or the existence of extraordinary circumstances,? and if three-fifths of the House and Senate agree.
Because of the backdoor spending provision, Cafero charged, Democrats ?are literally ignoring their promise to the people.?
But the House GOP leader conceded by midafternoon that while his caucus continues to oppose both the borrowing and the spending exemption, they won?t shut down the session?s final day over that issue alone.
?We?re still talking on that one,? he said, ?but I?ve only got 52 guys. Where am I going to go on that one?"
The House passed the bonding bill just before 3:40 p.m. in a 99-43 vote largley along party lines. The measure now heads to Malloy's desk.
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