The state legislature convened a special session in Hartford on Wednesday and voted in favor of extending Gov. Ned Lamont's emergency authority through Sept. 30.

The Senate and House voted mostly along partisan lines following a debate on whether the COVID-19 pandemic is still enough of a threat to extend the emergency authority and allow the governor to issue executive orders in response. The House voted in favor 73-56, with 22 members absent or not voting, while the Senate voted in favor 19-15 with one member absent or not voting.

Lamont sent a letter to legislators last week in an attempt to persuade them to extend his emergency powers along with 11 standing executive orders regarding the pandemic. He has had emergency declarations extended since March 2020 and has issued hundreds of executive orders in the past 16 months, the vast majority of which have since expired.

"These orders are still needed to protect the public and continue critical measures to provide (health care) access and economic relief and respond to evolving changes," Lamont wrote. "They are also narrowly targeted to achieve specific goals that would otherwise be unachievable because of statutory or regulatory barriers that were not contemplated in the context of a highly transmissible and long-lasting disease outbreak when the statutes were passed."

https://www.theday.com/statenortheast-news/20210714/lawmakers-extend-gov-ned-lamonts-emergency-authority