7/11/05-SB1057 has died. However, a similar bill – SB2000 – was signed into law July 7.

6/16/05-The Legislature will return to the state Capitol next week for a special session to hammer out a deal on a transportation improvement plan.
Lawmakers adjourned their regular session earlier this month without reaching agreement on Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s $1.3 billion, 10-year transportation package.
Rell’s proposal includes $667 million to purchase 342 new passenger rail cars in the next decade – an effort to improve service and entice commuters out of their vehicles and off congested highways.
SB1057 also includes $300 million for new rail maintenance facilities; $187 million for improvements in congested stretches of Interstate 95; $150 million to help upgrade I-94 and I-84; and $7.5 million for new buses.
In addition, the effort would gradually increase the existing gross earning tax on companies distributing petroleum products.
Those products include gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, kerosene, benzol, distillate fuels and crude oil.
The plan was praised by Democrats and Republicans alike, but during the final hour of the session the Senate Democratic leaders refused to allow it to come up for a vote.
Senate Minority Leader Lou DeLuca, R-Woodbury, accused Democrats of holding the bill up to get more money for special projects in their districts.
Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams of Brooklyn denied the accusations. He told WTNH-TV in New Haven there just wasn’t time to negotiate all the bonding issues, noting the bill includes some bonding.
Rell told the Connecticut Post getting this bill passed is her top priority in the special session of the Legislature that begins June 23.
For bill status, call (860) 240-0555.

5/20/05-The Joint Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee voted 37-18 May 16 to drop a proposed hike in the state’s fuel tax. Instead, they approved an increase in the gross earning tax on petroleum companies to finance Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s $1.3 billion, 10-year transportation improvement plan.
The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
Rell’s initial proposal included $667 million to purchase 342 new railroad cars over the next decade – an effort to improve service and entice commuters out of their vehicles and off congested highways.
A 6-cent-per-gallon increase in the fuel tax over the next eight years would have paid for the bulk of the plan.
The governor’s plan also included $300 million for new rail maintenance facilities; $187 million for improvements in congested stretches of Interstate 95; $150 million to help upgrade I-94 and I-84; and $7.5 million for new buses.
The committee-approved version of the bill – SB1057 – still includes money for improvements to I-95 and putting hundreds of new cars on rail tracks.
In addition, the effort would gradually increase the existing gross earning tax on companies distributing petroleum products.
Those products include gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, kerosene, benzol, distillate fuels and crude oil.
Senators could refer the bill to another panel before voting, or it could be included in the state’s overall two-year, $32 billion budget proposal.
For bill status, call (860) 240-0555.