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The Senate just placed on its consent calendar for unanimous approval the cancellation of $422 million in lingering bond authorizations that Gov. M. Jodi had no intention of putting before the State Bond Commission. In all, 255 capital projects would be axed under the bill, which next heads to the house. It’s part of an effort to rid the long list of local projects won by lawmakers in recent years, but which have not won allocation under the governor. Rell pitched it that clearing the bond commission’s decks would help the state’s bond rating. Here, from the bill, is a list of the projects cancelled for Bridgeport.

“Grants-in-aid for infrastructure projects and programs in the city of Bridgeport not exceeding $ 27,700,000, including, but not limited to, grants (1) for design and construction of a flood control project in the northeast corner of the city; (2) for the design and construction of the Congress Street Bridge; (3) for day care, a community room and a playground at West End School; (4) for purchase and installation of a public safety video surveillance system; (5) to the Fairfield County Housing Partnership for land acquisition, design, development and construction of an independent living facility; (6) for purchase of a water taxi, construction of docks and construction of the Pleasure Beach retractable pedestrian bridge; (7) to the Bridgeport Port Authority for improvements to the Derecktor Shipyard, including remediation, dredging, bulkheading and construction of Phase 2 of the Derecktor Shipyard Economic Development Plan; (8) for repair and improvements on State Road 59 between the North Avenue and Capitol Avenue intersections, including median and sidewalk renovations; (9) for the remediation of the waterfront, including any predevelopment costs; (10) for the Island Brook flood control project; (11) for improvements to the bus and transportation center; and (12) for restoration, new construction or property acquisition for expansion and improvement for Greater Bridgeport Transit.”

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Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, Rep. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, and Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, just announced they are pulling from consideration a bill that would extend the statute of limitations on child sex-abuse cases that in recent years have rocked the Roman Catholic Church and lately, St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where a former doctor, now dead, was found to have abused hundreds of Hartford-area children while practicing pediatric medicine.

 Lawlor, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and the others said there’s just not enough support for the bill, which would allow people older than 48 years of age to pursue sex-abuse claims. He hinted there are active negotiations, however, that could yield an agreement on legislation that would go forward next year. “There’s a lot of legal technicalities involved in this stuff and there are a lot of reasons not to publically get into the explicit details,” he said. “I can only say for my part that I’ve had a chance to talk to pretty much everybody involved in these things over the last couple of days and I actually think people understand that there’s a very good reason to find a way to resolve this stuff.”

He said that for older victims, there are still legal options to pursue the people who abused them. “There’s more that can be done and should be done,” Lawlor said. “Everyone is very motivated and there’s a lot of incentives to deal with these things and I have a sense that’s going to happen. There’s a lot of emotion attached to this and there are a lot of legal technicalities. These cases are differeent. These are about children who were sexually abused oftentimes by very powerful and influential and intimidating people, who the profile of a child predator, the manipulative behavior they engage in, the grooming behavior they engage in is very consistent and because of that children are very reluctant to come forward with their allegations because they won’t be believed or they’ll be victimized a second time. Many kids are told the bad things that will happen to them; sometimes made to sign a pledge under penalty of eternal condemnation to never say a word about this . It’s not a surpr5ise that 20,30,40,50 years later, for the first time they come forward with this information.”"

“It’s time to rethink,” Handley said. “We’re going to keep going.” Church officials had lined up against the bill, claiming they could be bankrupted.

Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued the following statement:

“Reforming the statute of limitations protects kids by helping topublicly expose dangerous child molesters and deter reckless employers. Compensating those already wounded is only one benefit to this legislation. Even if every single person who was sexually assaulted by Riordan in childhood gets some kind of settlement, that doesn’t absolve lawmakers of the duty to protect children by giving victims the chance to warn families about predators through the justice system. We commend the courageous and compassionate abuse victims who have worked so long to safeguard the vulnerable and heal the wounded through this legislative effort and hope they will have the strength and persistence to push even harder next session. “

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Oz Griebel, Republican hopeful for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, just held a news conference in the blasting prenoon sun of the Capitol grounds, to trumpet the endorsement of former long-time Fifth District Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, who lost her seat to U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy nearly three-and-a-half years ago.

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Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, told reporters today that Gov. Rell’s proposal to raid two conservation programs to the tune of $100 million over the next two years, is resulting in “pushback” from some democratic lawmakers and environmentalists. “The good news is everyone’s talking in an open way,” he said. The plan to transfer a billion dollars of the Rainy Day Fund to the next fiscal year and to borrow nearly a billion dollars to fill the hole in this year’s budget is still being analyzed, he said. At this point, the Blogster says that the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby this weekend has a much better chance of occurring than lawmakers have in crafting a new budget before the midnight, May 5 adjournment deadline.

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Gov. Rell threw Democrats – and probably Republicans if there were enough of them to matter when it comes to votes in the House and Senate – yesterday when she offered a securitization-light program to save some money on interest in attempt to wrangle the upcoming $700-million deficit. The scheme would borrow about a billion bucks and pay it back over seven years, on top of last year’s $900-million bonded debt, rather than “securitize” a unidentified $1.3 billion revenue stream that would cost taxpayers $1.8 billion over 10 years. While Democratic leaders said they would study the proposal and get back to the governor quickly, unless they are decisive and concede the political high ground to her, for once, the legislative session will almost surely end at midnight May 5 – Cinqo de Mayo for you civilians - without a budget adjustment in place for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

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The Senate is on the verge of voting on a bill that would provide workers’ comp benefits to police officers, including state police, for mental and emotional distress such as the one in Stamford who shot, at close range, the 220-pound chimpanzee that nearly killed a woman in Stamford last year. “We have not changed in any way the existing law the police officers covered under workers’ compensation,” said Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, noting that DEP conservation officers would not be covered.

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Teresa C. Caruso, 85, mother of veteran state Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, died over the weekend. She was remembered during a brief moment in the state House of Representatives this afternoon.