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	Catholic Church Hearing Canceled Wednesday by Judiciary Committee; Separate Hearing Will Be Held by Republicans By Christopher Keating Hartford Courant March 10, 2009 http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/03/catholic-church-hearing-cancel.html Following the biggest political firestorm of the 2009 legislative session, a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the financial and administrative management of the Catholic Church has been canceled by the judiciary committee. The bill is dead for the rest of the legislative session. As soon as word spread about the bill, the Legislative Office Building was flooded with telephone calls and e-mails on Monday. The bill, virtually overnight, became the hottest issue at the state Capitol. The cancellation came less than 24 hours after Senate Republican John McKinney of Fairfield called for the cancellation, telling Capitol Watch on Monday that his caucus was unanimously against the bill because they believe it is clearly unconstitutional. He rejected the notion that the issue was raised as a committee bill on behalf of lower Fairfield County constituents, saying that legislators routinely offer a bill "by request" if constituents seek a hearing on an issue. The Democratic co-chairs of the legislature's judiciary committee, Rep. Michael P. Lawlor of East Haven and Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford, just released the following statement: "For reasons that are unclear, Connecticut has had generations-old laws on the books singling out particular religions and treating them differently from other religions in our statutes. That doesn't seem right. In fact, many of our existing corporate laws dealing with particular religious groups appear to us to be unconstitutional under the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If that is correct, any changes to that law would likely also be unconstitutional. "With that in mind, it would serve no useful purpose to have a conversation about changing the laws that govern existing Roman Catholic corporations until we know if any of these existing laws are constitutional. At the request of the proponents who are advocating this legislation, we have decided to cancel the public hearing for tomorrow, table any further consideration of this bill for the duration of this session, and ask the Attorney General his opinion regarding the constitutionality of the existing law that sets different rules for five named separate religions. "We think it would be more appropriate to invite representatives from all religious denominations around the state together with legal scholars on this topic to participate in a forum regarding the current law. Such a conversation would be more appropriate to have when the legislature is not in session and other more important issues, such as the current fiscal crisis, are resolved. We intend to do that once we have the benefit of the Attorney General's opinion. "In the meantime, we think it would be most beneficial if the proponents who requested these changes and church officials meet together privately to see if they can come to a resolution on their own. Open and honest communication between these two groups could only help. For our part, we intend to reach out to representatives of the Catholic Conference and continue the discussion that began in 2008 on this issue. We hope they will agree to meet with us." The laws regarding various religions and religious corporations are under Section 33-264 of the Connecticut general statutes. The law that specifically mentions the Roman Catholic Church is Section 33-279 through 33-281. Sen. John Kissel of Enfield, the ranking Senate Republican on the judiciary committee, said that the highest courts in the nation have upheld any church's right to self-governance, dating back more than 100 years. "This is an egregious attack on not only the Catholic Church, but by implication, all religious institutions in our state," Kissel said. "It is in direct violation of the Constitutional right of a church to govern itself, free from government intrusion. ... The public outcry against this proposal has been unparalleled, and the [now-canceled] public hearing on Wednesday is sure to attest to the spirit of religious freedom that still lives on in our country and here in the Constitution State." Sen. Kevin Witkos, a Canton Republican, said he was surprised that Senate Bill 1098 was considered as a committee bill by the judiciary committee. "People are angry and rightfully so," Witkos said Tuesday. "This legislation is a threat to one of the most important and most basic principles of our Constitution and to think that such a measure would even be considered is extremely troubling. ... While this bill targets the Roman Catholic Church, it should be noted that this type of legislation is a clear threat to all religious institutions."
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