The New York Times - December 21, 1986
Richard L. Madden

Although the session will not convene until Jan. 7, the clerk's offices of the State Senate and House of Representatives were receiving stacks of bills that lawmakers hoped would become new state laws next year. Many of the measures had a common theme - to reduce state taxes.

At the same time, two dozen advocacy organizations, calling themselves the Meet the Needs Coalition, proposed that the new legislature take advantage of the state's current budget surplus and increase spending to meet what the group said was a variety of unmet needs for public services at the state and municipal levels.

"These needs for public services cannot be addressed if the state continues to diminish its fiscal capacity by cutting state taxes," the organizations said in a joint statement. "Before further state tax cuts are considered, unmet needs should be adequately addressed."

The group was made up of such diverse organizations as the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Connecticut Education Association, the Connecticut Library Association and the United Way of Connecticut.

The coalition did not put a price tag on its proposals, which included:

* Raising the state's share of the cost of local public education to 50 percent, from 42 percent.

* Increasing the enrollment and retention of minority students at the state's colleges and universities.

* Expanding job training for unemployed workers with obsolete skills.

* Upgrading waste-water treatment projects.

* Expanding programs to treat substance abuse.

* Creating more housing for low- and moderate-income families and shelters for the homeless.

* Increasing child and adult day-care centers and programs to combat teen-age pregnancies.

* Expanding state aid for local property-tax relief based on a municipality's needs.

A spokesman for the coalition, Joel Cogen, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, estimated that the state could end its current fiscal year next June 30 with a surplus as high as $400 million. That would be sharply higher than the most recent estimates of a $142 million surplus by state budget officials and $164 million by the legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis.

The debate on how the state will spend its surplus and whether taxes would be cut is scheduled to begin in February when Governor O'Neill submits his proposed state budget to the legislature.

During his recent re-election campaign, Mr. O'Neill said his priority would be to increase state aid to the cities and towns to enable them to hold down or reduce local property taxes. Mr. O'Neill has also said that there may be room for more state tax cuts next year, but he has not made specific proposals.

Some legislators, however, already have filed proposals for tax cuts and other matters to be considered next year. While many of them may never make it into law, the early bills indicate some of the more popular areas for tax cuts.

For example, Senator Philip S. Robertson of Cheshire, who will have the title of senior Republican leader in the new session, has proposed eliminating the 7.5 percent state sales tax on household paper products and on hardcover and paperback books.

Four Republican legislators have co-sponsored a bill to reduce the sales tax to 6.5 percent.

The state tax on income from dividends and interest is a prime target of some legislative proposals. One bill already filed would eliminate the tax completely. A companion measure would reduce the tax rate on dividends and interest, which currently ranges from 1 to 12 percent, by one percentage point.

But not all the bills that have been filed early deal with money and taxes.

Representative Eugene A. Migliaro Jr., a Wolcott Republican who traditionally is the first to file bills for a new session, has proposed several measures to revise one of his favorite targets - the state's auto-emissions testing program.

One bill would eliminate the program. Another would exempt automobiles that are more than five years old or have been driven more than 50,000 miles. Still another would have the tests conducted by service stations, rather than state inspection stations.

Many of the early legislative proposals have been introduced in past sessions without success. But several new proposals this year deal with what legislators said was a growing concern about AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

For example, Representative J. Peter Fusscas, Republican of Marlborough, has proposed legislation that would require the testing of people accused of sexual assault to determine if they have AIDS. Information about the tests would be disclosed to the victims.

Another measure would require applicants for a marriage license to take a blood test to detect exposure to the AIDS virus.

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