What constitutes an emergency?

That’s the debate in Hartford as Connecticut lawmakers vote on a massive 139 pages of “emergency-certified” legislation – bypassing the usual vetting and public hearing process – that impacts everything from school shooter drills to recycled soda cans and Amazon workers.

Some of the concepts failed to pass in previous years.

Typically, legislation goes through public hearings and subject-matter committees. The process can take months and often results in changes based on public input.

But “emergency-certified” bills skip all that and head straight for the state Senate and House floors.

That’s what happened on Wednesday, when the Connecticut Senate took up two wide-ranging bills addressing nearly a dozen topics.

“These are bills that we feel are timely,” said Connecticut Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “It’s essential to do them now.”

The biggest impact could be on your child’s school.

Starting in 2027, Connecticut would eliminate age waivers for younger children to attend kindergarten. Students must turn 5 years old by Sept. 1, but districts can waive that requirement on a case-by-case basis.

Some parents protested when the cut-off date was moved from Jan. 1 several years ago, but teachers said younger students were not ready for kindergarten yet.

Lawmakers also plan to give school districts four more years to comply with new racial balance requirements. Fairfield and Greenwich have been singled out for campuses with too many students of one race. District leaders said they are working to make changes, but enforcing the law immediately could lead to excessively long bus rides for students.

Changes could also come to school shooting drills.

Under the legislation, “active assailant simulations” including weapons, gunfire and injured victims would be banned. It’s a push to make drills less traumatic for kids. Public safety leaders would also develop new guidelines for crisis response exercises.

Schools would have to notify parents the same day their kids are restrained and out-of-school suspensions would be limited for younger students.

Other changes include a new working group to combat antisemitism in schools and a new Arab and Islamic Studies Curriculum.

Amazon warehouse workers would get new protections from excessive productivity quotas, including guaranteed bathroom and meal breaks.

“They cannot go to the bathroom,” Amazon worker Khali Jama told lawmakers in 2023. “They work 10-hour shifts, four days a week.”

The Warehouse Workers Protection Act passed the Connecticut House last year, but did not get a vote in the state Senate.

More changes would come to voting.

Early voting would be simplified. Now, you could insert your ballot directly into the tabulator instead of sealing it in an envelope. There would also be further limits on sharing voter registration information. Connecticut and other Democrat-led states are fighting the U.S. Justice Department’s attempt to obtain voter rolls.

The bills also abandon a controversial change to the state building code, allowing only one exit in taller buildings. The change was meant to address Connecticut's severe housing shortage, but fire chiefs raised safety concerns.

“We want them out of the building," said Stamford Fire Chief Rex Morris. "We don’t want them there, but we don’t want them to come down the same stairway.”

Finally, lawmakers are looking to crack down on people from out-of-state looking to cash in on Connecticut’s higher 10-cent redemption rate for cans and bottles.

Republicans insisted that none of these things is a true emergency.

“There is no emergency that requires us to bypass public hearings,” said state Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich), who is also running for governor.

GOP lawmakers are especially concerned about nearly $10 million in earmarks – including a $750,000 grant to state Sen. Doug McCrory’s employer. The FBI is investigating whether McCrory illegally steered state money to groups connected to him.

“And not one thing in that bill – not one thing – does anything about your electric bill back home or does anything about your tax burden back home,” said Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield). “They want to usurp the entire legislative process and take away all their constituents from having a voice on the legislation because they want to hand out money to well-connected organizations to Democrat politicians in Hartford.”

Democratic leaders noted that most of these concepts have already gone through years of public hearings.

“These are bills that, in most cases, were adopted in one chamber or the other last year,” Looney told reporters. “We’re worried about Republican efforts to filibuster and delay if items are delayed later into the session.”

After Senate passage, the two emergency bills get a final vote on Thursday in the Connecticut House of Representatives.