Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • July 13, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Greg Bordonaro and Matt Pilon gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com; mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com W hen Gov. Ned Lamont an- nounced in May that he would force Connecticut nail salons — shuttered by his own order since COVID-19 struck the state in March — to wait another month to reopen, Luis Ramirez was at his wit's end. The owner of Roxy Nails Design in Hartford's Frog Hollow neighbor- hood, Ramirez had scraped together $800 for safety improvements to his salon, even with overdue rent piling up, as he anxiously prepared for what was supposed to be a May 20 return to business. However, with 11 days to go, Lamont changed course, keeping nail salons closed until June 17, citing concerns they weren't ready to safely reopen. "I was like 'wow, how could this happen?' " Ramirez recalled in a re- cent interview about the unexpected delay. "We were spending our sav- ings. We thought we would lose our business after five years of work." Ramirez, who is back open and fighting to make good on his missed rent, is now suing Lamont in state court, alleging that the governor's business-closing executive orders during the pandemic have been arbitrary and unconstitutional. Indeed, over the past four months, Lamont has exerted extraordinary unilateral powers that many busi- nesses and residents likely never knew he possessed. His actions have helped Con- necticut become a leading state in controlling the virus, earning him praise from the Connecticut Business & In- dustry Associa- tion (CBIA), and only moderate criticism from Republican law- makers. The public has also been impressed. A May Quinnipiac University poll found Lamont's approval rating was 65%, the highest for a Connecticut gover- nor in over a decade. More than three-quarters of voters said they approved of his handling of the pandemic. But not everyone is happy. Besides Ramirez's challenge, there have been at least five other lawsuits filed in recent months by Connecticut business owners — from residential landlords to gym, bar, spa and tattoo parlor operators — alleging Lamont has overstepped his legal bounds and damaged their interests in the process. The lawsuits add to a growing number of similar complaints in more than a dozen other states where governors have leveraged their respective emergency powers during the pandemic. If successful, the Connecticut law- suits threaten to curtail Lamont's ability to respond if a second wave of the virus hits the state — some- thing that's now happening in plac- es like Texas, Florida and Arizona, which reopened their economies on more aggressive timetables. Businesses pursue injunctions, damages While Ramirez's Park Street nail salon is back open, its short-term survival isn't guaranteed. Besides the overdue rent, custom- er traffic isn't back to normal, partly because several salon employees have left, forcing Ramirez and his wife, Rosiris, to staff the store alone. Salons are also currently limited to 50% capacity and appointment- only customers. "It's been really tough," Ramirez said. "If we had been able to open in May, it would have been a big difference." Ramirez's case has drawn inter- est from afar. Steve Simpson, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation — a California libertar- ian-leaning outfit that represents individuals against what it views as unlawful government policies — has taken the case pro bono, working alongside Ramirez's local attorney. The suit alleges that Lamont's orders have violated the equal protection and separation of pow- ers clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and that he violated state statute by delegating some of his pandemic de- cision-making to other entities, such as the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). "I'm not saying the governor is a bad person here, I understand what's going on is difficult for everybody," Simpson said. "But he is an official who must follow the rule of law." If successful, the suit could restrict Lamont from ordering similar busi- ness shutdowns in the future, but Ramirez isn't going to get a payday, no matter how things go in court. The Superior Court lawsuit seeks just $1 in nominal damages from the state — a mostly symbolic form of relief. Simpson said it would be difficult to convince a court of a methodol- ogy for calculating damages, when so many businesses have suffered. Still, curtailing Lamont's authority moving forward would be a victory, Simpson said. "[Ramirez] and I think most every other business in Connecticut is un- der the constant threat of another shutdown," he said. While Ramirez isn't seeking damages Checks & Balances Gov. Lamont's executive orders have helped CT beat back COVID-19, but some businesses want to curtail his powers Lamont's executive order directives As of July 6, Gov. Ned Lamont has issued 60 executive orders related to COVID-19, containing several hundred individual directives in all. According to a running analysis performed by the governor's legal team, more often than not, the directives have eased prior restrictions on businesses rather than imposed new ones. EO directives that imposed restrictions 91 EO directives that relaxed a statutory/ regulatory requirement 199 Total number of EO directives 290 Source: Gov. Ned Lamont's office Luis Ramirez, owner of Roxy Nails Design on Park Street in Hartford, is suing Gov. Ned Lamont over his emergency executive orders that shuttered his business for the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER

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