A different shift in Connecticut: on sick leave, immigration, marijuana and other issues, lawmakers in Connecticut end their most activist session in years.

• Author: Applebome, Peter

In a year when conservative politics have dominated even traditionally Democratic states like New Jersey and New York, Connecticut is closing out its most activist, liberal legislative session in memory.

Lawmakers over the last several weeks have enacted the largest tax increase in Connecticut history and approved the nation's first law to mandate paid sick leave for some workers. They voted to extend protections for transgender people, charge in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants, extend an early-release program for prisoners and decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

As legislators wrap up the first session in 20 years with a Democratic governor, who is working with two chambers in the legislature under Democratic control, it is clear that either they did not receive or they decided to tear up the antitax, budget-slashing, confront-the-unions script that has characterized state legislative sessions elsewhere.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy and legislative Democrats characterized the session as one in which tough and balanced decisions were made on fiscal and job-creation issues, while social issues that had lingered for many years also were addressed. Republicans say the last five months of lawmaking have been a liberal joy ride and a capitulation to the state's powerful unions.

The session provides a glimpse into the politics of a state that largely avoided the Republican tide that swept the country last year. And the way that voters respond could say a lot, not just about Connecticut's future, but also about national politics as the fevers of the 2010 elections begin to cool.

The Senate president, Donald E. Williams Jr., a Democrat from Brooklyn, Conn., said the legislation passed on social issues was forward-looking and relatively modest, and he insisted Connecticut had made difficult but smart economic choices that would benefit the state over the long run.

"We're not interested in burning the bridges leading to our economic future," Williams said in an interview. "Governor Malloy and the Democratic legislature have decided to dig in and not do what other states are doing: using a flame-thrower when it comes to municipal aid, state support for education, state support for pathways that lead to opportunity."

But Republicans, for the most part, have been sharply critical.

"Their solution is to tax the wealthy in Fairfield County, redistribute income and hope people in Greenwich and Darien don't move to...