Norwich — State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, submitted a bill Monday that would call for greater transparency of records and financial information of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, owned by six member utilities in the state.

The bill is “meant to improve public awareness, and to restore lost confidence, in response to the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative’s lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby, in which elected officials, municipal employees and members of municipal utilities participated,” according to a news release from Osten Monday.

CMEEC has hosted trips, called “strategic retreats” to the Kentucky Derby for the past four years for dozens of board members, staff, guests and municipal officials. The trips, billed as “strategic retreats,” cost a combined total of $1.02 million, including the 2016 trip that totaled $342,330 for 44 participants.

Osten, chairwoman of the General Assembly's Planning and Development Committee, which has authority over some issues that involve utilities, has scheduled a news conference Tuesday at 9:15 a.m. outside Norwich City Hall to discuss her proposed bill. It was submitted to the Legislative Commissioner's Office on Monday.

Osten said in the news release that she expects bipartisan support for the proposed legislation.

The bill would call for audited annual financial reports of all accounts to be posted on CMEEC's and municipal utilities' websites upon board approval of the audits, board meeting schedules and agendas to be posted on CMEEC's website provided to member municipalities and all board actions to be forwarded to member municipalities.

With regard to CMEEC retreats, the bill would require that all strategic retreats not include any entertainment or gifts of value “over and above what is noticed and formally acknowledged by the board of directors,” incorporate explicit meeting sessions for direct business and be accompanied by agendas, participant lists and subsequent minutes.

In the wake of the controversy, daily operations of CMEEC and its board of directors also came into question. The agency does not post regular meeting agendas in city and town clerks' offices of member utilities, as required by the state Freedom of Information Act and the agency's own bylaws. CMEEC also does not release full budgets and financial information.

Six municipal ethics complaints have been filed in Norwich and one in Groton City that are believed to pertain to the trips. The complaints are confidential until the ethics commissions in each city rules whether to conduct public hearings on them. The FBI also has asked for information and documents from CMEEC and its member utilities, although no specific reasons for the inquiries have been revealed.

Documents requested by The Day were heavily redacted — including an accounting of what was called “the CMEEC Margin Fund,” where funding for the trip was derived. CMEEC Executive Director Drew Rankin said the fund revenues come from contracts and services provided to non-member entities, including municipalities in Massachusetts, the Mohegan tribe and management of a hydropower facility for the Metropolitan District Commission. But what appear to be listed sources of revenue on the sheet were blacked out, as were any expenses other than “member delegation expenses,” which was said to be the Derby trip funds.

Rankin also said all other money in the Margin Fund is returned to member utilities for rate stabilization, but no accounting has been provided for distribution of those revenues.

Currently, the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority does not oversee municipally owned utilities, nor does the state office of Consumer Protection or state Attorney General's office.

c.bessette@theday.com