The state House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill passed last week in the Senate that calls for greater restrictions on the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, including a five-year financial review by a forensic auditor and mandating all retreats and meetings be held in state.

The legislation also calls for adding board members to the CMEEC board of directors appointed directly by the legislative bodies of member municipalities: city councils and boards of selectmen. CMEEC is owned by six member municipally owned utilities: Norwich Public Utilities, Jewett City Department of Public Utilities, Groton Utilities, Bozrah Light and Power and two Norwalk utilities.

The House passed Senate Bill 4 on its consent agenda late Tuesday during a lengthy session.

The bill is in response to a controversy over CMEEC's practice of hosting all-expenses-paid trips to the Kentucky Derby for dozens of board members, staff and numerous guests from 2013 through 2016 at a combined cost of $1.02 million. The trips were funded through CMEEC’s margin fund, revenues received mainly from nonmember sources but that also contained some member ratepayer funds.

— Claire Bessette