Friends,
I hope you are doing well! We are just a couple of weeks from the end of the legislative session, but almost everything that passes into law this year remains to be voted on in that short period. That can have bad implications as major legislation is pushed through without full vetting. That is one of the reasons why I co-authored a bipartisan bill at the beginning of this year to require any bill over 100 pages to be released over 48 hours before it's voted on! Unfortunately, that bill was not advanced by the majority's leadership, but we will keep trying on that in the future. Below are updates on other good and bad bills in flux over the next few weeks.Your voice is important to me and other representatives as we vote on legislation. As always, please reach out to me if you have any other questions or needs!
All my best,
Ryan
BRINGING BACK LOCAL CONTROL FOR OUR TOWNS
In an effort to restore the autonomy of Connecticut's towns and cities, I co-introduced S.B. 333 with two Democratic and one Republican state Representative. The bill aims to reverse the controversial “Zoning Rat” legislation that passed without public input last year. The prior law unfairly stripped municipalities of their rights to modify municipal charters in any way regarding planning and zoning commissions, the eminent domain process, and the level of public input regarding municipally controlled land. You can read more about the issue here. I'm happy to report that S.B. 333 has successfully passed out of committee and is now awaiting a vote on the Senate calendar.
PROGRESS ON MY PRIORITY BILLS
Four bills I authored this session have already passed out of committee and await votes in the full House and Senate. All four passed with strong bipartisan support, which is always my goal. They include:
Restoring local control | S.B. 333: This one is explained above!
Improving Health Care Access | S.B. 440: The Certificate of Need Process requires that any health care provider, even though they are already licensed, receive an added permission slip from the state to expand health services. On average, those approvals take over a year! Many studies have shown this red tape decreases access and increases the cost of health care for all. This bill I co-authored with five other senators of both parties, including the only two physicians in the Senate, would reform CON and improve health care access.
Cutting Taxes on our Workforce | S.B. 135 & S.B. 74: The roughly one-quarter of the workforce that requires a license to work is also forced to pay a licensing fee every year or two for the right to work! Many, from contractors to doctors to preschool teachers to tree trimmers, have to pay $500-1,000 annually for that right. This destroys economic growth and raises the cost of living in our state. My bills would cap those fees at $100.
Cut Electricity Costs | H.B. 5356: In the last two years, I have written comprehensive proposals to cut energy costs by 10% in the short run and more in the long run. Part of the original proposal was passed in S.B. 7 last year, but that was far from enough, and this full bill needs to pass to make better progress in cutting costs.
BAD ZONING AND HOUSING BILLS
While we are making progress with S.B. 333, which will return some measure of local control over zoning policies to our towns and cities, many bills are pending that would take more power away from our local citizens.
CT 169 Strong has done a good job of summarizing them. Check them out and follow them at ct169strong.org for more updates on these bills!
As I did last year, leading nearly 24 hours of debate against the Work Live Ride and Fair Share proposals, I am committed to standing and fighting against any other bills that would harm local control further in the Senate. Some of those bills that passed committee include:S.B. 207 would allow housing authorities of one municipality to build in another municipality without the permission of the target municipality. Imagine Hartford's city government building in Greenwich or New London's in Stamford--without permission!H.B. 5473 could require municipal sewer construction in non-sewer areas and also roll back historic design reviews.
There is concern that this could make the Weed Street 8-30g development and other 8-30g developments much more likely.H.B. 5475 would limit wetlands reviews, permit “As Of Right” conversion of nursing homes to residential units, and limit abutters’ protest rights, property rights, public hearings, and land use review procedures.H.B. 5390, DesegregateCT’s Transit-Oriented-Development Bill, would deprioritize municipalities for hundreds of millions of dollars of state funding if they do not adopt as-of-right development within half a mile of transit stations in their town or city.H.B. 5174 allows religious houses of worship to construct up to 8 temporary homeless shelter units "as-of-right," meaning without zoning oversight or approval, even in residential neighborhoods. The state must focus on protecting the homeless population, but this would not.
It would only undermine health and safety for everyone, similar to how California and New York are doing it without giving homeless people the care they need.S.B. 416 permits “as of right” conversions of commercial and industrial lots to residential development without public hearings and land use reviews, ignoring concerns over environmental and hazardous waste from past uses. While I would like to see more commercial space converted into residential units in our state, there must be a carefully crafted and precise policy that guides it--not a free-for-all!l
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