| Housing Committee Testimony |
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| Yesterday, I testified before the Housing Committee in support of S.B. No. 169, An Act Concerning a Study of the Effects of Affordable Housing Policies in the State. I spoke to the need to analyze the impact and effectiveness of 830-g, the Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure, which requires all municipalities in Connecticut to adopt an Affordable Housing Plan, with at least 10% of all dwelling units in each municipality being dedicated to affordable housing.
Based on concerns that I've received from members of our community, I shared my concerns with the way the law functions in our community and offered recommendations on how we can improve 830-g to more effectively increase affordable housing across all communities not only those already attractive for private development while also being less disruptive to the community. I hope you will take the time to watch my testimony and share your thoughts and suggestions. |
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| Investing in School Air Quality Improvements |
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| On Tuesday, Governor Lamont announced a proposal to create a grant program that would fund HVAC system upgrades in Connecticut public schools. As a Board of Education member, I was a strong supporter of investing in air quality improvements in our schools as a critical need for student and staff health and safety. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on this need, especially in older school buildings. The Governor's proposal would utilize $90 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan. Click below for the Governor's press release: |
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| Community Conversation on School and State Funding |
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| How our schools are funding is both critically important and also deeply complex and can be confusing. Rep. Devlin and I are hosting a community conversation on Tuesday, March 15th at 7 p.m., featuring leaders from the School and State Finance Project to walk through how our schools are funded. We hope that this can be an educational and engaging conversation. I hope you can join us! Email Audrey.Rossignol@cga.ct.gov to register for the Zoom. |
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| My thoughts and heart are with the people of Ukraine and the Ukrainian American families that we are so fortunate to have here in Connecticut. As we continue to see the atrocities unfold, I wanted to provide you with a list of reputable organizations that are doing incredible work to provide relief for the people of Ukraine.
Connecticut Based Organizations:
- Americares - Stamford-based non-profit which helps to deliver medicine, medical supplies and emergency funding (Donate Here)
- Knights of Columbus - Ukraine Solidarity Fund will provide temporary shelter, food, medical supplies, clothing, communications and religious supplies (Donate Here)
National and International Organizations:
- The International Rescue Committee (IRC) - working on the ground in Poland to help displaced families and provide humanitarian aid (Donate Here)
- Save the Children - help provide children and families with immediate aid, such as food, water, hygiene kits and psychosocial support (Donate Here)
- Voices of Children - provides psychological and psychosocial support from war trauma (Donate Here)
- UN Crisis Relief: Ukraine Humanitarian Fund - funds are pooled and then made directly and immediately available to a wide range of partner organizations at the front lines of response (Donate Here)
- The International Committee of the Red Cross - will use funds to respond to urgent, humanitarian needs, including helping more than 3 million people access clean water and improve the living conditions of more than 66,000 people whose homes have been damaged (Donate Here)
- World Central Kitchen - serving thousands of fresh meals to Ukrainian families fleeing home as well as those who remain in the country (Donate Here)
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| PURA Public Listening Session |
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| The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) will have an open proceeding, Docket No. 21-05-15, PURA Investigation into a Performance-Based Regulation Framework for the Electric Distribution Companies as a result of Section 1 of Public Act 20-5, the Take Back Our Grid Act.
As part of this investigation, a Public Listening Session will be held on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. The purpose of the Session is to encourage non-traditional stakeholder engagement and enhance the understanding of a performance-based regulation framework. If you're interested in this issue, I would encourage you to attend.
If you can't attend but are interested in submitting written comments, please send them to PURA.ExecutiveSecretary@ct.gov referencing Docket No. 21-05-15 in the subject line, or contact me for assistance at Jennifer.Leeper@cga.ct.gov. If you would like to learn more about how to engage with PURA on this, or on other initiatives, you can access the recording of a recent PURA 101 workshop with PURA Chairman Melissa Gillett by clicking the image below. |
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| Access Health CT Small Business |
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| Access Health CT Small Business supports Connecticut’s small business employers and employees with quality, affordable group health insurance. And there’s no need to worry about missing enrollment deadlines—you can enroll any time of year. Click on the image below to learn more. |
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