Steven Stafstrom

This week, the Governor and the respective legislative caucuses released proposals for a balanced budget. The legislative Democratic proposal contains significant restructuring to make state government more efficient while protecting investments in workforce training and business growth. Our proposal does not increase the state sales tax, personal income tax or corporation taxes.

State Rep. Steve Stafstrom and the Bridgeport legislative delegation are pleased to announce the approval of funding for various projects in Bridgeport. Bridgeport received over $6 million for various projects including continuing renovations to Housatonic Community College, a grant for Southwest Community Health Center and improvements to the public library. The House of Representatives also passed the mixed-martial arts and boxing bill that will help bring events to the city, and the pension bill that will save city taxpayers millions of dollars on pensions.

A bill that would increase citizen participation in Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ) committees passed out of the House of Representatives May 3 with a 147-2 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate for approval.

As the legislature gets closer to setting a spending plan for the 2017-18 fiscal year, it is important that we prioritize paying down our debt, investing in transportation infrastructure, and most importantly, supporting cities like Bridgeport with education aid and municipal funding to allow them to be the centers of economic growth for our state.

As the Judiciary Committee has now reached its deadline for reporting out bills for the 2017 Session, I wanted to share with you some highlights of the bills we have passed out of Committee on key topics.

We must partner together, standing united as cities and suburban towns to help our cities thrive as the sustainable regional job creators and economic drivers we need them to be.

The CT Post supports Stafstrom's 'Sexting bill'

"Anybody who tells you this is a gun bill, it's not," said Stafstrom, an attorney. "This is a police safety bill. This is a public safety bill. ... This is not a Second Amendment issue. Nobody's gun is going to be taken away as a result of this legislation. You're still going to have that same right to own that gun. And it is not a Fourth Amendment issue. Again, if you don't want to be stopped, you just simply conceal carry."