I hope this email finds you and your family well. This year's legislative session has officially come to a close. I am proud to share that we passed a significant amount of meaningful legislation aimed at strengthening our communities, supporting working families, improving public safety, and investing in our state’s future.
Throughout the session, my colleagues and I worked diligently to address the issues that matter most to residents, including reducing rising costs, investing in public education, improving health care, promoting economic development, increasing electric supply, and enhancing our state and local infrastructure. While there is always more work to be done, I am encouraged by the progress we were able to make together this year.
Serving our community remains a tremendous honor, and I am grateful for the opportunity to advocate for the priorities and concerns shared by constituents like you. Your feedback, engagement, and support continue to play an important role in shaping the work we do at the Capitol.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office if I can ever be of assistance.
After months of negotiation, the Legislature shepherded passage of a bipartisan budget demonstrating that compromise remains the most effective way to govern.
Together, we produced a 2027 budget that significantly boosts support for the state’s education system, increases crucial investments in housing and transportation, supports town and city budgets, offsets property tax increases, and more. We accomplished this while still meeting our debt service obligations, paying approximately $1 billion toward Connecticut’s long-term debt obligations. This budget strikes an important balance. It is one that invests in our people and communities, while also sticking to fiscal demands.
This budget includes:
Over $300 million relief package for cities, towns, and schools
$190 million in direct support for schools
$100 million to address local tax increases
Expanded grants for successful special education programs
Numerous grants to towns to address the rising costs associated with construction and purchasing
$4 million to help communities where three hospitals abruptly came off the tax rolls
This session, our district saw big wins in terms of ECS funding, municipal aid, school construction reimbursement, and capital project investment. Here are some of the funding and reimbursement approval wins we achieved this year:
$7,755,320 in supplemental ECS funding for Meriden Public Schools
$1,518,429 in additional municipal aid for the City of Meriden
$849,486 in supplemental ECS funding for Cheshire Public Schools
$715,676 in additional municipal aid for the Town of Cheshire
$581,191 in supplemental ECS funding for Berlin Public Schools
$75,947 in additional municipal aid for the Town of Berlin
$2,000,000 award from the Community Investment Fund for renovations to the Meriden Health Department
Approval of up to $122 million for the City of Meriden in school construction reimbursement funding for the development of a new Casmir Pulaski Middle School and demolition of 1 King Place (former Meriden-Wallingford Hospital)
This bipartisan budget also made critical investments in other areas. It included a historic agreement with our hospitals that offset rising taxes, maximized federal funding for healthcare, and established a system for rising healthcare costs. For our working families, the bipartisan budget expanded sales tax-free week to include additional school-related expenses and created a family caregiver tax credit for CT residents caring for a loved one. Finally, the bipartisan budget made meaningful investments in businesses and job growth. This included helping small businesses provide quality healthcare by providing a tax credit when employers contribute toward employees’ individual health insurance coverage. It also developed a new research and development tax credit to incentivize job growth and business development in-state.
The best policy comes when all stakeholders have a seat at the table. Connecticut residents made a call for help in many areas. Connecticut lawmakers heard it and answered in a strong, bipartisan way. We have more work to do in the coming years.
After several recent tragedies involving children in Connecticut and growing calls for more accountability in our child welfare system, the chair of the Committee on Children led passage of House Bill 5004: An Act Concerning Child Welfare Accountability and Transparency, which will:
Prioritize placing children with family members and responsible adults who are already in their lives
Make sure there is follow-up with sister agencies when DCF-involved children travel out of state
Support caregivers and children with funding for after-school programs, child care, and incidentals
Uplift our child welfare workforce through improved training, stipends for mentors and mentees, and personal emergency communication devices
Require additional eyes on children who are the subject of multiple reports of abuse or neglect, and those residing with someone on parole or probation after incarceration for serious crimes against children
Provide robust real-time data for policymakers and the public on DCF performance through a user-friendly dashboard
Establish a new committee to gather legislators, state agencies, experts, and stakeholders to review our child welfare policies and performance and make recommendations for improvements
This significant legislation reflects a bipartisan effort to reform the Department of Children and Families with policies and procedures that put children first, and a commitment to continued attention to this important issue.
Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act 26-12 into law, a comprehensive workers’ rights bill that strengthens protections for employees across Connecticut.
The law includes major provisions addressing wage theft in the building trades, job protections for service workers, compensation for workers assaulted on the job, including nurses and teachers, expanded protections for breastfeeding employees, and stronger pay transparency requirements for job postings.
Highlights include:
Enhanced workers’ compensation benefits for teachers and health care workers injured through workplace assaults
Joint liability for general contractors when subcontractors fail to pay workers
Job retention protections for service workers when contracts change hands
A fairer teacher termination process with impartial hearings
Required break time for breastfeeding or pumping at work
Expanded pay transparency requiring wage ranges and general benefits information in job postings
This legislation is an important step toward protecting workers’ dignity, safety, fairness, and economic security across our state.
With the passage of the C.A.R.T. Act (Senate Bill 5: An Act Concerning Online Safety), Connecticut has taken an important step toward establishing clearer standards and safeguards for powerful AI systems, while also preparing our residents, workers, students, small businesses, public agencies, and institutions to successfully navigate and thrive in an increasingly AI-driven economy. AI is already affecting our economy, workplaces, online platforms, and the information Connecticut residents encounter every day. Senate Bill 5 responds to the new reality of AI through targeted protections, transparency for consumers, and system accountability.
This legislation targets areas where AI is making a meaningful impact on residents' lives, including employment-related automated decision tools, consumer disclosures, synthetic media provenance, youth online safety, and workforce preparation. Connecticut residents are already being impacted by AI systems. It is our state's responsibility to take action to set clear expectations to keep residents protected from harmful AI practices.
We also advanced a bill to protect your personal information:
Senate Bill 4: An Act Concerning Consumer Privacy and Protection, will safeguard Connecticut residents’ personal information from exploitation by data brokers, surveillance technology companies, and federal agencies.
This bill makes it easier to exercise your right to delete your data from data brokers and people tracking websites and prevents predatory surveillance pricing. As technology evolves, our laws must evolve with it. Senate Bill 4 takes critical action to strengthen privacy protections, promote transparency, and ensure Connecticut consumers are treated fairly.
Senate Bill 4 will target the following specific threats to consumer privacy:
Data brokers: Consumers may request, at no cost, the deletion of any personal data collected by a data broker.
Dynamic pricing: Strict disclosure requirements apply when businesses use algorithmic pricing to increase prices.
Geolocation data: Controllers and processors are banned from selling or sharing precise geolocation data.
Genetic Testing: Consumers would have the right to their own genetic data when using direct to consumer genetic testing services and create more transparency in their policies.
Volume of Ads: Streaming platforms cannot transmit the audio of any commercial advertisement at a volume that is louder than the volume established by the Federal Communications Commission for television commercials.
Senate Bills 4 and 5 now move to the Governor's desk to be signed into law.
Connecticut has strived to be a leader in renewable energy, and this approach ensures we keep moving forward while prioritizing affordability. House Bill 5340: An Act Concerning Renewable Power Generation, modernizes Connecticut’s renewable energy programs by introducing measures meant to make them more reliable, consistent and flexible to economic fluctuations.
This bill will:
Create clear annual megawatt and budget targets so renewable energy programs remain financially sustainable, and ratepayer impacts stay predictable and focus on investments that result in savings for ratepayers holistically
Give state regulators the flexibility to adjust programs year-to-year to remain within overall budget limits instead of being tied to rigid annual caps that may not reflect market conditions
Create dedicated solar rates for low-income residents, residents in distressed municipalities, and affordable multifamily housing residents
Encourage municipalities to adopt an existing streamlined solar permitting platform (Solar APP +) to help simplify and speed up the permitting process
As electricity demand grows, we must ensure that our energy programs are cost effective and efficient.
