LAKEVILLE — State Representative Maria Horn (D-64) and State Senator Stephen Harding (R-30) both said that housing and the overall cost of living would be hot topics in the new session of the Connecticut General Assembly.
The session, which began last week, is a “long” one, which will produce a two-year state budget.
Horn is chair of the Finance, Bonding and Revenue Committee, and is on the Environment and Energy and Technology committees.
Harding, who moved from the House to the Senate to succeed the retired Craig Miner, is the ranking member on the Environment Committee, and is also on the Judiciary, Education, and Finance, Bonding and Revenue committees.
Both legislators were interviewed Sunday, Jan. 8.
Horn started off by saying the legislature will be looking broadly at the high cost of living in Connecticut, including health care, energy and housing, what is driving those high costs, and what to do about it.
Horn said any action will include “helping to support the most vulnerable.”
On housing, Horn said the legislature has to find a balance between local control and “the high cost of housing, which is affecting everyone.”
From her position as chair of the Finance, Bonding and Revenue Committee, Horn said that fiscal responsibility will inform the committee’s agenda.
She said that fiscal “guardrails” enacted in 2017 have expired, and the first bill the committee will consider reinstates those “broad covenants.”
She added that the committee will be looking at “some sort of middle class tax relief.”
On health care Horn said she was concerned about access, which she said ties into the ongoing situation with Sharon Hospital’s plan to close the labor and delivery unit.
From the Environment Committee, Horn said the group will be looking at increased costs and the unpopular shipping of municipal solid waste out of state in the wake of the closing of the Hartford waste-to-energy plant.
“We’ll be looking for solutions,” she said. “I don’t think there will be a singular answer.”
She mentioned the food waste diversion program at the Salisbury-Sharon Transfer Station as an example of an effective solution to part of the problem.
Horn said she is also looking at traffic safety. “Every town in my district’s got a Main Street that people speed on.”
She said she is open to the idea of using traffic cameras.
Harding said he was worried about an economic downturn and noted that “we’re not going to have $2 billion from the federal government” this year.
A fiscally responsible state budget will focus on good long-term investments and “not on one-time pet projects.”
Harding said he expects another attempt at a statewide zoning bill, with limits on local control.
He was critical of using mandates and/or penalties to create affordable housing.
“I don’t think that’s the right approach.”
He noted that his home town of Brookfield has been successful in building affordable housing.
“I think it can be done with incentives, not mandates,” he said, adding “when locals are involved, it produces the best results.”
Harding said he is determined to protect open space. “When you have overdevelopment, it upsets residents.”
Harding is also worried about bears. Referring to an October 2022 bear attack in Morris, in which a 10-year old boy was seriously injured, Harding said the legislature needs to take action to prevent more attacks.
As a start, Harding said the laws and regulations concerning what actions citizens may and may not take regarding problem bears are not well understood and need clarification.
“Right now it’s kind of ambiguous.”
He said he will work with the state attorney general’s office and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to clarify the rules.
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