Source: Kevin Maloney, CCM
For immediate release
Kevin Maloney, (203) 710-3486
CCM presents key municipal legislative proposals in nine policy arenas for the Governor and General Assembly to act on in 2022 session
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) today (Tuesday, January 25) presented its key state legislative proposals for the 2022 legislative session that CCM’s 168 member municipal leaders believe merit action over the next 100 days by the Governor and General Assembly leaders before the regular session ends in the first week of May – and the state legislative election season commences.
“Town and city leaders believe these proposals will help enhance particular essential services in their communities while at the same time providing fiscal relief from the level of local property taxation needed to pay for critical local services,” said Joe DeLong, CCM Executive Director and CEO.
These proposals are popular, common-sense initiatives to make life easier and more affordable for Connecticut families and residents,” said Luke Bronin, Mayor of Hartford and President of CCM. “After careful consideration and input by leaders from towns across Connecticut, we urge the General Assembly to pass these proposals in the 2022 legislative session.”
Click here for complete set of legislative proposals. Following are some key examples:
Taxes and Finance
-- Reduce the current over-reliance on a regressive property tax system through municipal revenue diversification and providing incentives for municipalities to expand shared and regional services.
-- Provide taxpayer relief by allowing for a phase-in of the current property tax revaluations and provide a local option to delay property tax revaluation for one year.
Local Public Education
-- Make state bond funds available for local and regional school districts through the school construction grant program for HVAC repairs and air filtration improvements. The quality of indoor air in public schools is critical to the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.
-- Fully fund the state’s Special Education Excess Cost Grant. Currently the Excess Cost Grant is capped, which is negatively impacting local and regional school districts’ ability to address the rising cost of special education.
Energy and Environment
-- Establish a One-Touch-Make-Ready (OTMR) process to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of broadband services to better meet underserved and unserved areas across the state.
-- Eliminate the Virtual Net Metering Credit Cap. Such change should include the requirement that electric distribution companies allow “unassigned” VNM credits to be applied to future bills on a month-to-month basis, known as “banking,” as expressed in CGS 16-244u(c).
Labor Relations
-- Help prevent unreasonably contested workers’ compensation claims by allowing municipal employers a 45-day period to review workers’ compensation claims from the date at which the municipal employer receives notice of such claim being filed.
-- Promote and eliminate barriers to shared services. Allow for towns and cities to more efficiently allocate resources by:
a. Exempting the establishment of such service sharing agreements from the definition of “change in working conditions” for purposes of collective bargaining.
b. When service sharing arrangements affect two or more collective bargaining units, the interests of all employees affected by the new arrangements may be represented by either a coalition of bargaining units or a new bargaining unit will be created to represent all affected employees.
c. Allow municipalities to repeal or amend any municipal charter provision that prohibits or limits a municipality from sharing services with other towns or cities provided each participating municipality’s legislative body approves a resolution with the specific charter provision they are repealing or amending.
Land Use, Housing and Community Development
--Transit Oriented Development, Primary Transit Station: CGS Section 8-2 shall allow, as of right, parking requirements not to exceed one parking spot for studio and one bedroom and two parking spots for two bedroom or more dwelling units, mixed-use developments with at least four dwelling units, mixed-use developments with at least four live work units, or multi-family housing with at least four dwelling units at a minimum density of fifteen units per acre in at least fifty per cent of the lot area served by water and sewer infrastructure and within a one-half mile radius of that or any municipality’s primary transit station.
Public Safety, Crime Prevention and Code Enforcement
-- Regarding Police Body and Dash Cameras, encouraging the state to offer greater financial support for the acquisition of police body and vehicle cameras, in particular allowing the funding to be used for data storage. In addition, encourage the State to develop a central deposit for camera data.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
-- Support the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) in order to a) provide sustainable funding to maintain and improve state and local transportation infrastructure; b) improve the process by which additional funding raised by the TCI and provided to municipalities, by supplementing existing programs like TAR, LOCIP and Local Bridge Program rather than creating new programs.
Public Health and Human Services
-- Enhance efforts to combat the State’s opioid epidemic by requiring DMHAS, the Governor’s office, and the Department of Public Health to better allocate funding and resources towards substance abuse prevention and recovery. This may include designating the Chief Operating Officer of Connecticut or other official as Connecticut’s Drug Abuse and Control Ombudsman tasked with coordinating efforts to enhance and examine sustainable funding streams to support substance abuse prevention, education and recovery efforts.
Municipal Law, Liability and Insurance
-- Support a constitutional amendment to authorize no-excuse absentee voting. During the 2021 legislative session, the General Assembly passed a resolution to place the question to modify the Constitutional to allow for no-excuse absentee voting on the 2021 ballot for voters to consider, however it failed to reach a 75% majority. As a result, the next sitting legislature (convening in 2023) would need to adopt a similar resolution to place it on the following ballot without needing 75% of the General Assembly approval.
Municipal chairs
And here are the municipal leaders who chaired the above committees that vetted these proposals -- Shari Cantor, Mayor, West Hartford, Chair, Taxes and Finance Committee; Elinor Carbone, Mayor of Torrington, Chair, Education Committee; Brandon Robertson, Town Manager of Avon, Chair, Energy and Environmental Management Committee; Anthony Salvatore, Town Manager of Cromwell, Chair, Labor Relations Committee; Mark Walter, Town Administrator, Columbia, Land Use, Housing and Community Development Committee; Michael Criss, First Selectman of Harwinton, Chair, Public Safety, Crime Prevention and Code Enforcement Committee; Matthew Knickerbocker, First Selectman of Bethel, Chair, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Don Stein, First Selectman of Barkhamsted, Chair, Public Health and Human Services Committee; and Ben Blake, Mayor of Milford, Chair, Municipal Law, Liability and Insurance Committee.