These news briefs were originally written for CT Politics, The Connecticut Mirror’s weekly newsletter providing updates on the 2025 legislative session. To sign up for CT Politics, click here.

Education funding

A 9-hour-long Education Committee public hearing Wednesday largely focused on education funding – including proposals to cap special education tuition for students who are placed in private programs (part of Senate Bill 1288) and another which would incentivize local districts to develop specialized programming to serve students with disabilities within their own districts or regionally (Senate Bill 1244).

The two bills garnered strong public interest with conflicting opinions. Over 200 letters of written testimony were submitted and dozens spoke at the public hearing.

Several superintendents were among the supporters of the bills.

“This legislation makes critical investments in local special education programs, allowing school districts to develop and expand high-quality services within their own communities. By strengthening in-district capacity, we can provide students with disabilities the support they need in familiar and inclusive environments, reducing reliance on costly out-of-district placements that often disrupt a student’s social and academic continuity,” said Derby Superintendent Matthew Conway.

Private service providers, including staff at Milestones Behavioral Services, which has campuses in Milford and Orange, Ben Bronz Academy located in West Hartford, Benhaven School in south central Connecticut and Northwest Village School in Plainville, strongly rejected the proposed legislation.

“While I understand the desire to manage costs and ensure equitable access to education, I believe this measure will have unintended and devastating consequences for our most vulnerable students and the specialized schools that serve them,” said Dan Kahl, a certified physical education and school health education teacher at Benhaven School. “Oftentimes Benhaven School or similar [private special ed schools] are the only school with the resources, the training and the dedication to provide that free and appropriate education. I believe that with rate caps on tuition these educational tools may be compromised.”

— Jessika Harkay, Education Reporter

State employee restriction

The CT Legislature’s new Government Oversight Committee heard testimony on Tuesday from state ethics staff about a proposal that would restrict state employees and elected officials from taking action that would directly benefit a company that employs them or employs their spouse. Peter Lewandowski, the executive director of the Office of State Ethics, explained to lawmakers that state law, as it stands, does not consider it a conflict of interest if a state employee or elected official works on an issue or takes a vote on something that directly benefits one of their employers or an organization that employs their spouse.

Lewandowski said that is a significant gap in the state’s law, and one that should be closed. Lewandowski told Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, that his office has asked lawmakers to revise the ethics law to expand the definition of a conflict of interest several times in recent years, but he said those proposals have repeatedly died in the House. To try to overcome resistance in that body, Lewandowski agreed to alter some of the language in the current bill.

Legislation introduced in previous years said that state employees and elected officials would have a substantial conflict if they had “reason to believe” their employer or their spouse’s employer stood to directly benefit from their actions. But the new law says those public officials only need to recuse themselves if they have “actual knowledge” that the businesses they or their spouse are associated with would benefit.

— Andrew Brown, Investigative Reporter

American sign language interpreters

The Human Services Committee heard testimony on Thursday from members of the deaf and blind communities and their advocates on House Bill 6932, which seek to create an Interpreting Standards Board to set educational, training and certification requirements for interpreting services for people who are deaf, blind, or hard of hearing.

According to testimony, there is a lack of qualified ASL interpreters in the state, especially notable in medical settings, and for Protactile interpreters, who use touch. There are just six such interpreters available in the state, according to testimony provided by Amy Porter, the commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services. Porter opposes the legislation because she wants to give a recently hired director at ADS the chance to establish their own method to addressing the issue, and because the anticipated costs she says would be shouldered by ADS.

Dr. Harvey Corson, of the Connecticut Association of the Deaf, Inc, said in response that there would be a very minimal cost. “I’m not really sure why they are opposing this, but I know that many people are resistant to change and I think we just need to be open-minded about this.”

Julia Silvestri, the ASL program coordinator at Yale and the first vice president of the Connecticut Association of the Deaf, Inc, testified that her experience having her first baby became frightening because, despite having made arrangements in advance, there was no interpreter there and video interpretation was not working when she arrived at the hospital. “It was very terrifying, it was confusing, humiliating.” Silvestri said that across government, health care and education, these types of crises happen all the time with no oversight mechanism to improve those services.

— Laura Tillman, Human Services Reporter

Mental health parity

Sen. Jorge Cabrera, D-Hamden, the co-chair of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, said that he supports legislation that aims to hold health insurers accountable and comply with federal regulations that require parity in mental health services, and that the concept had been rolled into a Senate Democrat priority bill, of which Cabrera is a co-sponsor. “I’ve heard from many people about not having access and that’s a really big problem because it means people are suffering for a longer period of time from mental health issues, and that can lead to some bad outcomes — not only for them but for people around them,” Cabrera said.

A 2019 bill that demanded insurers comply with federal regulations passed unanimously, but at a press conference on Tuesday, Comptroller Sean Scanlon said that insurers have since found a way around it.  The legislation to give the law teeth, drafted in House Bill 6145, was also attempted in 2024 and failed to move out of committee. “We tried last time and we were not successful,” Cabrera said, adding he was more optimistic this time around. “Coming out of COVID, this has really touched every community, class level, and education level. We want to provide a system that gives access to people when they need help.”

— Laura Tillman, Human Services Reporter

Solar gets bipartisan backlash

After years of rushing to ramp up the development of solar projects, some Connecticut lawmakers appear to have reached a bit of a hangover with the industry.

Two pieces of legislation filed this year, Senate Bill 78 and House Bill 6298, seek to give local officials greater say in the siting of new solar projects. In the case of H.B. 6298, it would allow a town’s chief executive to veto any solar projects located nearby an existing facility of over 100 megawatts.

On Thursday, Republicans from cities and towns that have become the location of larger solar developments held a press conference to highlight the bills, as well as their residents’ frustrations.

“It’s a little bit hard to take, especially when one solar project is 100 feet from somebody’s property line,” said state Rep. Jay Case, R-Winchester.

However, it’s not just Republicans that are concerned with the issue, as both bills have bipartisan sponsorship. Democrats have raised concerns at the number of trees and woodlands being cut down to make way for solar arrays.

On the flip side, developers and some environmental advocates note that the Connecticut Siting Council — the agency whose practices the bills seek to amend — was created specifically for the purposes of overcoming local opposition to necessary but unpopular projects such as power plants, transmission lines and hazardous waste facilities.

— John Moritz, Energy & Environment Reporter

End homelessness caucus

The newly formed End Homelessness Caucus on Thursday announced that they’ll prioritize funding for the homelessness response system and establishing an Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking for $33.5 million in the state’s budget for homelessness services such as eviction prevention and staff salary increases as well as $5 million annually to fund cold weather shelter. For years, service providers have asked for more funding as homelessness increases. But Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget falls far short of the request.

Last year, the governor established an Interagency Council on Homelessness through executive order to encourage state agencies to work together to resolve the problem. The legislation would ensure that the council continues into future administrations. The Housing Committee passed bills that would address both priorities on Thursday.

— Ginny Monk, Housing and Children’s Issues Reporter

Housing Committee passes first bills

The Housing Committee on Thursday passed its first bills of the session, which deal with a range of issues from fair rent commission bylaws to the definition of affordable housing and creating a radon mitigation assistance program.

A couple of the nine bills the committee passed will likely have to go before other committees, but some are ready to go straight to the House or Senate floor. Many of the bills passed with unanimous support.

Lawmakers passed a bill that would require the posting of fair rent commission bylaws, another that would establish a working group to better define “affordable housing,” and one to create a radon mitigation program for low-income households.

They also agreed to draft several committee bills that are likely to deal with landlord-tenant relationships and ways to encourage more affordable housing in Connecticut.

— Ginny Monk, Housing and Children’s Issues Reporter