Ryan Fazio used a Thursday morning forum to outline various policy ideas at the core of his gubernatorial campaign, arguing that state leaders need to prioritize reducing energy costs and cutting taxes to boost affordability. 

Fazio, a Republican state senator from Greenwich, highlighted several aspects of his campaign platform, including proposals to cut electricity bills by as much as 20%, lower income and property taxes and reduce housing construction costs. 

“Let’s create a playing field that encourages innovation and improvement while driving down costs, rather than the current approach under the Lamont administration, which is more mandates, more taxes, higher costs,” he said. 

The remarks came during an online forum hosted by the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that conducts research for the Tri-State region. The 45-minute discussion with Fazio was the final candidate forum the group held with Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidates. 

Incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont and his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Josh Elliott, participated in the forum events last month. 

As a nonpartisan organization, the RPA notes that it does not endorse candidates. Rather, the forums have been treated as opportunities for each candidate to articulate their visions for the state, particularly on matters of affordability and cost of living issues.

“Terms like affordability and abundance particularly resonate with voters in this election cycle, but RPA has always taken a long-term view and worked for smart planning to make our region more abundant and affordable for everyone,” Kate Slevin, the executive vice president for RPA, said as the event began. 

The discussion with Fazio was moderated by RPA’s Connecticut director Pete Harrison.

During the event the candidate, who officially received the GOP’s nomination in May, made a case for fiscal discipline. 

“Connecticut still has the second highest bonded debt per capita of any state. It still has one of the five worst unfunded liabilities for state employee benefits in the entire country,” he said. “Until and unless we get that in order, we’ll never have the state capacity or the resources to invest in the infrastructure, in the housing, in the vital fixed asset needs to provide an affordable livelihood and economic growth for our people.”

Energy, housing, and tax reform

The morning discussion opened with a question from Harrison about housing. He pointed to last year’s passage of HB 8002, a reworked housing bill that includes a number of policy changes with the goal of increasing the state’s housing supply.

Fazio voted against the bill, and he maintained that it was “flawed overall,” during the discussion. Asked how he would implement the new law that he opposed, Fazio said he would focus on three areas: cost controls, adding housing supply, and working to respect local control in housing construction.

“We need a vision, a balanced approach for the future to make housing affordable, to make the state affordable, and to allow families to thrive,” he said. “Housing is an important component of that.”

He also suggested possible policy changes and reforms, including residential development in mixed-use areas, single stairwell reform, and reforms to the 8-30g housing law.

On transportation, the candidate pointed to some recent successes with infrastructure in the state, noting the considerable funding that has gone into its bus system. But he criticized the state of rail transportation, saying there was “room for improvement.”

“We have very kind of idiosyncratic and inconsistent scheduling, which is probably an important component that needs to be addressed in order to speed up our rail lines,” he said. “The railcar purchases in Connecticut have been questionable at best, they’ve been more expensive, kind of more heavy than in other places, which could slow down the rail service.”

Fazio also said he would consider additional registration fees for electric vehicles that could be added to the state’s special transportation to offset future declines in gas tax revenue.

But his strongest criticisms were for the state’s energy costs, a top issue this election year. Connecticut residents face some of the highest energy costs in the nation, with utility costs ranking among the top five most expensive.

Fazio has called for cuts that he says would reduce electric bills by 15% to 20%. 

“We need to make Connecticut an affordable place that middle class and working class families can afford to live in, that they can get jobs in and can grow old and retire in,” he said on Thursday. “And so that means first and foremost we have to cut out-of-control costs like energy costs and energy bills.”

The candidate also discussed his proposal to reduce reliance on property taxes, which he fleshed out at a press conference last month.

Under the plan, Fazio calls for boosting state education grants, reducing exemptions for private universities and hospitals, and capping future mill rate hikes. He said the changes could save state residents money, though Democrats have countered that the proposal would break the state’s fiscal guardrails.

Affordability, cost of living issues remain top of mind for voters

The forum occurred a few hours after a new national ranking placed Connecticut as the 23rd best state in the nation for businesses, noting that it does especially well in education (4th) and quality of life (5th). But the state was ranked lower on other economic metrics, including cost of living (44th) and cost of doing business (40th).

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Republicans in the state Senate argued that the rankings showed that the state was in need of a policy change.

“From property taxes and income taxes to electricity and insurance costs, Connecticut is unaffordable under one party Democrat rule,” they said in a joint statement. 

With Lamont fending off a challenger from the left in Elliott, Fazio has said voters should be paying more attention to the GOP platform. And he’s framing his vision for the state as one that will have the most positive economic impact. 

“Connecticut getting its fiscal house in order and prioritizing the vital investments is necessary in order to ensure that we have state capacity, so we can provide the services that are most important, so that we can make the investments that are most important,” he said.