By Gabby DeBenedictis / CT Mirror
On Wednesday, the Connecticut General Assembly will convene for its 2025 legislative session, which will run through June 4 at midnight.
During the session, lawmakers will debate legislation — first in the General Assembly’s 27 permanent committees, each of which covers specific subject matter, then on the full House and Senate floor.
Bills that receive final passage can be signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont. If Lamont vetoes a bill, it can still become law if legislators override his veto by a two-thirds vote.
Here’s what to expect.
Democrats hold majorities in both the House and Senate.
Democrats make up 102 of the House’s 151 members and 25 of the Senate’s 36 members. Two new senators and 20 new representatives will be sworn in on Wednesday.
Rep. Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) is expected to be elected to a third term as speaker of the Connecticut House, which would make him only the third person ever to win that seat three times.
Rep. Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford) serves as House majority leader, while Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) serve as Senate majority leader. Sen. Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) is Senate president pro tempore.
Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford) and Sen. Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) are the Republican minority leaders.
Beginning this year, the Government Administration and Elections Committee will share some of its responsibilities with a new committee focused on government oversight.
A new committee will be created, and 8 committees will have new leaders.
Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan, will co-chair the new oversight committee. Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, will remain as co-chair of the GAE Committee.
The eight existing committees getting new House Democratic leaders are:
- Children: Rep. Corey Paris of Stamford
- Education: Rep. Jennifer Leeper of Fairfield
- Environment: Rep. John-Michael Parker of Madison
- General Law: Rep. Roland Lemar of New Haven
- Internship: Rep. Kate Farrar of West Hartford
- Regulation Review: Rep. Mary Welander of Orange
- Transportation: Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo of Ridgefield
- Veterans Affairs: Rep. Jaime Foster of Ellington
The legislature will adopt a new budget this year…
In odd-numbered years, the General Assembly adopts a budget for the next two fiscal years, as well as a bond package to cover financing for capital projects such as municipal school construction and transportation infrastructure work.
Gov. Ned Lamont will present his proposal for a new state budget on Feb. 5, kicking off a process that culminates in negotiations between state legislative leaders and the governor’s office.
When a budget and bond package compromise is reached, the full House and Senate must vote to adopt it and the governor must sign it into law.
…and officials expect a fierce debate over Connecticut’s “fiscal guardrails.”
Lawmakers expect to debate whether Connecticut should retain or modify an aggressive package of fiscal controls that legislators crafted in October 2017 and renewed in February 2023.
These so-called “fiscal guardrails” have generated billions in state budget surpluses and allowed the state to pay down pension debt. But supporters of reforming them want to ensure enough funds are redirected to core services like education and health care.
Those who want to scale back savings efforts and those committed to keeping the guardrails unchanged agree on one thing: They want the debate to take place in the light of day.
Committees will also have their own priorities.
The legislature’s Education Committee leaders, for example, have pledged to make concerted efforts to address special education funding and services — costs that can account for as much as a quarter or more of some public school districts’ budgets.
Among the proposals the committee is considering is a change to the way Connecticut pays for special education that would add weight to the state’s “Education Cost Sharing” formula for districts that enroll higher numbers of students in special education programs. The proposed changes are similar to weighted funding that currently goes to districts with large populations of multilingual learners and students from low-income households.
The Education Committee also expects to address issues surrounding early childhood, charter schools, classroom safety and standardized testing.
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