STATE LEGISLATIVE NEWS Ned Lamont names transition team as he prepares to take governor’s office In his first major announcement as governor-elect, Democrat Ned Lamont named four co-chairs and an executive director to his transition team Thursday as he prepares to take office in January. Less than 48 hours after being elected to the state’s top post, Lamont took the first steps toward forming a new governmental team with a mix of public and private-sector appointments. “We have hit the ground running,’’ Lamont told reporters outside the state Capitol. “We’re going to be ready to go on day one, and right now, I’m surrounded by folks that I trust and I believe can help us get the job done.’’ The 2019 Connecticut legislative session will open on January 9, 2018. We will have a new Governor and a largely new legislature. Twenty percent of the 151member House Chamber are freshmen legislators and 7 of the 25 member Senate Chamber are freshman. We must take extra care to meet and educate our local legislators, especially the newly elected officials, on issues affecting our industry. Please reach out to us if there are state regulations or codes that are impacting your business so that we are aware of any challenges and can advocate effectively on your behalf. Your membership supports lobbyists in Hartford to be your voice but we need to hear from you. Click here to find your legislator As an outsider who has never held statewide office, Lamont said he would reach into his own personal network for out-of-the-box appointments in order to bring change to Hartford. Read More Malloy’s Legacy: “Unprecedented” Affordable Housing Efforts For 30 years in Connecticut, housing was one item on a long menu overseen by the Department of Economic and Community Development. Then, in 2013, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy created the state Department of Housing. The move signaled the Stamford Democrat’s belief that giving more people access to affordable housing helps individuals, communities and the economy. He then empowered his new department with investment. Under Malloy, the state invested more than $1.5 billion in affordable housing. That investment renovated or created 25,000 housing units, with 22,000 affordable units, across the state, according to DOH. That’s about $60,000 per unit of housing, a high cost because of the extensive site remediation often needed, said Dan Arsenault, DOH legislative program manager. “Connecticut had withdrawn from playing an active role in housing,” Malloy said in an interview last week. “The number of dollars going into housing had shrank — not just based on inflation, the actual dollars going to housing had almost disappeared. So if we were going to change the trajectory of affordable housing in Connecticut, we needed a housing department.” Read More DECEMBER 2018 | HBRA of Fairfield County 27
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