With the 2025 session of the General Assembly officially underway, our team at CRCOG is working to advance the policy objectives outlined in our 2025 CRCOG Legislative Agenda. Our ad hoc Legislative Committee, chaired by East Windsor First Selectman Jason Bowsza, developed the agenda with support from staff and Donna Hamzy Carroccia, our lobbyist from Kozak and Salina. Donna is new to us this year and brings great energy and experience to her role. We presented the agenda on January 7th to the state senators and representatives representing our region and engaged in a constructive dialogue about the upcoming session.?
Our Legislative Committee designs the agenda to be consistent with CRCOG’s strategic priorities and initiatives. Fourteen of our 38 member municipalities served on the Committee this year, representing a healthy cross-section of our region. For 2025, we seek legislation to promote economic vitality and community development, finance key infrastructure and transit service, improve safety for all road users, and support workforce development and shared municipal services.?
Some of our specific proposals include the following:?
- More funding to replace crumbling foundations. CRCOG helped to establish the CT Foundation Solutions Indemnity Company (CFSIC), which has done tremendous work to replace over 1,000 residential foundations that were crumbling due to pyrrhotite. CFSIC estimates that it will need $144M in additional state funding to complete its work and is seeking another $100M in state bond funds beginning on 7/1/2026 and ending on 6/30/2030 and six more years of Healthy Homes funding beginning on 7/1/2030 and ending on 6/30/2034. Eighteen of the top twenty impacted municipalities are located within the CRCOG region, which makes this item a key priority for us.??
- Increase the annual funding for CTDOT’s Local Bridge Program by $10M, for a total of $30M per year. Connecticut has a significant number of local bridges that need repair or replacement for public safety reasons. Bridges are critical infrastructure that we all rely upon. This grant is very popular with our towns, and the additional funding would make this program even more impactful.??
- Provide the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) with $30M in capital funds to bring state-owned multi-use trails up to standard and sufficient funding (estimated $3-4M) for CTDEEP’s annual operating budget to better maintain the state-owned system. The CRCOG region is fortunate to host some of the state’s premier multi-use trails, including the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, the East Coast Greenway, and the Hop River Trail. These trails provide public health benefits and serve as economic development drivers, particularly in more rural areas. Unfortunately, some of the state-owned trails in the eastern part of our region have fallen into disrepair and have become inaccessible for many. This state investment would enable our residents to enjoy our trail system for years to come.?
- Support recommendations of the state’s Vision Zero Council and CRCOG’s Vision Zero Task Force to improve safety for all road users. The incidence of crashes resulting in fatalities and serious injury has spiked in recent years. CRCOG has formed a Task Force to promote Vision Zero, a comprehensive approach involving education, enforcement, and engineering, to improve safety for all road users. We will testify in favor of bills consistent with this approach, including legislation designed to allow the state to designate Safety Corridors, increase penalties for traffic violations, and improve the content of driver education training.?
- Continue to support the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (CTDOT) transit service improvements, including the implementation of transit priority corridors, expansion of CTfastrak service east to Manchester, and improved service to Bradley International Airport. In connection with this goal, CRCOG will continue to support transit-oriented development and other state initiatives designed to enhance transit connections to workplaces, schools, academic institutions, and commercial centers.?
Now that the session is underway, we will coordinate with state legislators and state agencies that sponsor legislation consistent with our agenda. We will also look to partner with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), the Connecticut Council of Small Towns (COST), and our fellow COGs across the state. Thinking regionally and working collaboratively have never been more important. We are fortunate to have many talented, hard-working state legislators in our region and around the state and I am optimistic that we will be able to achieve some essential policy objectives during this upcoming legislative session. Please watch for our updates on CRCOG’s social media in the coming weeks and lend your support for our legislative initiatives.??
Matt Hart, CRCOG's Executive Director, wrote this post.
