Connecticut’s State Senate is poised to vote on a controversial housing bill Thursday.
The bill was approved by the State House of Representatives in a 90-56 vote Wednesday evening, on the first day of a two-day special legislative session.
The housing bill is a revised version of a bill vetoed by Gov. Ned Lamont in June.
Ahead of Wednesday’s discussion, Republican state lawmakers, like State Sen. Stephen Harding Jr., said they received a copy of the proposed bill an hour before the session began.
Harding, a Republican who represents several Litchfield County towns, is among the lawmakers who say the bill takes too much control away from local government and places it in the hands of the state.
“It is the state, now by law, coming into communities and telling them, ‘This is what you are to develop. This is where you are to build it. And if you don’t do it, we’re cutting all your funding,’” Harding said.
State Sen. Ryan Fazio, a Republican representing Greenwich, New Canaan and Stamford, called the bill, “The most significant undermining of local control of decision making for towns and cities in a generation in this state.”
The new version of the bill doesn’t include the controversial housing initiative “Fair Share,” which would have mandated each town and city to meet a quota of new housing units.
Rather, the bill contains an opt-in program run by the regional government councils, determining what type of housing is needed for various locations across the state.
Republicans take issue with a portion of the bill that would make it easier for new housing to be built on land that was once home to commercial properties.
Under the new bill, transforming former commercial space into housing must be approved “as of right” in communities that participate in the state’s “Work, Live, Ride” program. It incentivizes new housing construction near transit hubs.
The bill’s supporters, like State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff, a Democrat from Norwalk, say the goal is to make more affordable housing available.
“People need housing. End of sentence,” Duff said. “We have to build more housing here in the state of Connecticut if we're going to grow our economy and if we're going to ensure that people have an affordable place to live. It should not have taken 10 months to get to this point.”
