These news briefs were originally written for CT Politics, The Connecticut Mirror’s weekly newsletter providing updates on the 2025 legislative session. To sign up for CT Politics, click here.
Erin Stewart’s ‘major announcement’
New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, a Republican who has made no secret of her desire to run for governor in 2026, is holding a press conference Tuesday to make a “major announcement.”
Don’t expect a jump into the race for governor, just another step towards the starting line. She filed papers Thursday creating an exploratory campaign committee that allows her to begin raising money, but actually hinders her ability to clearly state her intentions. In the era of public financing, exploratory committees allow candidates — excuse me, potential candidates— to raise and spend money that won’t count against the spending limits under the voluntary Citizens Election Program. But if Stewart says she’s running, then she legally becomes a candidate and must operate under the stricter rules for raising and spending money. So, her major announcement won’t be the announcement.
Matthew M. Corey, a frequent Republican candidate whose most recent run was a losing campaign for U.S. Senate last year, filed the same papers as Stewart on Jan. 2.
— Mark Pazniokas, Capitol Bureau Chief
Kid Governor inauguration
Kid Governor Keudy Martinez, a 5th grader at H.S. Chase Elementary in Waterbury, was inaugurated alongside his cabinet members Friday at the OId State House in Hartford. Martinez has a platform focused on school safety, which he hopes to improve by putting a stop to bullying and promoting kindness in schools. “I picked my platform because I noticed how schools are not really safe with kids getting bullied nowadays, and I wanted to fix that,” Martinez said.
Martinez arrived in Hartford Friday morning, escorted by a motorcade with three motorcycles on his trip from Waterbury. Members of his cabinet are from across the state: Washington, Hamden, Hartford, New London, North Haven and East Hartford. They have platforms focused on littering, self-confidence, healthy eating and endangered animals. “Each of our platforms is kind of related to each other,” Martinez said. “We all can make a difference for everyone and just help each other create our platforms to a reality.”
Martinez said one day, he hopes to be “governor official” in Connecticut and maybe president some day. Of course, his schedule as kid governor is likely to be tough as he has to tend to his official duties and clean his room.
— Ginny Monk, Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter
Energy and Technology Committee
Co-chair Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, kicked things off Thursday with a bit of observational humor: “I think we’re going to need a bigger room.” Sure enough, room 1D in the Legislative Office Building was jam-packed for the committee’s first legislative meeting of the year, a typically pro-forma affair in which lawmakers vote to raise a list of concepts into bills, the details of which will be worked out later in the session. The reason for the interest was the topic at the top of the committee’s to-do list: lowering energy costs.
Democrats have pledged to do something — though what, exactly, remains unclear — in response to widespread complaints last summer about spiking electric bills. On Wednesday, Republicans held their own press conference to reiterate their six-point plan focusing on shifting public benefits charges onto the state budget, as well as adopting an “all of the above” supply strategy. “This is a session in which all ideas are on the table,” Steinberg said.
— John Moritz, Environment and Energy Reporter
Go for the inauguration, stay for the MAGA rally?
That wasn’t exactly the plan. Gov. Ned Lamont and his wife, Annie, went to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of Donald J. Trump. Instead, they ended up as unwilling spectators at a de facto MAGA rally, surrounded by Republican governors and their spouses. Lamont originally was one of four Democratic governors planning to attend the inauguration. Two canceled once weather forced the ceremony indoors, presumably aware that blue state governors would not make the cut for limited seats at the actual ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda. Or, as it turned out, red state ones.
As the chair of the National Governors Association, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado was invited to the Rotunda, leaving Lamont as the only Democratic governor in the overflow room, Emancipation Hall, with Republican governors who did not hide their annoyance at seeing tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg get the VIP treatment. Trump and Vice President JD Vance did stop by the hall after the president delivered his inaugural address in the Rotunda. Many of his off-the-cuff remarks were campaign rally riffs, more appropriate for a candidate than freshly inaugurated president. Even in victory, he wouldn’t let the 2020 loss go: “2020, by the way, that election was totally rigged.”
“It was really a political rally, nothing presidential,” Lamont said. Speaking of political, Lamont has no intention of announcing whether he will seeking a third term as governor until the spring.
— Mark Pazniokas, Capitol Bureau Chief
More Connecticut inauguration attendees
Lamont had attended as a bipartisan gesture on a day that is supposed to rise above politics. He was the only Democrat who was thinking that way, at least for a day. Republican State Chair Ben Proto and his wife also were in Emancipation Hall, gaining entrance on tickets provided by Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat more often on the receiving end of criticism from Proto. The GOP chair says he was surprised when a Murphy staffer called on behalf of Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal to say Connecticut’s senators would like him to be their guests at the Capitol during the inauguration.
— Mark Pazniokas, Capitol Bureau Chief
Aging committee
At their first meeting of the 2025 legislative session, leaders of the Aging Committee said they hope to build on the momentum started last year when they passed two sweeping bills overhauling the state’s elder care sector – one that focused on home care and another on nursing homes.
This year, members plan to delve into issues surrounding the closures and evacuations of nursing homes and residential care homes, prioritize funding for the long-term care ombudsman’s office, and enhance accountability around nursing home finances. Last year, legislators raised concerns about how nursing homes are spending taxpayer money and debated new regulations.
Other concepts the committee wants to tackle in 2025 include value-based Medicaid reimbursement to nursing homes, LGBTQ discrimination in long-term care facilities, involuntary discharges from residential care homes, and the requirement of a public hearing for certain rate increases at assisted living facilities.
— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter
Senate Democrats’ health priorities
Senate Democratic leadership held a press conference Friday to announce two priority bills for the 2025 session that will tackle challenges facing residents on health insurance and prescription drugs. Senate Bill 10 aims to ensure that insurance providers are allowing residents to get necessary care. Its provisions include penalties for health carriers that don’t comply with state requirements for mental health parity, as well as requirements for mandatory human review of decisions that result in “downcoding,” which is when an insurance company decides to pay for a lower level of care than what a doctor ordered.
In Senate Bill 11, legislators will make yet another effort to rein in the cost of pharmaceuticals. The legislature currently has a Prescription Drug Task Force that will inform provisions ultimately included in the proposal. The bill will address pharmacy benefit managers, who serve as third party middlemen between drugmakers and purchasers, which can drive up costs for patients. It will also propose pooling state agencies to bulk purchase drugs and help bring down their cost.
— Katy Golvala, Health Reporter
Judicial nominations
The Judiciary Committee heard nominations for selection of judges at the State Capitol today. The majority were re-nominated to positions previously held, with broadly bipartisan support around admittance to respective courts. The primary questioning in the review came from Sen. Gary Winfield and Rep. Craig Fishbein. Winfield is the Democratic co-chair of the committee and Fishbein is a Republican ranking member.
Among the nominees was Gregory T D’Auria, being nominated for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. For the Appellate Court, judges Bethany J. Alvord and Nina F. Elgo also had nominations confirmed.
Judge Mary-Margaret D. Burgdoff faced questions from Winfield about child protection cases she’d presided over, specifically related to the termination of parental rights. Rep. Fishbein said, “I believe you” when listening to Burgdoff’s rationale for previous decisions made. Withholding this contention, Burgdoff looks set to be confirmed.
— James Watson, Legislative Reporting Intern
Housing Committee priorities
The Housing Committee is looking to tackle homelessness, tenant rights and zoning this session, legislators said Thursday. The committee voted to consider 21 wide-ranging issues Thursday, including stricter regulation on landlords who violate housing codes, limits on security deposits, ensuring people experiencing homelessness are allowed to sleep in public, and pushing towns to increase residential density. The Thursday meeting was one of the committee’s first during this legislative session. The proposals, which haven’t been drafted in detail, still have to go through public hearings before proceeding to the House or Senate floor.
— Ginny Monk, Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter
Democratic State Central Committee’s new party chair
The Democratic State Central Committee elected Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves as the state party chair in an online meeting Wednesday, ratifying the selection made by Lamont in November. Alves succeeds Nancy DiNardo in a two-year term that begins Feb. 1. Also elected were Adrienne Billings-Smith and Jimmy Tickey as vice chairs, Vanita Bhalla as treasurer and Audrey Blondin as secretary.
Alves is a candidate for reelection, as his campaign reminded reporters Friday with the announcement of his endorsement by IAFF Local 801, which represents firefighters in Danbury.
— Mark Pazniokas, Capitol Bureau Chief