By By Emma Barhydt
The high costs of energy, health care, and education in Connecticut dominated Governor Ned Lamont’s annual State of the State address, delivered Wednesday before a Joint Convention of the General Assembly. Lamont urged lawmakers to make addressing these costs the “north stars” of the 2025 legislative session, which began immediately following his remarks.
State Senator Ryan Fazio, Representative Tina Courpas, and Representative Hector Arzeno spoke with The Greenwich Sentinel about their focus areas for the session.
RYAN FAZIO: “THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SIX MONTHS”
State Senator Rya n Fazio emphasized the importance of the biennial budget during this long session. “Today was the first day of the legislative session. It was opening day. We were all as state legislators sworn in, took the oath of office, so that’s January 8th. The legislative session goes from January 8th, today, to June 4th, which will be… the last day of the session.”
He highlighted the significance of this legislative term, explaining, “Every term, there’s two legislative sessions because it’s a two-year term, and in the odd-numbered year… it’s considered the long session. It’s when we create a budget and we do a lot more legislation.”
Fazio identified fiscal policy as a top concern, stating, “The most important issues that are emerging are first the state budget and general taxing and spending policies. We know that Connecticut has a very high tax burden overall, the second-highest state and local tax burden in the entire country according to the Tax Foundation.”
Fazio also discussed fiscal guardrails established in 2017, which have become a focal point of this session. “Those spending and borrowing controls are now up for debate because there’s a lot of the more progressive senior leadership of the state legislature [who] wants to break some of those spending limitations, whereas the governor, some moderate Democrats, and Republicans want to keep them because we understand that today’s limits on excess spending are tomorrow’s tax cuts for the middle class.”
Local control over zoning also emerged as a key priority. “We know that the senior leadership of the House and Senate want to take away more local zoning rights in order to build a lot more housing in the state,” Fazio explained. “By contrast, I and some of my colleagues are introducing legislation that will roll back 830G and give localities more discretion over housing in a way that I think will help us actually create more workforce housing and low- to middle-income housing across our state for people who need it, but with local buy-in.”
Energy affordability is another focus. “The governor, in his State of the State addressed today, mentioned energy policy as the first issue. And I think that’s because residents across our district and state recognize that their energy bills are just far too high. And I and others have been campaigning across the state for reforms that will cut the public benefits charge, cut electric bills for everybody.”
Fazio also touched on his committee assignments. “I’m on five committees this term, so a lot. But I am the ranking member, meaning the leading Republican legislator, on two of them. And that’s energy and technology, which I was also the leading senator on last time for the last two years. I also was elevated to become the ranking senator on the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee, which is one of the two big budget committees responsible basically for all policy related to taxes and bonding and revenue.”
TINA COURPAS: “WE NEED TO MAINTAIN FISCAL DISCIPLINE”
Representative Tina Courpas, a freshman legislator, detailed her focus on fiscal policy, housing, and education. “The schedule is that the session begins today, January 8th, and ends June 4th,” she said, emphasizing the significance of her first legislative session.
Courpas identified fiscal guardrails as a pressing issue. “There was overspending last year, but there was a lot of excess money in the [state] because of COVID relief money from the federal government. That’s all been used at this point. So in order to get certain spending objectives met that people in the legislature want, the guardrails are going to come up under attack.”
On housing, Courpas explained her concerns about potential erosion of local control. “I do think that the drumbeat for erosion of local control in the area of zoning will continue. I think that it’s possible that some version of Work-Live-Ride comes back. That’s another big issue for the 149th District.”
Courpas has also prioritized affordability. “Everything from our energy costs to being overtaxed to people feeling like they have very burdensome childcare costs. We really do have to do a lot of work on affordability in the state to continue to retain people in Connecticut and continue to have opportunity for those that are here.”
Courpas discussed her committee assignments, saying, “I’ve been appointed to the Appropriations Committee… I’ve also been assigned to the Housing Committee because I really care about work ing on that issue. And affordability in general.” She added, “I’ve also been assigned to the Education Committee, and in particular I have been appointed to be the… ranking member of the Select Committee on Special Education.”
HECTOR ARZENO: “EDUCATION IS A CORNERSTONE”
Representative Hector Arzeno outlined his priorities, including education, the environment, and transportation. “Well, I mean, we just as you know today, we have the opening day of sessions. And I have a sense that very much what will set the tone for this year will be what might come up from Washington over the next few weeks, after the 20th,” he said.
Arzeno highlighted the importance of affordable early childhood education. “We need, I mean, if we want both parents to be able to be back and working, so we need good access to early and affordable early childcare education for the children. And that’s something that is a priority for the governor and for us.”
On energy, Arzeno discussed Connecticut’s climate initiatives. “Energy is another issue. It’s a constant issue. We have to make it more affordable. I mean certainly I think there are initiatives just with plenty of incentives for heat pumps and just to diversify the supply of energy that Connecticut has. I mean nuclear energy is back into the table, also.”
Arzeno also emphasized the importance of transportation. “I will be serving on transportation this year too, which is a huge committee for us. Certainly because many of the things that we achieved in the last session, like the Glenville Corridor, the improvements to the Glenville Corridor. The pedestrian safety improvements and grants that we got from the state. All of them, they come through transportation.”
On housing, Arzeno pointed to recent developments. “You might recall, last year we worked on affordable housing… However, all the incentives that we had in that bill for municipalities to opt-in and build affordable houses on transit-oriented districts, all those incentives are on the Municipal Redevelopment Agency that the governor put in place over the summer.”
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
The legislative session, which runs until June 4, is set to address critical issues impacting both the state and local communities. With fiscal guardrails, energy reform, zoning, and affordability at the forefront, Fazio, Courpas, and Arzeno have each expressed gratitude to their constituents and a commitment to serving them.
“I feel extraordinarily lucky and honored to represent our community,” said Fazio. Courpas echoed, “I’m grateful to the district for putting their trust in me, and I’ll do everything I can to live up to that trust.” Arzeno added, “It’s a privilege to serve Greenwich, and I’m committed to finding solutions that benefit our town and our state.”
