Connecticut House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said he is open to a wide array of ideas as lawmakers introduce hundreds of bills in the early days of this year’s state legislative session.
The bills range from new gun control measures, to highway tolls, to a sales tax on groceries, to the legalization of recreational marijuana. Speaker Aresimowicz, a Democrat from Berlin, said he’s not taking any of them off the table.
“I would venture a guess that when this is all said and done there will be about 5,000 bills introduced. Maybe half of those get a public hearing. The public hearing process itself is an important aspect. If it’s the grocery tax, if it’s requiring schools to graduate on time no matter the snow days they have, if it’s making sure the movie theaters starts the movie on time. All these ideas are ideas. It’s not going to change the world, but we should hear them all.”
Aresimowicz said his focus will be on economic development and pushing for the regionalization of public schools as a cost-saving measure.
“Do we need all those superintendents? Do we need every curriculum director? No, we don’t. But somehow the municipalities are able to hold this building hostage that they have to have the exact money they had last year, if not more.”
This year’s legislative agenda will also be affected by Governor Ned Lamont’s budget. He’ll be presenting it to lawmakers on February 20.
