By John Schwing

WESTPORT — It’s only 65 miles to the northeast from Westport, but the state capital of Hartford to many town residents is vastly overshadowed by the gravitational pull, both culturally and economically, from that behemoth to the southwest, New York City.

And that’s true not only for the town’s influx of pandemic-era New Yorkers, but longtime residents often think of Hartford more in terms of UConn basketball games and concerts at the XL Center than as the seat of state government, where the governor and legislature make decisions that can have profound and lasting impact on all Connecticut residents’ lives.

A new session of the General Assembly gets underway Wednesday, Jan. 8, and among the issues expected to top the agenda are several of keen local interest, including new affordable housing initiatives, controlling high energy costs and a tug-of-war over fiscal policy that includes more cuts in state taxes and preserving budgetary “fiscal guardrails” vs. additional spending for education and social programs.

Among the players in the debate and policy-making during the six-month session, which is scheduled to end June 4, are the three legislators representing Westport in the General Assembly — state Reps. Jonathan Steinberg and Dominique Johnson and state Sen. Ceci Maher. All three are Democrats who were easily re-elected to new two-year terms last November, and they join Democrats’ slightly increased majorities in both legislative chambers, where they now hold 102 out of 151 House of Representative seats and 25 out of 36 in the Senate.

Steinberg, serving his eighth term in a district encompassing most of Westport, will be the House chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, as well as continue serving on the Public Health Committee, and will join the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee for the first time in many years (after serving six years previously).

Johnson, whose district comprises a swath of southwestern Westport and part of Norwalk, has been named a deputy majority leader and will be a member of the Judiciary, Environment and the Government Administration and Elections committees.

Maher, whose district includes Westport and seven other communities, will be a chair of the Children’s Behavioral Health Policy and Planning and the Internship committees, vice chair of Human Services and member of Environment, Energy and Technology and the Judiciary committees.

The Westport Journal reached out to the legislators to ask their priorities for the coming session.

“Affordability” across a broad spectrum of issues — housing, electricity and child-care costs — emerged as a common denominator among Westport legislators’ main concerns for the session.

“I think energy policy, particularly affordability, will be a hot topic this session,” Steinberg said, referring to spiraling utility bills that became a major issue during last year’s campaign across the state. “Not that I’ve yet heard a practical idea that would quickly reduce electric bills. My job is to educate everyone on the huge benefits we receive from the Public Benefits charges some people want to abolish,” he added.

For Johnson, a major focus will be working to “improve the well-being of our families and their quality of life. 

“Increasing affordability for our working and middle class families will be a priority for me, including stabilizing the cost of child care,” she added.

And Maher agreed, saying she favors legislative action to “create a more affordable Connecticut through increased housing and child care, and by lowering electricity bills.”

The debate over what is “affordable” for state government, however, will play out against the crafting of a new budget that will not be bolstered by federal American Rescue Plan Act money for the first time in several years. During that period, the state has racked up record budget surpluses, cut state income taxes for the first time in decades and begun making inroads on paying down its whopping pension debt.

But the fiscal outlook remains uncertain, with debate growing over whether it’s time to loosen the budgetary “fiscal guardrails” to allow more spending, particularly on the state’s universities and colleges and on social programs feeling the pinch of inflation.

Steinberg, who has defended the fiscal guardrails set down by Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration, said budget issues remain a top priority for the coming session.

For Johnson, another priority is expanding early literacy access for children up to 5 years old and “championing the entrepreneurial, small business and workforce development provisions of the Connecticut Climate Protection Act to get it across the finish line this session.”

Maher also prioritizes gun safety by advocating adoption of “Alyssa’s Law,” enacted by several states in the wake of the massacre at Parkland High School in Florida. It calls for teachers, school administrators, etc., to wear what looks like a name tag that is actually an electronic device that can transmit an alert to police in event of an emergency.

She also would like to see approval of full funding of school meals for every student, and adoption of a Uniform Collaborative Law, a voluntary dispute resolution (mediation) process for a low-cost, non-adversarial option for low-income families and their children.

In addition to new legislation that may emerge from the new General Assembly session, already-approved measures effective as of the new year include extending the requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees to offer up to 40 hours of paid sick time to those with as few as 25 workers. Another new law requires most insurance policies to provide coverage for coronary calcium scans that can detect dangerous deposits in arteries.

And the new session will be more financially rewarding for legislators, as a previously approved salary increase of 4.5 percent in each year of their two-year terms takes effect, boosting their base pay from $40,000 to $43,600.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.