Housing, Taxes Top 179-Bill Push

Let the housing authority build more affordable apartments — in the suburbs.

That’s the thrust of one of 179 proposals and counting that New Haven and Hamden state lawmakers have put on the table so far during the current state legislative session.

It’s also one of nearly a dozen such locally-championed proposed bills that focus on expanding access to affordable housing, and ensuring that renters across Connecticut aren’t kicked to the curb during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the official start of the Connecticut General Assembly’s latest regular session on Jan. 6, New Haven and Hamden’s 12 state legislators — all Democrats — have sponsored a flurry of proposed new laws seeking to make good on progressive campaign promises.

Those include proposals to tax the rich through new levies on capital gains and mansions, bids to bring more state aid to financially-squeezed cities through updates to the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program, and a host of other measures that would legalize the retail sale of marijuana, create a statewide single-payer health care program, better fund education for English language learner students, bolster pedestrian safety, encourage school regionalization, remove barriers to voting, and — through legislative sticks and carrots — encourage the development of more affordable places to live.

The current regular state legislative session runs through June. Due to Covid-19, it will take place largely via video live-streams and remote public hearings.

Following November’s general election landslides, Democrats are in as strong a position of statewide political power as they’ve been in years. They have supermajorities in both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives (plus control of the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the state, treasurer, comptroller, all five U.S. House seats, and both U.S. Senate seats.)

Just as during the last regular state legislative session in 2019, New Haveners hold key levers of lawmaking power: State Sen. Martin Looney is still the upper chamber’s president pro tem. State Sen. Gary Winfield is still the Senate chair of the Judiciary Committee. State Rep. Toni Walker remains the House chair of the Appropriations Committee. State Rep. Robyn Porter is still the House chair of the Labor & Public Employees Committee. State Rep. Roland Lemar is still the House chair of the Transportation Committee. State Rep. Juan Candelaria is still the deputy speaker of the House. And State Rep. Patricia Dillon is the House Democrats’ deputy majority leader.

In 2019, the city’s state legislators helped push through a new paid family medical leave bill and a hike to the minimum wage. In a 2020 special session, New Haveners took the lead in passing a comprehensive police accountability bill and (temporary) expanded access to the ballot during the pandemic. The 179 proposed bills and resolutions so far this year offer a glimpse into where the local state delegation plans to throw its political weight in coming months.

Affordable Housing: Expand Authority, TOD Zoning, Right To Counsel

Expanding access to affordable housing emerges again and again across the state delegation’s newly proposed bills as one of New Haven and Hamden legislators’ top priorities this session.

Some of the proposals are repeats of bills that failed to gain any traction in previous sessions. Others — picking up on momentum by recent advocacy by city and state elected officials, zoning reformers, and civil rights lawyers and activists around housing — offer new approaches to the issue.

One such proposed bill is Proposed Senate Bill 487: An Act Concerning Housing Authority Jurisdiction.

If passed, the law, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Housing, would allow housing authorities to expand their areas of operation to include ​“certain high or very high opportunity census tract[s] within a fifteen-mile radius.”

The proposed legislation mirrors a 2019 bill sponsored by State Rep. Lemar that also sought to expand how far afield housing authorities can build new government-subsidized, low-income housing. That previous bill sought to expand housing authorities’ areas of operation to a 30-mile radius of their municipalities of origin. It was also sponsored only by Lemar, and went nowhere last session.

This time around, the housing authority bill limits the proposed expansion of operations to a 15-mile radius. It is sponsored by all nine New Haven state legislators as well as by Hartford State Rep. Ed Vargas.

Expanding housing authority domain was one of the recommendations put forth by the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force report in January 2019. And it picks up on the work local housing advocates have been pressing on in recent months to dismantle the residential exclusivity of wealthy suburbs with little existing affordable housing.

Another housing-related proposed bill that has garnered the official support of all nine New Haven state legislators is Proposed Senate Bill No. 551: An Act Concerning Multifamily Housing And Accessory Dwelling Units.

This bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Planning and Development, would require that 50 percent of land within one-half mile of ​“transit stations and commercial corridors” be zoned for multifamily housing. It would also require those transit-adjacent areas to permit accessory dwelling units as of right, provided that those ADUs conform to relevant health and building codes.

Legalizing ADUs — also known as ​“mother-in-law” apartments consisting of converted attics and basements — was also a recommendation included in the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force report. It has long been discussed as a local zoning reform that would increase affordable housing supply with the stroke of a pen.

Sen. Looney has submitted a similar new Transit Oriented Development (TOD) bill that would require municipal zoning regulations to permit a greater density of housing within a half-mile of public transit stations.

In a bid to pressure municipalities currently in violation of the state’s affordable housing laws to open up, Looney has sponsored Proposed Senate Bill 172: An Act Establishing A State-Wide Assessment To Encourage Affordable Housing In The State.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, would raise property taxes in municipalities where less than 10 percent of their housing stock is designated by the state as affordable. The increased assessment rate would not apply to the first $300,000 of assessed worth of any given property, and would result in a higher and higher tax rate for municipalities with lower and lower current shares of affordable housing.

All nine New Haven state legislators have also introduced Proposed Senate Bill 808: An Act Concerning Property Taxes And Affordable Housing. That proposed bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Planning and Development, would require an additional property tax in municipalities where less than 10 percent of all housing units are designated as affordable. The money raised from such a tax would then have to be reinvested in ​“social services, affordable housing and other support programs in other municipalities.”

To boost protections for current renters, State Rep. Robyn Porter has co-introduced Proposed House Bill No. 5359: An Act Concerning Access To Counsel In Certain Summary Process Proceedings.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary, would guarantee access to an attorney for any renter facing eviction ​“as a result of being negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Local housing advocates have recently ramped up a push for a tenant’s right to counsel, including through presentations at community management team meetings.

Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven Executive Director Karen Dubois Walton singled out the proposed housing authority expansion bill for praise as an example of local state legislators picking up their constituents’ call for more — and a more equitable, regional distribution of — affordable places to live.

“We have to both be investing in the cities and the urban centers, and also opening up access to other communities for affordable housing,” she said.

This proposed legislation, along with other zoning updates and increased funding for new affordable housing development currently being championed this session by the local housing authority, will be key to addressing long-standing housing, economic, and racial segregation across Connecticut, she said.

Expanding a housing authority’s jurisdiction to beyond its municipality of origin would allow that authority to leverage federal funding through the housing voucher program to ensure that people outside of New Haven have access to housing where they would not have to pay more than 30 percent of their income.

It would also allow housing authorities with development arms, like Elm City Communities’ Glendower Group, to ​“be treated like any other developer who operates in the private market” in bidding on, purchasing, designing, securing local land use approvals, and developing properties outside of their home municipalities.

She said that a third of the ​“tens of thousands” of people on the local housing authority’s waitlist already come from outside of New Haven. And a disproportionate number are Black and Hispanic households who have been locked out of building intergenerational wealth and acquiring their own stable, affordable housing wherever they’d like in the state thanks, in part, to discriminatory land use policies.

“I think [state legislators] see a real opportunity to do some equity-based, progressive legislation here which will right some of those wrongs of the past.”

Proposal: Abolish Solitary, Phase Out SROs, Bolster ​“Community Crisis Response”

New Haven and Hamden legislators — led by Sen. Winfield and Rep. Porter — have continued this session advocating for policing and criminal justice reform.

Five New Haven and Hamden state lawmakers have backed Proposed House Bill No. 5927: An Act Concerning Solitary Confinement.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary, would prohibit the state prison system from using solitary confinement in its facilities.

Following up on one of the most hotly debated proposed policing reforms in New Haven since last summer’s mass protests against police brutality, Winfield has also backed Proposed Senate Bill No. 447: An Act Concerning The Phase-Out Of The Use Of School Resource Officers.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Education, calls for the development of a ​“process to phase out the use and employment of school resource officers in public schools.” After months of consideration and debate, the New Haven Public Schools recently decided to keep cops in schools.

Building off of another local policing reform push to emerge from last year’s protests, all nine New Haven state legislators have co-introduced Proposed Senate Bill No. 572: An Act Concerning Community Crisis Response Teams And Reentry Centers.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Security, would amend state general statutes ​“to support community crisis response teams to more appropriately support individuals with mental and behavioral health needs and to create reentry centers to assist individuals reentering the community from prison.”

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker’s administration is currently working, with an initial sign-off from the Board of Alders, on developing a local community crisis response team that would send out social workers rather than police officers to respond to certain mental health and housing-related 911 calls.

Sen. Winfield has co-sponsored Proposed House Bill No. 5009: An Act Concerning Electoral Privileges Of Certain Incarcerated Individuals And Parolees.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections, would restore the right to vote to people convicted of certain felonies and to convicted felons who are on parole.

Tax Yale, Pot

Sen. Looney’s proposed restructuring of PILOT, implementation of a ​“mansion tax,” and new surcharge on capital gains, have already received a fair amount of attention in the Independent and elsewhere.

Those aren’t the only locally-supported proposed tax reform bills before the state legislature this session.

All nine New Haven state legislators have thrown their official support behind Proposed Senate Bill No. 744: An Act Concerning The Property Tax Exemption On Properties Owned By Yale University.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, would amend legislation granting Yale University’s charter as well as title 12 of the general statutes ​“to define further the property tax exemption applicable to property owned by said university.”

City and state officials as well as local organized labor leaders have ramped up calls on the university to contribute more to the city budget — which the mayor recently said is staring down a projected deficit this coming fiscal year of up to $66 million. Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital do not have to pay local property taxes on many of their local holdings because of their largely taxempt nonprofit statuses. (See here for the university spokesperson’s responses to calls for Yale to contribute more to city coffers.)

Also on the tax reform front, Rep. Candelaria has introduced Proposed House Bill No. 5853: An Act Concerning The Retail Sale And Taxation Of Marijuana.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, would allow for the retail sale of marijuana to individuals 21 and up, impose a sales tax on such sales, and then dedicate 30 percent of revenue generated from those sales to drug awareness and substance abuse treatment, among other programs; 25 percent to provide services for the homeless; 10 percent provided directly to municipalities in which a marijuana retailer is located; 15 percent provided to local and regional school districts for the municipalities where a marijuana retailer is located; and 20 percent provided to ​“working capital to certain applicants for marijuana retailer licenses.”

All nine New Haven state legislators have also signed on to Proposed Senate Bill No. 742: An Act Concerning The Municipal Revenue Sharing Account.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, calls for municipal revenue sharing account — which holds state funds that are then distributed as grants to municipalities — to be ​“fully funded” for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2022.

Racism Crisis, Worker Recall

Other locally-backed proposed bills seek to push the state to adopt measures already taken by City Hall.

Those include Proposed Senate Bill No. 55: An Act Designating Racism As A Public Health Crisis In The State And Establishing A Commission To Study The Impact Of Institutional Racism On Public Health, which is co-sponsored by Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott. That proposed bill has been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health.

The city’s Board of Alders formally declared racism a a public health crisis last summer. An aldermanic committee recently gave the thumbs up to a set of local recommendations provided by a working group tasked with investigating the public health impact of racism.

Sen. Looney has introduced Proposed Senate Bill 658: An Act Requiring Employers To Recall Laid-Off Workers In Order Of Seniority, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees.

The mayor recently introduced and the Board of Alders passed a local hotel worker recall ordinance, which requires local hotel employers to hire back former employees laid off during the pandemic by order of seniority.

Sen. Winfield has co-sponsored Senate Bill 182: An Act Establishing Indigenous People’s Day And Juneteenth Independence Day As Legal Holidays, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections. That bill would officially change redesignate the state holiday of Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and it would establish Juneteenth as a legal state holiday as well.

The city declared Juneteenth — an annual celebration honoring the end of African American slavery — as a local holiday last summer. And the alders replaced Columbus Day on the local holiday calendar, not with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but with Italian Heritage Day.

Money For Baseball, Recognition For Pizza

Some of the bills proposed by local state lawmakers fall into a sort of grab bag of legislation that would direct funds — and recognition — to New Haven-specific projects and cultural landmarks.

Rep. Candelaria has introduced Proposed House Bill No. 5748: An Act Appropriating Funds For City Angels Baseball Academy In The City Of New Haven.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Appropriations, would provide $200,000 in state funding for a local baseball league run by Angel Ramos.

Rep. Dillon and Sen. Winfield have backed Proposed House Bill No. 5533: An Act Authorizing Bonds Of The State For A Pedestrian Island On Whalley Avenue In New Haven.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, calls on the State Bond Commission to authorize the issuance of state bonds for an as-yet-unspecified amount to fund the construction of a pedestrian island on Whalley Avenue near the intersection of Davis Street. That’s the intersection where local crossing guard ​“CeCe” Staten Gilchrist and 11-year-old Gabrielle Alexis Lee were struck and killed by cars in two separate incidents in the past 13 years.

Though this bill does not specifically mention New Haven, Rep. Dillon and Sen. Winfield have also introduced Proposed House Bill No. 5656: An Act Designating Pizza As The State Food.

That bill, which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections, calls on the state legislature to amend state law ​“to designate pizza as the state food” to recognize the ​“contribution of pizza to the state’s cuisine and economy.”