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Lawmakers May Consolidate Hearings on Dozens of Bills on Crumbling Concrete

It appears state legislators are really motivated to make a difference in the crumbling concrete crisis, an exclusive broken by NBC Connecticut Investigates more than three years ago.

As the new session gets into full swing, there are more than three dozen bills getting presented to help homeowners.

The concrete bills are clustered in a bunch of different committees, including banking, judiciary, plus planning and development, and some homeowners with crumbling basements may testify on more than one of the bills.

Senator Daniel Champagne (R- Vernon) is one of the newest lawmakers serving north central and eastern Connecticut, the part of the state hit the hardest by the concrete crisis.

He told a crowd at a forum on concrete in South Windsor that his committee will try to get all the committees with concrete bills to hold one big hearing on them.

“If people have to come in and testify, we want them to do it on the same day," Champagne said.

Condo owner Debbie MacCoy, who has a crumbling basement, appreciates the suggestion of one consolidated hearing. “I’d like to see all of them, so I don’t have to go back and forth to Hartford for the eight committees," she said.

The concrete bills cover everything from new standards for the stone used to make concrete, to appropriating funds for UConn to study the problem further, to authorizing bonds to repair or replace the Tolland school that has the concrete problem.

Two years ago the legislature heard all the concrete bills on the same day, and it was a long one.

People with crumbling basements told NBC Connecticut it was worth it.

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