Face the Facts: What Will Legislators Take On In This Year's Session?

As we head into the new session, what has the best chance of getting through the state legislature and then back to the governor's desk for a signature?

NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck spoke with House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora about his party's legislative priorities.

Mike Hydeck: So during the State of the State, the governor talked about something called a meaningful middle-class tax cut. What do you consider meaningful?

Vincent Candelora: Well, what Republicans proposed last year, were disappointed we couldn't get over the finish line, was a 1% reduction to the income tax for earners of $175,000 or less for families. That could amount to about, you know, $1,200 a year in savings for families and individuals. So I'm hopeful we're gonna see something like that come out of the governor's budget.

Mike Hydeck: So hopefully, up to 1% for under $175,000 is the goal. Okay, so another big thing that's happening as we speak, electric rates are doubling for Eversource and UI customers on the supply side. The power provider, as you've said before, calls this a pass-through. Meaning, they're spending more for natural gas because of the way it is on the market to generate electricity. So they are charging ratepayers more. Now the governor actually called them out on this. What can lawmakers do, if anything, about it?

Vincent Candelora: Yeah, I think we have to be honest with the conversation, I think the governor really is misplaced, on solely blaming the electric companies. Yes, liquefied natural gas has increased which has caused this pass-through. But something that Democrats have failed to do over the last 10 years is provide better alternatives for generations. We should be looking toward nuclear. Governor Malloy in his day had tried to push through natural gas pipelines to be built into Connecticut. Those were really thwarted by this administration. And so because we don't have that diversity, the ability to get natural gas from Pennsylvania, they're right over the border, we are forced to only rely on liquefied natural gas, which is greatly impacted in price because of the war in Ukraine and Europe's need for that gas. So Connecticut really has boxed itself in over the last couple of decades by really relying solely on renewable energy. So I think we need to broaden the conversation about generation and look to those other alternatives. Renewable energy is not going to fix the problem in the short term.

Mike Hydeck: So what's your take on PURA announcing that they want to get together with other states in New England and try to negotiate with the power companies? Do you think that's a good thing?

Vincent Candelora: Yeah, I mean, I think it certainly doesn't hurt, and looking at the procurement process, do we change how long our contracts are entered into? There could be some areas that might provide short-term relief. But I do think at the same time, we have to have the difficult conversation of balancing between renewables such as wind and solar with your traditional generation, which is nuclear and natural gas. And it's something that Commissioner Dykes has not been willing to have that conversation. She systematically has pushed back on allowing for the waste-to-energy plants to continue to operate in Connecticut. And so it's even creating a waste crisis for our state. So we have a lot of discussions that need to be had this session on this energy crisis. And I'm looking forward to that debate.

Mike Hydeck: Let's talk about health care costs now, another topic that the governor brought up. You're a small business owner. You know it is not easy for employers of about 25 to 100 employees to try to provide health insurance. Insurance companies just backed out of offering small-group policies here in Connecticut. What can be done to help the small business owners this session?

Vincent Candelora: Yeah, again, that's another difficult question. Because what we're seeing right now is over the last three years, the COVID money had subsidized the insurance premiums for a lot of individuals. So they went on to the health care exchange and got very inexpensive or free policies. And that is set to expire. So I think Connecticut needs to start looking at, we did pass a benchmarking bill last year, to look at how we could make costs more affordable by working with the healthcare industry, our doctors, and our hospitals, on providing services more efficiently. But outside of that, we've got to bring some competition into the market, I think, and it is going to be a very difficult debate. I think continuing to push a public option is a mistake. It sounds good. But the socialized medicine, it's not working in Canada, as we're seeing. It's something that I don't think makes any sense and we should look toward trying to prop up the private market again.

Mike Hydeck: That'll be an interesting goal there. Okay, so last question. I got a little less than a minute. What would you like to see done? Do you have a priority this session from the Republican side of the aisle?

Vincent Candelora: Well, obviously, I'm looking forward to the budget discussions on protecting the caps the volatility cap, and spending cap, which has given Connecticut surpluses and allowed us to pay down an unfunded liability. But I'd like to make sure that all of those savings are returned to the taxpayers, as opposed to freeing it up to spend more money. So really looking at the affordability of Connecticut, providing relief, equalizing our tax rates to inflation, so that government doesn't benefit from all this inflation by collecting more taxes. We need to reduce those taxes and give it back to the taxpayers.