CT Politics: Eviction Reform, Aquarion & Towing Laws

Connecticut politics moved on several fronts this week, with fights over federal homeland security funding, school grants, water utility oversight, and tenant protections all demanding attention at the state and national level.

Day 35 of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown is grinding into daily life in ways that are hard to ignore. Airport security lines have stretched to hours at major terminals, and TSA workers are still waiting on paychecks. Senate Republicans set a vote for Friday on DHS funding that is expected to fail, while Rep. Rosa DeLauro is pushing in the House to fund all of DHS except ICE and Border Patrol. That effort faces long odds as well. Still, Senate leaders are threatening to cancel an upcoming recess, and quiet negotiations on ICE reforms are slowly picking up steam. Both parties continue to blame each other for the stalemate.

On education funding, the state’s Education Committee moved two bills forward this week with bipartisan backing. House Bill 5002 and Senate Bill 7 would each raise the Education Cost Sharing Formula’s foundation amount, a figure that has not changed since 2013. In the years since, many municipalities have turned to property tax increases to cover inflation and rising costs, and supporters of the bills argue the formula has simply failed to keep pace with reality.

The legislation was not without friction. Rep. Maryam Khan, a Democrat from Windsor, raised concerns about a provision in H.B. 5002 that would allow schools to use a special education grant she helped design to pay for third-party services. Khan said that was never the intent of the grant. An amendment to fix the provision came to a vote and failed 15 to 18.

Attorney General William Tong made a rare personal appearance before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Monday to argue against the proposed $2.4 billion sale of Aquarion Water Company. Tong has been a consistent critic of the deal, contending it would burden Aquarion customers with new transaction costs for decades. PURA initially rejected the sale in November, but that decision was later overturned in court. Tong told the authority that the court ruling changed nothing about its power to act. “The court’s decision has changed nothing,” he said. “The court did not take PURA’s power away.” The attorney general’s decision to appear in person underscored how seriously his office views the stakes for the roughly 230,000 customers Aquarion serves across southwestern Connecticut.

Governor Ned Lamont threw his support behind eviction reform this week, backing a proposal that would require landlords to give a reason before evicting a tenant. The bill would effectively end no-fault and lapse-of-time evictions in Connecticut. Advocates announced the governor’s support at a press conference Tuesday, where Democratic lawmakers promised to push the measure across the finish line this session. The bill has come up before and failed to advance. Landlord groups remain opposed, arguing the requirement would complicate efforts to remove disruptive tenants. The governor’s backing gives the proposal its best chance yet.

Separately, the Human Services Committee passed a bill this week that would direct the state’s Department of Social Services to expand home and community-based living options for residents who might otherwise require institutional care. Under the proposal, those changes would begin in July, giving DSS and the social services commissioner new tools to keep people in their communities rather than moving them into nursing facilities or other settings.

Taken together, this week’s developments reflect a state government working through layered and often competing pressures. Federal dysfunction around DHS is bleeding into everyday life at Connecticut airports, while Hartford is managing debates over school funding equity, utility regulation, and housing stability that have been building for years. The eviction reform fight, in particular, has long been a test of whether Connecticut’s Democratic majority can hold together on a bill that advocates have wanted for more than a legislative cycle. With Lamont now in their corner, the calculation in the Capitol has shifted.