May 10, 2024

Rep. Callahan Provides Update on Environment Committee Bills

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As Ranking Member of the legislature’s Environment Committee, I was tasked with leading debate on the House floor on bills passed out of committee. While there were some good measures approved during the 2024 session, I was concerned about others.

I argued against an omnibus proposal of nearly two dozen concepts. This bill would be costly to the state, further overburden out ratepayers, and overwhelm out electric grid. Our nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis determined this bill will lead to an increase in electric rates. I was disappointed to see this was passed by the House. The bill however, was not raised in the Senate for a vote before adjournment.

I also spoke on a bill about bottle redemption. The best way I can describe it is through a Seinfeld reference. Connecticut hiked the return fee to 10¢ from 5¢. In order to discourage people clogging CT redemption centers with bottles bought out of state for a higher return, like Kramer and Newman driving to Michigan, we passed SB 293. Check out my comments below.

I raised questions about a bill that would updated a piece of legislation passed last session. Last year, I was concerned about the bill to create a stewardship program to oversee the collection and recycling of used tires. Currently, retailers charge an approximate $5 fee to customers to accept and dispose of old tires. While I support the goal of preventing illegal dumping, that’s already against the laws of the State of Connecticut. This update would, among other provisions, allow more time to begin the tire stewardship program after the plan is approved.

The House did not act on a bill to create an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council, stopping a proposal for the 2024 legislative session called An Act Concerning Transportation Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles.

The EV regulations were pulled from consideration earlier, and establishing a coordinating council seemed to be an EV mandate by proxy. Among my concerns is that this bill would put all of our eggs in the electric basket. There are other types of clean vehicle technologies being developed and this didn’t take into account hydrogen and fuel cells.

If we’re going to spend a lot of money on infrastructure, we better be right.