Posted on July 15, 2019
State Representatives Tim Ackert (R-8), Christopher Davis (R-57) and Tom Delnicki (R-14) applauded Governor Lamont’s approval of Public Act 19-192, “An Act Concerning Crumbling Concrete Foundations” at a bill signing ceremony on Tuesday, July 9th.
“This legislation is the result of the hard work of impacted homeowners, advocates and strong bi-partisan cooperation. We are finally making progress and homes are starting to be repaired. However, there is always more work to do,” said Rep. Ackert. “One of the most important updates in this bill is the redefinition of ‘residential building.’ Multi-family homes and condominiums with more than four units will now be eligible for assistance.”
The legislation also establishes a grant program to support the development of methods and technologies to reduce the average cost of repairing and replacing concrete foundations.
“Replacing crumbling foundations is a labor intensive and costly process,” noted Rep. Davis. “Establishing an innovation fund will help research and come up with better solutions to address the issue going forward. Foundations potentially contaminated with pyrrhotite were poured until 2015, meaning we will face this issue for years to come. New solutions, repair techniques and testing will be critical to reducing costs.”
“As Ranking Member of the legislature’s Banking Committee, and having worked across the aisle with the banking industry, I am proud to say that we were able to come up with a low interest loan program to provide gap financing for those who have gone through the captive insurance program and are in need of additional funds. Likewise, we desperately need quarry standards and this legislation calls for a report back on a standard by February 1st 2020,” said Rep. Delnicki.
The legislation also includes a clarifying fix to the twelve dollar healthy homes surcharge. The charge will now only apply to the first insured listed on the policy and will only be levied when a new policy is begun or renewed.
All three legislators co-sponsored the bill and advocated for its passage during the recently concluded 2019 regular legislative session. For more information about the legislation visit www.cga.ct.gov.