Security & Service: House Republican Priorities for the 2024 Legislative Session

HARTFORD—House Republicans, in advance of the start of the 2024 legislative session, unveiled proposals Thursday that will maintain the state’s fiscal stability while making Connecticut a more affordable place to live.

Among the proposals is a call to amend the Connecticut Constitution to protect the “fiscal guardrails” that have allowed the state to build a solid Rainy Day Fund and begin to pay down long-term debt.

“The relative fiscal stability Connecticut enjoys today is attributable to the strict fiscal controls that were approved and later renewed on a bipartisan basis, and to retreat from them now, as some of our Democratic colleagues would have us do, would indicate a willingness to return to the haphazard budgeting that characterized state government not all that long ago,” said House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford). “Amending our State’s Constitution to protect our revenue and volatility caps would cement our commitment to a fiscally conservative approach that demands each of us who serve in state government make informed, and sometimes difficult, choices about our budgetary priorities.”

Candelora and Republicans discussed their caucus proposals during a news conference at the Legislative Office Building, where they explained that most conversation ahead of the three-month “short session” has focused on eroding the guardrails to increase state spending. Efforts to deliver tax relief, they said, can’t be ignored.

“Whether it’s a trip to the grocery store, or eating at a restaurant lately, we’ve all been hit with an increase in costs. That’s why the package of proposals unveiled today are focused on easing the burdens of Connecticut residents through a reduction in sales tax, enacting a child tax credit for families and maintaining the state’s fiscal guardrails that limit state spending,” said Rep. Joe Hoxha (R-Bristol). “These are items that we can easily implement, but we need the Democrat majority to join us to make them happen, and I sincerely hope we can work together this session for the betterment of our state.”

This legislative session House Republicans will again push for the creation of a state child tax deduction of $2,000 per child, a proposal they first offered in their alternative budget proposal last spring that drove discussion about tax relief that was ultimately included in the two-year state budget. Additionally, Republicans want to exempt children’s clothing under $100 from the state’s sales tax all year long.

Other proposals unveiled Thursday include:

• Stopping the electric vehicle mandate to protect your choice to buy the car you want
• Allowing courts to hold without bail, individuals who are a danger to the community
• Reducing the sales tax to 6.35% from 7.75% on certain motor vehicles to help residents adjust to skyrocketing prices
• Creating a new criminal charge focused on gangs that commit car theft or property crime
• Allowing police officers to make investigatory motor vehicle stops due to the sight or smell of cannabis
• Encourage economic development by reducing small business filing fees
• Enhancing penalties for individuals who organize, or actively promote, so-called street takeovers

Those and many other proposals are part of House Republicans’ “Security and Service” agenda for the 2024 legislative session, which is focused on addressing issues from community crime to nursing shortages. You can view the caucus agenda at www.securityandservicect.com.