Regulatory Reform Heads to Critical Committee Votes

Four of the five key proposals aimed at giving Connecticut a better regulatory climate by changing how the Department of Environmental Protection operates and achieves its mission were sent to various legislative committees for consideration this week.

The committee approvals are critically important to ultimately moving the proposals to consideration by the full House and Senate:

• SB-453, in the Environment Committee, contains a variety of measures, including improved compliance assistance and regulatory relief for small businesses
• SB-174, in the Public Health Committee, requires state standards that form the basis of water permitting requirements to be adopted as regulations.
• SB-338 and HB-5280, to improve the permitting process,  were sent to the Environment and Appropriations committees, respectively. 

Together, along with SB-120 awaiting action in the Senate, these bills will send a strong message to the marketplace that Connecticut is moving forward to protect its environmental resources in a way that also places a high value on jobs and economic investment.

The Appropriations, Public Health and Environment Committees will likely be voting on these bills sometime prior to Wednesday afternoon, April 21.

CBIA is urging committee members to support the bills and reject the off-base suggestion that they will “roll back” environmental protection.

Legislators can easily challenge that assertion by asking opponents to identify specific language in the bills that would do so. CBIA is also asking legislative leaders to keep the bills moving toward final votes in the House and Senate.

We look forward to continuing to work with legislators and keeping our members apprised of the vote results as the session heads to a close on May 5.

For more information, contact Eric Brown at 860.244.1926 or eric.brown@cbia.com.