Following Connecticut’s alternate-year schedule, this will be a long session, extending to June 4, with enactment of a biennial budget as its major focus. The state has enjoyed budget surpluses in recent years, and the outlook for revenue over the next biennium looks healthy, leading some legislators to propose new or increased funding for education, social services, town aid, and other areas.

However, budget controls passed in 2017 limit the State’s ability to raise spending. This law set so-called ‘guardrails’ that limit most spending increases to five percent over the previous year. Any additional revenue must be used to pay down unfunded state pension obligations along with interest on borrowing and to build reserves.

In response, the Lamont administration recently cautioned that rising Medicaid, debt payments, and other fixed costs would make it impossible for the state to increase funding for other programs. In fact, the governor charged state agencies to reduce spending by five percent in their 2025-2027 budget requests. Leaders in the Senate want to cut back the guardrails, but in the House there is less support for significant changes. Any modification of the guardrails is likely to be modest in scope and directed to social programs.

With revenue a major issue, the Community Investment Act, which provides a dedicated funding stream for historic preservation (including PCT)— along with affordable housing, farmland protection, open space acquisition—could come under scrutiny. PCT and related organizations will be vigilant to protect that program, which is important both for the amount of money that it channels to valuable programs and for the funding stability that allows agencies to plan beyond the two-year budget.

The long session also allows more time for legislators to propose bills that could affect state programs. While it is impossible to know what will come up before the session gets underway, it is certain that housing will continue to be a major focus of attention, and historic properties have the potential to be a significant part of the housing equation. Legislation could either encourage careful reuse of historic buildings or encourage mindless violation of historic character in the interests of maximizing units created—and, perhaps, profits to developers.

One carryover from the 2024 session is the act that modified the State Historic Preservation Office’s procedures for reviewing state-funded or state-permitted projects for their effect on historic resources. While the most harmful provision, a buyout to avoid the review process altogether, was deleted, the act still weakens the state’s long held policy to avoid harming historic resources through its programs. Preservationists reacted to the act with the intention to pursue actions to modify it; however, lobbyists advise that it would be wisest to wait longer and see how the enacted changes actually affect historic places before pursuing changes.

Preservation Connecticut with its lobbyists will follow the legislative session closely; for updates check this page and social media, as well as those of Connecticut Preservation Action, the statewide lobbying organization for historic preservation.

PCT supports this bill which would mandate a study of the State’s inventory of buildings and its procedures for repurposing them or transferring them to private users. We believe this study is needed and that historic preservation must be a part of it.

PCT supports this bill that would dedicate a portion of the meals tax to increase funding for organizations like the CT Office of the Arts and Connecticut Humanities among others that have a significant impact on cultural organizations and museums across the state.

In partnership with other environmental organizations, PCT opposes this bill which would defund the Connecticut Green Bank, an essential funding resource for:

• homeowners to enhance their home’s energy efficiency and reduce their bills
• developers to rehabilitate buildings with increased efficiency