Gov. Ned Lamont kicked off the 2025 legislative session’s opening day with a State of the State address that took a victory lap on policies his administration has implemented and called on legislative committees to tackle a number of outstanding issues. However, he presented few policy proposals.

Lamont asked the legislature to focus on the state and build on progress after referencing policies incoming president Donald Trump’s administration may put in place and how they may affect funding Connecticut receives from the federal government. He called affordability and opportunity the “north stars” of Connecticut public policy.

Lamont began with a victory lap touting results of his policies. Despite recent rate hikes from Eversource and United Illuminating, Lamont claimed the state has held the cost of energy, healthcare and education down. He stated that Connecticut residents have been able to keep more of what they earned and the state has made it easier to start a family because of the state’s family and medical leave act, paid for by a tax on workers in the state. Lamont touted the program’s solvency.

While Connecticut’s state and local tax burdens are rated as some of the highest in the country by groups like the Tax Foundation, Lamont touted that the state has “one of the highest earned income tax credits” in the country, “so more working families pay little to no income tax.” He also said his administration has implemented “the biggest middle class tax cut” in the state’s history.

“You keep more of what you earn, all the while keeping our budget in balance for the sixth straight year.” Lamont said, adding his administration has “broken the bad habits of the past” by paying down legacy costs and making state employee pensions more secure.

Lamont said he wants state government to be a foundation that sets residents up for success, adding current services the state offers should be rethought.

“To me current services means statuts quo and I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo and you shouldn’t be either.” Lamont said.

Turning to topics likely to arise during the session, Lamont mentioned the high price of electricity. He suggested that much of the recent discussion surrounding electricity costs, including the number of commissioners on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, which is statutorily required to be five, and whether electricity costs are paid by ratepayers or taxpayers are “cosmetic changes that don’t make a dime’s worth of difference.”

Lamont stated that “increasing supply, especially low-carbon supply” would make a difference and mentioned Revolution Wind, which requires Eversource and United Illuminating to purchase offshore wind at a price that is ultimately higher than natural gas. He also mentioned purchasing more commercial solar power from Maine, which has seen a number of controversies and legislative attempts to limit where solar farms can be built due to concerns over land use, as well as hydropwer from Canada.

Lamont also mentioned rising healthcare and education costs as problems to be tackled this session. He touted a plan to have teaching students in their third-year of school work as apprentices in programs. He also mentioned removing smartphones from classrooms, which he called “incredible for learning and good for the soul.”

He touted work the state is doing with social media companies to give parents oversight over how their children use platforms. Laws that require social media companies to verify the age of users have been a topic of discussion nationally and in various states, with critics raising a number of concerns about how this affects data privacy.

Lamont also proposed conducting outreach to bring more men into teaching careers, saying boys are more likely to be disaffected and having more men in the classroom could help. He also mentioned issues with funding at Connecticut’s colleges, as well as a laundry list of items for various legislative committees to tackle.

Prior to Lamont’s joint address, both the House and the Senate met separately to conduct housekeeping, such as swearing in members, electing leadership, and adopting rules for the session.

Both sessions adopted joint rules for the session, which include a new joint committee on government oversight.

The committee will have jurisdiction over the Office of Government Accountability’s administrative functions, which includes personnel and employment policies, information technology within the office, and the Freedom of Information Commission, the Office of State Ethics, the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board, the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and the Auditors of Public Accounts. In addition, it will have jurisdiction over the sale, transfer or disposition of property under the control over state agencies.

Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding opposed the adoption of the rules because of the lack of bipartisan leadership on the committee.

While a number of Republican members of the House voted to oppose adoption of the joint rules in a roll call vote that did not meet the 20 percent threshold required of such a vote but which Speaker of the House Matt Ritter allowed, none spoke against them. Both chambers ultimately voted to adopt the rules.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora also spoke to a change within rules governing the House that prohibits members from speaking during meetings unless they are physically present. Candelora said the new rule reflected the need to “start bringing people back.” He added that he has heard from constituents and lobbyists that having access to representatives is important.

“We do our best work when we’re working together side by side.” Candelora stated.

63 bills from both chambers filed on the session’s opening day, previewing topics that are likely to be at the forefront of discussion.

The Office of Legislative Research (OLR) released a report on important issues the General Assembly may face.

The report notes that a projected $122.7 million General Fund surplus is $175.2 million lower than budgeted, which legislators will have to grapple with while putting together this session’s budget. The fiscal guardrails have already been a source of contention between Democrats and Republicans ahead of the session.

Other topics the report highlighted are: teacher shortage and retention

The Connecticut State Department of Education has identified 11 teacher shortage areas for the current school year. Last session, the legislature passed several pieces of legislation aimed at making teacher certification easier. The OLR report notes that the legislature may consider additional measures to attract more teachers into public education.”

Among the Senate’s proposed bills for the session are a number aimed at addressing this issue, including one that would let tradespeople put work experience towards accreditation in teacher certification for trades school teachers and a bill to require reciprocity for teachers whose licensure in other states is in good standing.

On the back of public outrage over the recent increase in the public benefits charge, OLR also pointed to energy affordability and availability likely issue. A number of proposed bills from the Senate touch on the public benefits charge and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), as well as contention from last year about whether Connecticut should follow California’s emission standards.

One would remove the public benefits charge, while another would remove PURA from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Other topics OLR highlights as potentially being major issues include: special education, artificial intelligence, cannabis regulation, higher education funding, protections for renters, Medicaid reimbursement, certificate of need, the Special Transportation Fund, property-tax relief for veterans, and transit-oriented development.

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