Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

December 6, 2024

New leaders named to 8 committees of CT General Assembly

PHOTO | File image Connecticut state Capitol in Hartford.
By Mark Pazniokas, CT Mirror

Eight of the 26 existing joint committees of the Connecticut General Assembly will be getting new House co-chairs when the 2025 session opens on Jan. 8, a 27th committee will be created, and the jurisdiction of other panels will be revised.

House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas of East Hartford, the leaders of a Democratic caucus that won a 102-49 majority in November, finalized their leadership choices Thursday.

Neither the Senate Democratic majority nor the House and Senate Republican minorities have announced their committee assignments.

The Government Administration and Elections Committee will share some of its responsibilities with a new, yet-to-be named committee focused on government oversight.

Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan, will co-chair the new oversight committee. Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, will remain as co-chair of the GAE Committee. 

The eight existing committees getting new House Democratic leaders:

  • Children: Rep. Corey Paris of Stamford.
  • Education: Rep. Jennifer Leeper of Fairfield.
  • Environment: Rep. John-Michael Parker of Madison.
  • General Law: Rep. Roland Lemar of New Haven.
  • Internship: Rep. Kate Farrar of West Hartford.
  • Regulation Review: Rep. Mary Welander of Orange.
  • Transportation: Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo of Ridgefield.
  • Veterans Affairs: Rep. Jaime Foster of Ellington.

Unlike in Congress, seniority plays a lesser role in leadership roles in the General Assembly, where the caucus leaders make the choices and turnover is greater. Of the 151 House members, only 31 won their seats before 2014.

Paris, Leeper, Parker, Farrar, Welander, Berger-Girvalo and Foster all were first elected in 2020 and will begin their third terms in January. Lemar, who is shifting from leading Transportation to General Law, was elected in 2010.

In addition, a new Select Committee on Special Education will be co-chaired by Rep. Maryam Khan of Windsor. She is a special education teacher who won her first term in 2022.

Jurisdiction over gambling legislation will shift from the Public Safety & Security Committee to General Law, which has cognizance over issues pertaining to industries regulated by the Department of Consumer Protection, including liquor and cannabis.

Three committee co-chairs will be leaving those positions to become deputy speakers: Rep. Joe Gresko of Stratford, Rep. Liz Linehan of Cheshire and Rep. Anthony Nolan of New London.

Gresko, the current Environment co-chair, still will play a role in crafting and passing a version of the climate bill that passed the House in 2024 without coming to a vote in the Senate, Ritter said.

The House Democratic majority will have 15 new members in January, and the House Republican minority will have five. There will be two new senators in January, both Democrats.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF