State Sen. Tony Hwang (R-28) applauded the state legislature’s successful July 24 vote to override Governor Malloy’s veto of the bipartisan 8-30g Affordable Housing compromise bill, HB-6880.

Hwang said the bill, which now becomes law, marks the culmination of a great deal of cooperative work from stakeholders to provide modest affordable housing reform and offer towns an attainable goal of developing and reaching a moratorium.

Co-Chair of the General Assembly Housing Committee, Sen. Hwang said the reform fight represented “the way the system should work: with transparency, with a sharing of ideas and common goals, and with the will to create positive and lasting change for Connecticut.”

“We were disappointed by the governor’s veto, but we were not deterred,” Hwang said. “The support for these reforms from Democrats and Republicans was overwhelming, and we kept fighting. We kept fighting because our goal is a worthy one: We want to increase housing opportunities for everyone in Connecticut and encourage a diverse and dynamic residential community that will foster economic, educational, and cultural growth. We want to allow more local zoning and planning input in developing affordable and workforce housing projects that are compatible with community character. With this veto override vote, the legislature is taking a step in that direction.

“We felt that clearly, the nearly 30-year-old 8-30g language needed updating. We felt that the law should address the need for affordable housing in our state while providing more fairness to local communities that are often at the mercy of developers whose projects conflict with the wishes of the town zoning bodies and neighborhoods.

“Today, we stood strong as Democrats and Republicans. These reforms aim to motivate our state and municipalities toward greater access and inventory of workforce and affordable housing for Connecticut residents.

“I thank all the stakeholders in Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston, Westport and throughout the state for speaking out on behalf of this bipartisan plan and for not giving up on it.”

*Sen. Hwang (www.SenatorHwang.com) represents Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston and Westport. He can be reached at 800-842-1421 and at Tony.Hwang@cga.ct.gov.

Sen. Hwang Applauds Legislature for

Overturning Governor’s Veto of Affordable Housing (8-30g) Bill

Thanks stakeholders in Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston, Westport

State Sen. Tony Hwang (R-28) applauded the state legislature’s successful July 24 vote to override Governor Malloy’s veto of the bipartisan 8-30g Affordable Housing compromise bill, HB-6880.

Sen. Hwang said the bill, which now becomes law, marks the culmination of a great deal of cooperative work from stakeholders to provide modest affordable housing reform and offer towns an attainable goal of developing and reaching a moratorium.

Co-Chair of the General Assembly Housing Committee, Sen. Hwang said the reform fight represented “the way the system should work: with transparency, with a sharing of ideas and common goals, and with the will to create positive and lasting change for Connecticut.”

“We were disappointed by the governor’s veto, but we were not deterred,” Sen. Hwang said. “The support for these reforms from Democrats and Republicans was overwhelming, and we kept fighting.  We kept fighting because our goal is a worthy one:  We want to increase housing opportunities for everyone in Connecticut and encourage a diverse and dynamic residential community that will foster economic, educational, and cultural growth.  We want to allow more local zoning and planning input in developing affordable and workforce housing projects that are compatible with community character.  With this veto override vote, the legislature is taking a step in that direction.

“We felt that clearly, the nearly 30-year-old 8-30g language needed updating. We felt that the law should address the need for affordable housing in our state while providing more fairness to local communities that are often at the mercy of developers whose projects conflict with the wishes of the town zoning bodies and neighborhoods.

“Today, we stood strong as Democrats and Republicans.  These reforms aim to motivate our state and municipalities toward greater access and inventory of workforce and affordable housing for Connecticut residents.

“I thank all the stakeholders in Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston, Westport and throughout the state for speaking out on behalf of this bipartisan plan and for not giving up on it.”

*Sen. Hwang (www.SenatorHwang.com) represents Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston and Westport.  He can be reached at 800-842-1421 and at Tony.Hwang@cga.ct.gov.

This week, state union employees ratified a concessions package negotiated by Governor Malloy’s administration.

The legislature now has a responsibility to approve or reject two major items:

1.      The pension and benefits deal that applies to all state union employees
2.       Over 30 individual contracts we only just received on July 20

In an effort to be as transparent as possible, I want to make sure the public is fully aware of what’s in all these contracts.

I’ve made them all available online.

You can find all the contracts at the following link:

http://ctsenaterepublicans.com/2017/07/state-employee-wage-contracts/

Please review, share, and let me know what you think about these contracts and benefit changes.

• Are they enough?
• Do they move our state in a new direction?
• What do you think?

Send me your thoughts at Tony.Hwang@cga.ct.gov.

Thank you!

FAIRFIELD- State Reps. Brenda Kupchick (R-132) and Laura Devlin (R-134) along with State Sen. Tony Hwang (R-28) expressed extreme disappointment with announcement that Governor Malloy has vetoed the bi-partisan 8-30g Affordable Housing compromise bill, HB-6880.

The bill was a modest step towards affordable housing reform which hoped to offer towns an attainable goal of developing and reaching a moratorium.

Co-Chair of the General Assembly Housing Committee, Sen. Hwang said the reform fight will continue.

“While the governor’s action is disappointing, we are not deterred,” Sen. Hwang said. “The support for these reforms from Democrats and Republicans was overwhelming, and we will keep fighting.  Our goal continues to be a worthy one:  We want to increase housing opportunities for everyone in Connecticut and encourage a diverse and dynamic residential community that will foster economic, educational, and cultural growth.  We want to allow more local zoning and planning input in developing affordable and workforce housing projects that are compatible with community character.  The nearly 30-year-old 8-30g language needs updating. It should address the need for affordable housing in our state while providing more fairness to local communities that are often at the mercy of developers whose projects conflict with the wishes of the town zoning bodies and neighborhoods. These reforms aimed to motivate our state and municipalities toward greater access and inventory of workforce and affordable housing for Connecticut residents.  I want to express my gratitude to all stakeholders for their passion and participation in getting this bipartisan plan to the governor’s desk.”

Rep. Kupchick said, “We worked hard to draft and pass a bi-partisan compromise that received 116 votes (77%) in the House of Representatives and 30 votes (83%) in the State Senate. I call on the General Assembly to override the Governor’s veto so the voices of Fairfield citizens and state residents are heard.”

Rep. Devlin said, “For the life of me I do not understand how the Governor could veto this common sense bill which tried to provide some fairness and contemporary changes and update the 8-30g statute without undermining the Affordable Housing Act.”

Under the current 8-30g statue, towns like Fairfield had very little chance of ever achieving the high bar for a moratorium that allowed predatory developers to sidestep local zoning laws. It’s clearly been a difficult and complicated issue to work on with the majority in the legislature not in favor of any changes.

Each year the legislature has a veto session to meets to consider whether to override vetoes by the Governor. An override requires a two-thirds vote by each chamber (House & Senate) which would mean the House of Representatives would need 101 votes and the Senate would need 24 votes.