by Hugh McQuaid CTNewsJunkie
Lawmakers will wait until after the legislative session begins on Feb. 7 to advance stalled regulations to phase out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles, House Speaker Matt Ritter said Friday.
Leadership had asked House members to keep their calendars open on Feb. 1 to potentially meet for a special session to adopt regulations phasing out the sale of new exclusively gas-powered vehicles by 2035, reflecting emissions standards enacted by California and several other states.
Ritter said Friday that legislative leaders had tabled plans for the special session amid ongoing concerns from lawmakers about the affordability of charging electric vehicles and apprehension related to committing Connecticut to the change at a time when the state currently lacks adequate infrastructure to support the transition.
“People are struggling with the idea of thinking out 12 — 11 years from now and what the world’s going to look like,” he said. “Some people are comfortable saying these are critical goals and we’ve got to start somewhere and there’s an optimism to how this will unfold. For some, they’re far more concerned.”
Connecticut’s emissions standards have long been tied to those adopted by California. However, after weeks of opposition by legislative Republicans, Gov. Ned Lamont withdrew the regulations implementing the standards after it became clear in November they lacked adequate support to clear a bipartisan review committee.
Julia Bergman, a spokesperson for the governor, said Friday the Lamont administration continued to work with the legislature to ensure a proposal is passed after lawmakers reconvene next month.
“Governor Lamont is committed to cleaner air and confident from his conversations with Democratic leadership that the legislature will stand by their commitment to put Connecticut on the path towards a zero-carbon future,” she said. “These regulations propose an orderly way to reduce the costs of purchasing hybrid and electric vehicles for working families, and ensure we remain competitive with our neighbors who are already adopting these same standards.”
Although Democratic policymakers vowed to prioritize the eventual adoption of the regulations, news that it will not be passed ahead of this year’s regular session reflects recent comments made by Senate President Martin Looney, who said Tuesday that leaders were “still a distance away from having a bill” ready for a vote.
Looney, D-New Haven, and other legislators including members of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus have voiced concerns that the transition may have a disparate impact on lower income communities. Residents who can not afford to install chargers attached to their homes may be forced to utilize more expensive public chargers, they argue.
“We are really concerned about the equity aspects of all of this,” Looney said.
Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, stressed similar arguments in a Thursday statement, in which he called the cancellation of the special session plans a “victory for the families of Connecticut.”
“They [Democrats] were more than willing to favor affluent families over poor, working and middle class families who cannot afford a single-family home,” Kelly said. “They were more than willing to circumvent the legislative process and silence the voices of the people by doing away with public hearings. We will not forget that.”
On Friday, Ritter remained optimistic about the eventual passage of the regulations and said the proposal would receive a public hearing in the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
The bill was likely to include a large commission to evaluate Connecticut’s progress toward meeting its infrastructure goals, a mechanism for lawmakers to re-vote on the regulations after three years, as well as funding commitments to support the construction of more charging stations around the state, he said.
Still, Ritter sounded ready to move on to a less thorny issue.
“I hope the next time you call me it’s on a different topic,” he said, “and you can quote me on that.”