CCM Provides a Voice for Municipalities
C
CM represents the interests of municipalities at both the State and Federal level. Instrumental in those efforts are our members providing important perspectives, along with the CCM staff that are able to effectively convey those issues to state officials. CCM’s in-house lobbyists collectively have decades of government relations experience and offer a year-round presence under the golden dome. The staff is comprised of public policy experts that have served in a variety of roles within the General Assembly and are able to take that knowledge and experience to advance the legislative agenda of CCM. Each staff member specializes in certain areas of focus and are responsible for tracking every piece of legislation and amendment that is introduced to determine its potential impact on towns and cities.
common ground on a variety of topics, often times controversial. CCM tries to obtain common ground if it provides a benefit to the residents of Connecticut. In doing so, we have worked with various stakeholders on important legislative topics, including: • Providing Benefits to Firefighters with Cancer Worked with career and volunteer firefighters to provide firefighters with financial benefits to assist them with medical or loss of wage support when they are diagnosed with cancer. This was accomplished in a collaborative manner to ensure firefighters were not financially impaired when seeking treatment, as well to ensure it did not impose an undue burden on local budgets. • Addressing PTSD Support and Benefits for First Responders - Succeeded in reaching a compromise to provide mental health benefits and support to first responders that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For a long time, this was a controversial topic that did not appear to have any common ground. CCM’s concern with the original proposals was the tremendous financial, administrative and labor imposed burdens the mandate would have imposed. After several years of disputes, CCM convened a working group comprising of police officers, firefighters, local CEOs, police and fire chiefs, insurers and workers compensation practitioners to examine the perspective from all parties. As a result, PA 19-17 was enacted that protected municipal budgets, provided first responders with appropriate access to mental health care and assisted in removing the stigma of mental health within the first responder community.
Along with directly lobbying legislators, CCM works with our members in preparing and delivering testimony in promoting CCM proposals and defending against harmful legislation. CCM is always pursuing stability in state aid to municipalities, as well encouraging meaningful mandate relief and combating against new unfunded mandates. Responding to legislation is only part of CCM’s effort. We develop and pursue legislative proposals based on deliberation from CCM’s Policy Committees, which are led by municipal leaders and ultimately comprise CCM’s official legislative program. CCM also works with our partners at the federal level providing federal advocacy. The National League of Cities (NLC) is a tremendous resource and partner for CCM. CCM leads and coordinates coalitions on a variety of issues. In recent years, we have worked in reaching
6 CCM Candidate Bulletin
