CCM Provides a Voice for Municipalities

CCM 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.

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 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.

• Greater Control of EMS Providers within Municipalities - Collaborated with the Department of Public Health, ambulance providers and local CEO’s to provide local government greater control of a municipality’s emergency responder primary service area (PSA) provider. PA 14-217 included changes that created a process by which towns and cities have a greater ability to determine their PSA provider. In addition, this included the development of a process by which towns could seek reassignment of PSAs from the Department of Public Health in order to improve patient care, regionalize services or create efficiencies. As well, it created improvements to local EMS plans by updating performance metrics by which EMS providers would be held accountable for their service.

• Local Oversight of Small Cell Antennas - In 2017, CCM was successful in advocating for then-SB 536 which was intended to establish a statewide plan and process for the siting of small cell antenna systems. Without CCM’s interjection through the legislative and regulatory process, these systems would have been able to be installed in the right of way without municipal input or oversight.

• Police Accountability - Most recently, CCM worked with elected officials and advocates regarding the municipal impact of PA 20-1 regarding police accountability. In light of continuous protests and rallies to address racial inequities, it became obvious that some kind of police reform was needed. As the bill was drafted and reviewed, CCM was successful in highlighting the unintended consequences of the original proposal. As a result, CCM was able to make recommendations that were incorporated into the final bill to make it more workable and less onerous on property taxpayers. While still problematic in several areas, CCM is hopeful to continue to work with all stakeholders on the issue.

• A substantial portion of CCM’s advocacy efforts occur outside of the legislative process by engaging with various agencies on regulatory and agency directives. CCM has worked extensively on several issues within the Public Utility and Regulatory Authority (PURA). PURA is charged with regulating the rates and services of Connecticut’s investor owned electricity, natural gas, water and telecommunication companies. CCM has represented the interests of municipalities before PURA on several issues, including utility response to various storms, ensuring municipal oversight is allowed for small cell utilities within the right of way, and encouraging municipal broadband expansion by streamlining the process in which various utility lines are attached to the utility poles. CCM has been instrumental to ensure PURA decisions included the best interests of towns and cities.

• CCM has also worked with several state agencies on important topics. These efforts include working with the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security on disaster preparedness, response and recovery for a variety of events, as well as working with the Department of Education, Department of Public Health and several other agencies on a variety of other topics.

• Most notably, CCM worked with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on the Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) permit. CCM successfully worked to reduce the fiscal and scope of the permit that was originally proposed. Over the course of six months, CCM negotiated the removal of several provisions which would have been costly unfunded mandates on towns and cities. While the current MS4 permit does contain some unfunded mandates, the efforts of CCM and its members reduced the scope and fiscal impact that the MS4 permit.

• Along with our work in the Legislative and Executive branches of government, CCM has also been involved in representing the interests of towns and cities in our judicial system. Of particular interest, CCM has been involved in some important court decisions:

• Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF) vs Rell – CCM was instrumental in working with CCJEF partners to litigate the issue of equity within the State’s school finance system. The case was ultimately decided by the State Supreme Court, and while unsuccessful in the courts, CCM has been able to use the case to promote the overall issue of providing equity and ensuring adequate resources for Connecticut students.

• Walgreens v. Town of West Hartford – CCM supported the Town of West Hartford’s effort for local assessors to consider actual rent and other factors, like recent sale prices of the property, when valuing leased property. This decision has important implications for appraisals – not only Walgreens stores, but also other chain stores with the same business practice of leasing property – that are prepared in connection with property tax appeals throughout the state. Failure in this regard could have resulted in millions of dollars in lost property tax revenue, or additional tax burden that could have been passed onto residents.

• Kasica v. Columbia – CCM partnered with the Town of Columbia to ensure that a property under construction must be assessed based on its fair market value. The State Supreme Court agreed. Exemption from this taxation would have transferred the burden from those conducting the construction to those established residents throughout the town. The loss of revenue has been estimated to have approximately $21-$25 million statewide in lost property tax revenue.

• CCM v. PURA - CCM convened a coalition of municipal and non-municipal officials to object to a PURA ruling that municipalities were unable to use its free “municipal gain” on the utility poles in order to provide broadband services to its residents and business, regardless of whether such service is being provided directly by the municipality or through commercial arrangements with a third party. CCM was successful, on appeal, to have the Appellate Court provide a declaratory ruling in favor of CCM and therefore remove the shackles that municipalities had in building out broadband in their communities. CCM’s public policy and advocacy efforts are vast and constantly in action. CCM keeps members updated on important events through a variety of means, one of the most expansive and useful is CCM’s Legislative Action Center. It is the best and easiest way to stay involved and updated on important issues impacting our towns and cities.