HARTFORD, CT — There will be nine freshman Democratic Senators chairing committees and there are 11 new House committee chairs for the 2019 legislative session set to begin Wednesday.
Senator-elect Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, will co-chair the Banking Committee with Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport.
Senator-elect Mary Daughtery Abrams, D-Meriden, will co-chair the Children’s Committee with Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Meriden.
Senator-elect Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, will co-chair the Labor and Public Employees Committee with Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven.
Senator-elect Dennis Bradley, D-Bridgeport, will co-chair the Housing Committee with Rep. Brandon McGee.
Senator-elect Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, will co-chair the Environment Committee with Rep. Michael Demicco, D-Farmington.
Senator-elect Will Haskell, D-Wilton, will co-chair the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, with Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield.
Senator-elect Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, will co-chair the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, with Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford.
Senator-elect James Maroney, D- Milford, will co-chair two committees — the Aging Committee with Rep. Joseph Serra, D-Middletown, and Veterans Affairs Committee, with Rep. Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven.
Senator-elect Norm Needleman, D-Essex, will co-chair the Energy and Technology Committee with Rep. David Arconti, D-Danbury. Even though Arconti is going into his third term, this will be his first term on the Energy and Technology Committee in the past.
In the House, there were several other changes in chairmanships.
Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, will co-chair the Judiciary Committee with Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven. Stafstrom succeeds Rep. William Tong, who was elected Attorney General.
Rep. Bobby Sanchez, D-New Britain, will co-chair the Education Committee. It’s unclear at the moment which Democratic Senator will be his co-chair because Sen. Beth Bye decided not to take the oath and instead will go head the Office of Early Childhood for the Lamont administration. Sanchez succeeds Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, who lost a Democratic primary to Jillian Gilchrest.
Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, will co-chair the Transportation Committee, with Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford. Lemar succeeds Rep. Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, who didn’t seek re-election to the seat and failed to win a state Senate primary.
Lemar is expected to guide this year’s conversation on highway tolls.
Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, succeeds Lemar as co-chair of the Planning and Development Committee.
Rep. Kim Rose, D-Milford, will chair the Internship Committee and Rep. Susan Johnson will chair the Regulation Review Committee.
No changes were made with respect to the chairs of the two budget writing committees.
Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, and Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, will remain co-chairs of the Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, and Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, will remain co-chairs of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committees.
This year all 27 legislative committees will be traditionally structured with only two chairpersons — a change from the last two regular sessions. Based on what had been an 18-18 tie in the state Senate, Republicans had been allowed a third chairperson on every committee. But Democrats expanded their margin in both chambers in the last election to 92-59 in the House and 23-12 in the Senate, so the traditional structure returns this year.
There will be at least two special elections for seats held by Rep. Chris Soto, D-New London, and Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, who will go to work for Governor-elect Ned Lamont’s administration.
“This is a great time of opportunity for our state, and the leadership team we have put together is committed to working to develop policies that help improve the quality of life for everyone in our state,” House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said in releasing the list of committee assignments Thursday.
Senate President Martin Looney released his assignments in December.
“I am very excited to announce our Senate Democratic committee chairs and vice chairs,” Looney said. “The talent and experience embodied in both our returning and new members will help Connecticut to creatively pursue opportunities and confront challenges in the next two years to the benefit of the people of our state.”
Looney will have to decide who will chair the Education Committee because Bye will no longer be there.
