Leaders of the General Assembly’s Democratic majority said this week they expect to introduce emergency legislation next month to supplement winter heating assistance depleted by shrinking federal funds.

House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven both said the goal is to vote in mid-February, roughly one week after the regular session opens, when legislators also are expected to vote on judicial nominations.

Both Democratic leaders said the funding likely would be modest and expressed optimism they could overcome Gov. Ned Lamont’s reservations about using state funds to support an initiative traditionally paid for with federal dollars.

“We need to hedge against the rest of the winter being severe,” Looney said. “We can’t have people struggling and suffering in Connecticut.”

The Hartford Courant reported Thursday that the Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating four deaths from suspected hypothermia during the recent cold snap. The deaths took place between Jan. 14 and 20 in Bridgeport, Hartford, Thomaston and Westbrook.

Officials investigating whether hypothermia contributed to four CT deaths during frigid stretch

Ritter said Democrats have been looking for an opportunity to bolster energy assistance, but it recently became clear that would not be feasible in a special session before the regular session starts Feb. 7.

“It’s something I support very much and something my caucus supports very much,” he said.

Though full details of the Democratic proposal were not available Wednesday, it is expected to center on the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program. The added funds would not be sufficient to elevate assistance to last winter’s levels but would mitigate a severe drop in grants.

CEAP, which is administered by the state Department of Social Services, distributes federal Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds and is facing severe cutbacks. Congress rolled back LIHEAP funding this year to pre-pandemic levels. Connecticut has about $85 million to distribute this winter — well below the $110 million-plus it awarded last year and the smallest amount since the winter of 2018-19.

But demand is up more than 40% from pre-pandemic levels, according to the social services department. Despite relatively mild weather, approved applications this year are up 14.4% from last winter’s pace and exceeded 63,400 through Jan. 6. At that pace, they would approach 121,000 before the program closes in the spring.

State social services officials estimated last August that the maximum amount the poorest household could receive was $1,350 based on available federal funds. That’s down almost $1,000 from last year’s top benefit, while many other families stand to lose hundreds of dollars.

East Hampton officials recently identified six residents that had exhausted their benefits by the first half of January, according to Eric Rosenberg, chairman of that community’s Commission on Aging.

Household income must be at or below 60% of the state median to qualify for CEAP. For a family of four, that’s a cap of $79,910.

The state’s Low Income Energy Advisory Board has asked state officials to bolster the $85 million Connecticut Energy Assistance Program budget by at least 20%, or roughly $17 million, to mitigate the financial hit these families are facing.

That ask represents 2.5% of the $645 million surplus Lamont’s budget office estimates Connecticut will have when the fiscal year closes June 30.

“The urgency to act on behalf of families this winter is growing,” said Claire Coleman, the state’s consumer counsel and chairwoman of the advisory board. “Connecticut has continually focused on ways to help those most vulnerable, and I’m hopeful that state leadership is proactive.”

Nora Duncan, vice chairwoman of the advisory board and state director of the AARP, urged municipal officials to follow East Hampton’s example and continue to inform legislators about residents who have exhausted all assistance but will likely need heat for several more months.

Ritter and Looney said the mid-February proposal to add state funds to CEAP likely would involve less than the $17 million the advisory board sought, given that slightly more than one month of winter already has passed.

Ritter added that leaders also are considering added funding for Operation Fuel, a Hartford-based energy assistance nonprofit.

Whether any state funding is spent on may hinge largely on Lamont, a fiscally moderate Democrat who has offered two concerns about using state dollars for energy assistance: The first is that LIHEAP grants are a federal responsibility; the second, that the program is only designed to help, not to cover the full winter heating needs of the poor.

Chris Collibee, Lamont’s budget spokesman, said Wednesday that the administration hasn’t seen any legislative proposals for supplemental funding to date.

“If legislative leaders believe that more funding is needed for LIHEAP, they should work with the state’s congressional delegation to secure such funding,” Collibee added. “While the administration is wary of creating a precedent for state support of this federal program, any proposals to provide state funds to supplement federal allocations will need to work within a balanced budget framework and compliance with all applicable budget caps.”

Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation already have expressed skepticism that more energy assistance funds would be forthcoming from Washington.

Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, another advocate for pooling state funds with federal dollars to expand energy assistance, said this isn’t an unprecedented idea. Connecticut did this periodically both in the 1990s and in the 2000s, he said.

“We’ve got a lot of winter left … and we’ve got to be practical about this,” Lesser added. “Obviously the need is there.”

Minority Republicans in the state House and Senate said Wednesday that officials watched federal aid decline last year and shouldn’t have been stunned to see it fall again this winter.

Republicans have argued that state government, which has amassed roughly $11 billion in budget surpluses since 2017, should tap its own coffers to keep residents warm. The GOP proposed last spring that a contingency fund be established in the state budget so the General Assembly wouldn’t have to scramble this winter after some residents already were living in cold homes.

“It’s failed leadership, plain and simple,” said Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, “The longer we wait, the more we will see that … families are going without heat. I can’t believe a state of such wealth is in this situation.”

“This is a crisis, another fire set by Democrats that we will have to come and put out,” added House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford.

Keith M. Phaneuf is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/ ). Copyright 2024 © The Connecticut Mirror.