Click here to view our Lobbyist’s recap of Governor Lamont’s 2024 Budget Address.
The Government Relations Committee of Northwest Connecticut’s Chamber of Commerce meets the second Thursday of each month at our offices in Torrington. The Committee works closely with the Chamber staff, regional legislators, and lobbyist Mike Rell, who follows the activities of the State Legislature. The Committee is currently chaired by Jacque Williams of Jacque Williams Entertainment.
Among the activities of the Committee are the development of an annual Legislative Agenda, which is furnished to the Chamber’s Board of Directors for approval and then presented to the State Legislative Delegation from the Northwest Corner. Click here to view the 2024 Legislative Agenda
When appropriate, legislative alerts are distributed via email to Chamber membership.
Candidate forums are held in the fall prior to elections. Candidates for State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress meet with Chamber members when it can be arranged. Following the state legislative session, a legislative reception is held to offer members a chance to speak one-on-one with their legislators and voice concerns on specific issues. The Chamber teams with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) and its members to attend Connecticut Business Day in Hartford. This event, held each March, allows business people to speak with their state legislative delegation and hear the Governor address all attendees.
Our lobbyists, International Governmental Strategies, LLC, has established a bill tracking website that includes the bill’s title, a brief description, any updates including public hearing dates and votes. Most useful is a link that will allow you to email legislators your support, opposition or concern. The list contains a number of bills that our lobbyists are tracking for the Chamber. As the committee process begins to weed out bills that will most likely die, they will begin to segregate those bills to the bottom of the list. This does not necessarily mean the bill’s concept or intentions are dead as they can always be included in language later on. Visit the bill tracker site.
To find your state legislator, visit https://www.cga.ct.gov.