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State Rep. John Frey (R-111) panned Governor Malloy’s decision to veto the bipartisan 8-30g affordable housing compromise bill, HB 6880 after the announcement was made on Friday. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Frey, was a modest step towards affordable housing reform which hoped to offer towns an attainable goal of developing and reaching a moratorium to achieve greater control over developments. It received 116 votes (77%) in the House and 30 votes (83%) in the State Senate. “I consider this an outrageous move by the governor,” said Rep. Frey. “The bill he just vetoed was the product of bipartisan discussion and mutual compromise, and it took hard work to pass the House and Senate as broadly as it did. If the governor won’t accept the careful and prudent ideas in HB 6880 to provide fairness and contemporary changes to the 8-30g statute, then he has truly given up trying to help municipalities. I’m really not sure what else we can do to get his attention about how serious of a problem this is.” Under the current 8-30g statue, towns like Ridgefield had very little chance of ever achieving the high bar for a moratorium that allowed predatory developers to sidestep local zoning laws.
In spite of this setback, Rep. Frey noted that the bill passed with enough support to potentially override the governor’s veto. Each year the legislature has a veto session to consider whether to override vetoes by the governor. An override requires a two-thirds vote by each chamber (House & Senate) which would mean the House of Representatives would need 101 votes and the Senate would need 24 votes. “I will not be deterred on this issue. I urge the legislature to override the governor’s veto and get this bill passed so the voices of Ridgefield residents and concerned citizens across the state will be heard. We can still do the right thing here,” Rep. Frey added. |
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