House Speaker Joins My Radio Show & Help With Energy Bill
July 11, 2025
House Speaker Matt Ritter talked about education funding, special education, child care affordability, and much more on my weekly radio show. Please keep scrolling to listen to the entire conversation!
Eversource is offering new discounts for those who who need help, which is timely due to the hot weather. Please read below to find out who is eligible for up to 50% off their energy bill.
New legislation became law last week. I will provide a breakdown of some important proposals affecting education, transportation, housing, election security, and so much more.
Here are the sections in today's email:
Let's Talk About It: House Speaker Matt Ritter
Help With Your Energy Bill
New Laws Effective July 1
Poetry in the Park 2025
"Big, Beautiful Bill"
Let's Talk About It: House Speaker Matt Ritter
I had the pleasure of chatting with House Speaker Matt Ritter on "Let's Talk About It" to reflect on some of our major legislative accomplishments in 2025. Under his steady and thoughtful leadership, Connecticut has made meaningful strides in education, child care, affordability, and more.
We began our conversation with education where the progress has been both substantial and long overdue:
Windham Public Schools, once underfunded by $10 million annually, are now fully funded through the Education Cost Sharing formula – a long-fought victory for equity.
The new Select Committee on Special Education, on which I proudly served, played a key role in crafting HB 5001, which passed unanimously. The landmark legislation allocates $30 million annually to launch a Special Education Expansion and Development grant, giving students with special needs the support they deserve.
We also secured increased funding for school renovations, including support for the recently upgraded Windham High School, ensuring students have a safe, modern learning environment.
We then turned to child care, an area where bold action is taking shape. Speaker Ritter and I discussed the establishment of the Early Childhood Education Endowment, a nearly $300 million investable trust fund that will expand access to affordable, high-quality child care. By 2027, families earning up to $100,000 will be able to receive free child care, while those earning more will pay no more than 7% of their income.
We also highlighted the creation of a refundable $250 tax credit for filers with at least one child, helping working families keep more of what they earn and easing the financial pressures of raising a family in Connecticut.
Our full conversation also touched on important topics like Medicaid funding, the push for birthing centers, upcoming special session work, and new efforts to invest in geothermal network infrastructure.
Make sure to click on the video below to hear our entire conversation.
House Speaker Matt Ritter discusses a wide range of issues.
Help With Your Energy Bill
Good news for anyone struggling to pay their energy bill! State regulators have required Eversource to offer better prices to those in need.
Under the new structure, customers are eligible for a 5%, 15%, 20%, 40%, or 50% discount on their monthly electric bills if they meet household income requirementsor receive a public assistance benefit for at least one household member and have a financial hardship status on their electric account. Eversource says it notified affected customers of any changes to their discount.
CLICK HERE to see eligibility requirements for the different electric discount rates.
You can also visit eversource.com/bill help or call 800-286-2828 if you need further assistance.
New Laws Effective July 1
Several new laws that we passed during the 2025 legislative session took effect on Tuesday, July 1.
Our two-year, $55.8 billion budget reflects our shared values, marked by historic investments in children through expanded funding for special education and childcare. Our budget strengthens support for working families and ensures that the essential work of nonprofits is both valued and financially supported.
We approved billions of dollars to be used for school construction, transportation infrastructure, housing assistance, and many more local initiatives through our annual bond funding package.
Our students will soon learn about three essential topics in the classroom: civics, media literacy, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history. Under two bills passed in 2022 and 2023, students will gain an understanding of what it means to be an active and engaged citizen, how to analyze the modern media landscape, and the rich history of the AAPI community in our state and the entire country.
Our elections will soon be more secure and transparent as video recording technology will be added to every absentee ballot drop box in our state. This new law will record the drop boxes from the first day that ballots are issued up through when the clerk retrieves the final ballots, and all of these recordings will be made available to the public.
A landmark bill supporting public libraries struggling to afford the skyrocketing costs of e-books and digital audiobooks will go into effect July 1. The bill bars libraries from entering into or renewing expensive contracts and licensing agreements with publishers. The measure positions Connecticut as a national leader in this arena and marks a significant step toward transparency, equity, and sustainability in how libraries acquire and provide digital resources to the public.
As always, your calls, emails, and testimony at our public hearings directly influenced these new laws. Please continue to share your views and have your voice heard at the Capitol!
Poetry in the Park 2025
Don't forget about the amazing talent that's coming to Windham at Poetry in the Park! Hugh Blumenfeld, an acclaimed singer-songwriter, will take the stage on Thursday, July 24 at 6:30 p.m. at Julia De Burgos Park at the corner of Curbstone Way and Jackson Street. In the case of inclement weather, the reading will take place at the Windham Senior Center at 1 Jillson Square.
Blumenfeld is a poet, literary scholar, physician, and former Connecticut State Troubadour. A former mainstay in the Greenwich Village music scene, Blumenfeld attended the Cornelia Street Folk Exchange and helped to edit Fast Folk Musical Magazine, which is included in the Smithsonian-Folkways Collection. Blumenfeld has toured nationally and internationally. His albums include The Strong in Spirit, Rocket Science, Big Red, and Mozart’s Money, among others. He is a longtime supporter of Curbstone Press and created a teacher’s guide to the Curbstone anthology, Poetry Like Bread, edited by Martín Espada. Currently, Blumenfeld is a family physician and an associate professor at UConn Health.
"Big, Beautiful Bill"
The president's so-called "big, beautiful bill" proposes deep cuts to Medicaid, which would limit federal funding, jeopardizing coverage to millions, especially low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities. The bill also shifts costs to states, forcing them to cut services, reduce eligibility, or raise taxes to keep the program afloat.
In short, the bill hurts the very people Medicaid is meant to protect.
