November Advocacy News

By Dr. Kimberly Stoner, CT NOFA Director of Policy and Advocacy

Much happened for CT NOFA advocacy on the state level last week, including a strategy session for the Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment, the annual meeting of the Working Lands Alliance with the Connecticut Commissioner of Agriculture, and a special session of the Connecticut General Assembly.

Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment Strategy Session

CT NOFA continues to lead advocacy for the Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment, which would put the fundamental human right to clean and healthy air, water, and soil, and a safe climate into our state constitution. We have been working on this for three years, and we have built a strong coalition, with over 40 organizations involved.

The goal is to get strong language that would empower the people of Connecticut to advocate and, if necessary, sue the state when it fails to protect our environment and our health. If we get the Connecticut General Assembly to pass the CT ERA with 75% of the vote, or twice with a majority,  it will go to a referendum of the people.

In our strategy session, we focused creating clear, consistent messages about what the amendment would mean for communities fighting for environmental justice across the state, and on building support in key legislative districts: those of the co-chairs of the Government Administration and Elections Committee (Senator Mae Flexer of northeastern CT and Representative Matt Blumenthal of Stamford), and Senate and House leadership (Senator Martin Looney of New Haven and Representative Matt Ritter of Hartford). 

Take Action: We have almost reached our goal of 500 signatures on the petition asking legislators to put the CT ERA on the ballot. Sign our petition here to put us over the top, and to get updates from the coalition as we prepare for the next legislative session, starting in early in February. 

Working Lands Alliance with Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt

CT NOFA is a member of the Steering Committee of the Working Lands Alliance, which advocates for farmland preservation and farmland access. At the Annual Meeting of the WLA, there was a lot to celebrate. Commissioner of Agriculture Bryan Hurlburt pointed to the success of the state Farm Bill, passed with bipartisan support in the 2025 legislative session, which increased funds for farmland preservation through the Community Investment Act, created a new program for farmland access, authorized a new fund for compensating farmers for weather disasters, and created a 20% tax credit for investment in farm equipment and buildings, among other items.

Hurlburt then sat down with organic farmer Kaitlyn Kimball, of Sunset Farm and CitySeed (and who is also a CT NOFA board member), and Jim Smith, of Cushman Farm, to discuss priorities for the coming year. There is follow up needed from some of the successes of the state Farm Bill — the new farmland access program needs staff and a budget, and the fund for relief from weather disasters needs to go through the state bonding process to get the $10 million authorized. The new initiative needed, as Kaitlyn pointed out, and Hurlburt agreed, is to fund more food hubs in Connecticut. There is a gap across the region between the farmer and the purchaser and eater — a gap in food processing and distribution. To get more local food into restaurants, schools, and other institutions, we need more capacity and better systems to aggregate the food from the many smaller farm operations and make it convenient for busy cooks to prepare and serve.

Special Session of the CT General Assembly

The CT General Assembly met in a called session to deal with a few specific issues, including moving money into an emergency fund for human services and passing a housing bill that the Governor had vetoed after the regular session. The CGA voted to move $500 million from the state surplus into an emergency fund to fill gaps in human services left by Federal cuts. How that $500 million will be spent is up to the Governor. The needs are many, and $500 million may not cover them all. Some portion of the money will likely go to fill gaps in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). When SNAP benefits were entirely cut off during the Federal shutdown, the state stepped in, after a delay, to make sure that SNAP funds were available. But, in the longer term, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” put more requirements on people applying for and maintaining their SNAP benefits, so many people in Connecticut are likely to lose food assistance. (See the previous post about SNAP with numbers from DataHaven.) 

The housing bill is very large and complex, but among the many things it does is create a state fund to encourage more housing in downtown areas and near transit services. Increasing the availability of housing in downtown and transit areas is a step toward reducing housing sprawl, which has historically converted farmland and other open space into development. 

Please share your own policy concerns!

The CT NOFA Policy Committee will be meeting this week to discuss how to advance our policy goals on the state and Federal level. Our current policy committee consists of me, Kaitlyn Kimball of Sunset Farm and CitySeed, Vetiveah Harrison of CitySeed, Steve Munno of Massaro Farm, and Diane Dorfer of Cobblestone Farm and the UConn Farm Viability Service. Please contact us with your concerns or if you want to join the policy committee. We will also be planning listening sessions, including at our upcoming CT NOFA Winter Conference.