Gov. Ned Lamont is proposing two bill amendments aimed at recruiting more police and firefighters in the state by making home purchases and college more affordable for them.
One of the proposed amendments to House Bill 5046, An Act Supporting Firefighter and Police Officer Recruitment and Retention, would develop a mortgage assistance program for police officers and members of career or volunteer fire departments. The other would allow those who put in five or more years of service to seek a waiver of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities.
“Police officers and firefighters are the backbone of the safety of our neighborhoods, and it is imperative that we have strategic recruitment and retention policies that build robust and adequately staffed firefighter and police forces,” Lamont said in a statement Tuesday after announcing the proposals at a news briefing in Hartford. “In particular, I believe that police officers and firefighters should be able to afford to live and purchase a home in the towns they serve, which is why I want to create a mortgage program that would be specifically focused on achieving that objective.”
According to the proposed bill amendments, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority would develop and administer the mortgage assistance program to eligible police and firefighters. The home would have to serve as their “principal residence.”
The housing authority would be able to use down payment assistance or “any other appropriate housing subsidies” under the proposal.
“The terms of any mortgage assistance may allow the mortgagee to realize a reasonable portion of any equity gain upon sale of the mortgaged property,” the proposal states.
The proposal also looks to add language to H.B. 5046 to make police and firefighters with five or more years of service eligible to have their tuition and fees waived for undergraduate or graduate programs at UConn, the Connecticut State University System and Connecticut State Community College. According to Lamont’s office, students attending the Connecticut Fire Academy would also be eligible for a tuition waiver.
Lamont’s office said both incentives are aimed at “encouraging more individuals to seek careers in these important public safety fields and help retain those who are already serving.”
The proposals, which will be taken up during the current legislative session, come amid struggles the state has been facing in recruiting police officers and firefighters.
Officials in law enforcement have said the number of police applicants looking to join a police force never quite rebounded since unrest around the nation led to protests and demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020. Others have pointed to departments moving away from defined benefit pensions as well as the police accountability laws passed in the state in 2020, which reduced qualified immunity for police.
Recruitment in firefighting has also been a challenge in Connecticut. Last year, state Comptroller Sean Scanlon released a report that showed a 63% drop in volunteer firefighting in the state since 2017.
The proposals to H.B 5046 have been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Security. The committee is expected to hold a public hearing on the matter “soon,” Lamont’s office said.
Some Republicans in the state were quick to criticize Lamont and his proposal.
“Republicans have been sounding the alarm on this for years,” state Rep. Greg Howard, ranking member of the Public Safety and Security Committee, and House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora said in a statement. “And while Gov. Lamont has danced around the problem before, today’s recruitment announcement continues to avoid the hard truth about what’s actually driving the crisis.”
Republicans called the problem “real” and “self-created.”
“Years of democratic legislation and anti-law enforcement rhetoric have demoralized Connecticut’s police,” Republicans said. “The results speak for themselves: the state police projects nearly 20% of its force — roughly 175 troopers — could retire by 2027, and recruiting replacements has become increasingly difficult. It is no coincidence this crisis accelerated the moment Connecticut enacted its so-called police accountability legislation in 2020. Officers are walking away and telling their sons and daughters to avoid the career altogether.
“Tuition waivers and housing assistance are nice, but carrots alone won’t fix a culture that has treated officers as suspects rather than public servants,” Howard and Candelora said. “Real solutions require pairing recruitment incentives with an honest reckoning: restore balance, provide clarity and legal protection, and show genuine respect for the men and women keeping our communities safe.”
Other Republicans supported the proposals.
“It’s a good first step,” state Sens. Paul Cicarella, Jeff Gordon, Jason Perillo and Stephen Harding said in a statement. “Republicans have been proposing these recruitment and retention policies for years. We must do more to create a climate in Connecticut where people want to become law enforcement officers and firefighters. This bill sends a positive message, and we look forward to its bipartisan passage into law.
“The bill waives the tuition and fees for undergraduate and graduate programs at all CT public colleges and universities for state and local police officers and firefighters with five or more years or service, as well as students attending the CT Fire Academy,” the Republican senators said. “It also creates a mortgage assistance program to help public safety professionals buy homes in the communities they were hired to protect.”
Information from Courant reporter Sean Krofssik was used in this report.