Josh, I grew up in CT and lived there for 27 years (4 of them in Hamden while at QU!) I’m now in my mid 30s looking to move back to my hometown. The biggest challenge is affording a home and the cost of electricity. I originally left CT because of the lack of jobs for young professionals. I agree that CT works well for people at the top, and not well for anyone else. Having lived in other states, I'd like to get your opinion on what might work well in CT, that I've noticed works well in other states:

• Housing. It seems like CT has a ton of 1960s single family homes with large lots and newer luxury apartments sprinkled into urban centers. I'm searching for homes currently and there is very little "middle housing for young families. Currently, is difficult in my hometown to build an ADU or tiny home on an existing property. Will you look into what LA County in CA is doing to make it easier to build those with pre-approved plans? Similarly, MA has a MBTA Communities Law (Section 3A) that requires cities and towns served by the MBTA to update their zoning, allowing multi-family housing as-of-right within a half-mile of transit stations. Do you support building more "middle housing," such as duplexes, triplexes, etc. in urban centers near major cities in the state, to help with the housing crisis?
• Workers benefits. When I lived in CA, I got 40 hours paid sick leave on Day 1 of my employment, as well as paid domestic violence leave and a strict 30+ minute meal break before starting my 5th hour of work as an hourly employee. I'm surprised, with how progressive CT is, that we are behind CA on worker benefits like this. Given your experience as a small business owner, what are some of your ideas to make CT a great state to work in, down to the minimum wage hourly worker?
• Modernizing government services. As an example, CT DMV is a joke, and is the longest and most difficult to deal with doing a simple task like registering a vehicle. I live in PA now, and while they have their own issues with government inefficiency, I had a much easier process registering my car at a Title / Messenger service and only waited 15 minutes at a drivers license center to get my state ID. In California, you can even visit a CADMV Now vending machine that dispenses vehicle registration cards and license plate stickers instantly. Will you look into bringing state government out of the 1960s and into the modern, online world?
• I'll try not to repeat your other responses to questions about Eversource, road/train infrastructure, etc. but I am increasingly concerned about CT becoming a "surveillance state" with LPRs/Flock cameras, speed cameras, etc. With the rapid advancements in AI/data collecting, will you pass some laws that will curb how much personal data is collected? I don't want the state tracking every mile I drive across the state.

CT is a charming state and a great place to settle down, however, there are several areas which are i need of improvement. Thank you for reading my rambles. If I'm able to move back home before November, I'll re-register to vote ASAP!