Reapportionment Committee elects Rep. Greg Haddad and Sen. Kevin Kelly as co-chairs, authorizes website and public hearings

The Reapportionment Committee held its organizational meeting and selected Representative Greg Haddad as House co‑chair and Senator Kevin Kelly as Senate co‑chair, the panel’s chairs said, then introduced nonpartisan staff who will support the committee’s map‑drawing work.

"This is the beginning of our process of determining what our new district lines will look like," Representative Greg Haddad said as he opened the session and introduced committee members. "I look forward to working with everybody on the committee as we move forward."

The committee, made up of equal numbers of House members and senators and balanced between the two parties, heard brief self‑introductions from members who identified their districts. Senator Kevin Kelly said the panel intends to hold public hearings in each of the state’s five congressional districts to gather input before finalizing plans.

"What we want to do is make sure that we get as much public input as possible," Kelly said, adding that the committee will work with nonpartisan staff to schedule hearings. He also noted a timing challenge: "the census figures have been delayed" and may not be available until mid‑August, a delay that could affect the map timeline.

Jim Tamboro, identified as executive director of the Joint Committee on Legislative Management and the project coordinator for the effort, introduced the nonpartisan team that will support the work. Tamboro named Office of Legislative Research staff Kristin Sullivan and Jennifer Proto as public information officers, OLR director Steph D. Ambrose, office director Paul Aldarucci, Reno Fioli, Cheryl Smith, LCO attorney Michael Talarico and administrative staff Beth Waters, Kirsten Breiner and Tom Spinella.

"We have a number of very talented nonpartisan staff joining us today and we'll be here to assist you all through this entire process," Tamboro said.

Committee staff said a public website and an email address have been created so members of the public can submit information and comments; the address given in the meeting was reapportionmentcga.ct.gov and the committee page is reachable through the General Assembly’s committees subsite. Co‑chairs asked that members be allowed to review drafts of the site and, if there is consensus, authorized the chairs to approve publishing the site so the public can access materials promptly.

Representative Vincent Candelora nominated Rep. Haddad for the House co‑chair slot; the nomination was seconded on the record though the seconding speaker was not named in the transcript, and nominations were closed, after which Haddad was declared the House co‑chair. Senator Mary Dardy Abrams nominated Sen. Kelly for the Senate co‑chair role; Representative Haddad seconded that nomination and Kelly was selected.

Senator Kelly and Representative Haddad said they will consult with committee members to schedule the next meeting and will post the date after consultation. With no further business, a member moved to adjourn, the motion was seconded, and the co‑chairs adjourned the meeting.

What happens next: the committee will proceed with staff support to prepare draft maps and publish public materials on the committee website; scheduling of public hearings will follow once census data are available and after consultation among members.