July 12, 2013
Rep. Jason Rojas on Friday praised the enactment of legislation he introduced that eliminates a costly state mandate for municipalities' school construction projects.
Rep. Rojas, House chairman of the legislature's Planning and Development Committee, where the legislation was introduced, led the House of Representatives in voting overwhelmingly to approve the bill in the closing days of the session. The Senate passed it unanimously and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed it into law Thursday.
"I want to thank the governor for signing this bill, which included my proposal to eliminate a state mandate that was costing our municipalities and the state millions of dollars in avoidable school construction costs," Rojas said.
The mandate, which had been in place for 10 years, required that when a school is built that its roof be constructed with a pitch higher than what the State Building Code required. The mandate was put in place out of concerns that a lower pitch was resulting in negative indoor air quality in our schools.
"No one wants poor indoor air quality in our schools but a number of architects, engineers and other school construction professional reached out to advocate for eliminating the mandate because there was no data or body of evidence that the pitch of a roof was somehow related to indoor air quality," Rojas said.
Professionals believe that the mandate could result in a 15 percent to 25 percent increase in unnecessary costs to taxpayers.
"For example the change in the law had the potential to save $6 million to $10 million on the $40 million worth of projects that were scheduled to be funded this year. Our non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that the savings on a large scale roof project may realize a cost savings in excess of $5 million," Rojas said.
"While we faced opposition to the change in law I am proud to have worked to get this passed because it is a good policy change and ultimately because it will help save money for taxpayers," Rojas said.
Rojas serves the 9th Assembly District, which consists of portions of East Hartford and Manchester.