April 30, 2015

WILL STATE'S FORECLOSURE MEDIATION PROGRAM EXPIRE NEXT YEAR?

Rep. Larry Butler, seen here in 2013, sponsored a bill that makes the state's
foreclosure mediation program permanent. Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant

Rep. Larry Butler, D-Waterbury, Co-Chairman of the Housing Committee, sponsored a bill that makes the program permanent. He said it's been extended several times for a year or two already.

"The need for this isn't going to go away. The extent of the need may diminish or increase for a time," he said. "Let the agency decide how much staff is needed or how much money to secure for the need, vs. always trying to justify having it in place."

Butler's bill passed out of committee, as did a competing bill from the banking committee that would extend the program until 2019.

Butler said he's in close communication with the banking committee chairman, and he expects that a compromise bill between the two of them, with input from leadership, will be passed by the full General Assembly.

Read the story in the Hartford Courant.