Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 22, 2024 17 FOCUS: LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW James Paolino, Esq. (Principal, Lobbyist) William Malitsky (Principal, Lobbyist) Michael Martone (Lobbyist) Michael Bzdyra (Lobbyist) Alexis Bourassa (Lobbyist) Dedicated. Trusted. Effective. focusgovaffairs.com Feel good about your bank Connect with us today! 860-448-4295 NMLS #402928 ChelseaGroton.com/GrowThatBusiness What if it was more than a hobby? Let's make it your business! I think it's important for us as a lobbying firm to also have a diverse portfolio with a variety of connec- tions and experiences," Kozak said. Kozak & Salina's clients range from food and beverage companies like Thomas Hooker Brewing Co., to auto giant General Motors. They focus on local, state and federal issues. Market expansion Law firm McCarter & English has a government affairs presence in its New Jersey, Miami and Washington, D.C. offices. The firm hired Mauro to expand the practice in Hartford, where it already has an office with about 28 lawyers. Guillermo C. Artiles chairs McCa- rter's government affairs practice. He's the former corporate counsel to Middletown-based solar company Greenskies Renewable Energy. Mauro said he saw the move to McCarter & English as a "new challenge" after spending several decades at the Capitol. He began his tenure with Connecticut's Senate Democrats in 1996 as a legislative aide to now Sen. President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven), before taking a three-year hiatus to earn a law degree at Quinnipiac University School of Law, graduating in 2002. The lifelong New Haven resident worked as a special counsel to Looney from 2003 to 2014, before being named chief of staff in 2015. The ability to start a practice, under the McCarter & English flag, was a unique opportunity to take a different approach to government affairs, Mauro said. He will recruit new clients and also work with McCarter's existing client base, he said. Adding government affairs will strengthen the firm's overall offerings, Mauro added. "What we're focusing on right now is developing a reputation of stability and showing people what McCarter is," Mauro said. "I think there'll be a growth process, but we're in the beginning stages of that growth process here in Connecticut." 2024 outlook So, what's on tap for the 2024 legislative session, which runs from Feb. 7 to May 8? Mauro said one of the best ways to predict the General Assembly's focus is to look back at what was proposed, but not passed, a year earlier. Education, mental health and afford- able housing are a few hot topics he expects to be brought up in 2024. Gjede said it's also important to monitor new laws that have gone into effect to determine their impact and if changes need to be made. One example is the recent increase in the bottle deposit, which went from 5 cents to 10 cents on Jan. 1, giving customers an added incentive to return their bottles. Lawmakers made the change in an attempt to boost the state's overall recycling rate. But it could impact bottle-return centers like grocery stores, which will need to manage a potential significant increase in returns. "That's got huge repercussions in terms of our state's ability to handle those (bottle returns) because what you've seen in other states is when you go from 5 cents to 10 cents — at 5 cents you get about a 50% return rate, and at 10 cents that jumps up to about 80% to 90%," Gjede said. Salina said affordable housing, utility energy rates and efforts to encourage electric vehicle adop- tion are topics he expects will be discussed by legislators this session. Efforts to improve workforce devel- opment will also likely be debated. "We also understand that it's a short session, time is condensed, so you're not going to have major pieces of legislation," Salina said. "We're keeping our ear to the ground on what we hear, what we see and what we pick up at various events that we've been attending." Robert Fields (left) and Duval Zimmerman are the co-founders of Zimmerman Fields and Associates LLC, a new lobbying firm. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

• Cover