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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 25, 2024 9 POLITICS & POLICY variety of other issues expected to be addressed during the coming session, as well as on what a new Trump administration may mean for Connecticut. The following is a portion of HBJ's interview with him, edited for length and clarity. Q: Does a Trump administration change what to expect from the federal government, such as for Medicaid or other types of funding? Lamont: Hell yeah. … Two years ago we had tax credits for wind power. Wind was still pretty expensive, but we had tax credits. Now it's going to be tax credits for nuclear and natural gas. That's okay. I can live with that. (Trump has expressed opposition to the offshore wind industry and ending incentives for it.) Health care is going to be tough, because we've got wind in our face on healthcare costs right now. I think that President Trump is going to probably dramatically cut Medicaid, probably not subsidize the Medicaid expansion, and cut back on the subsi- dies we have for Access Health, the state's health insurance exchange. That's going to either push people off health insurance, or that's going to mean more subsidies paid for by the taxpayers of Connecticut. Q: The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) annually raises concerns about new labor mandates. This year, you vetoed the striking workers' bill, which would have allowed strikers to receive unemployment benefits. The CBIA vehemently opposed that measure. Do you anticipate it coming up again? Lamont: I'm not supportive there. I made that pretty clear about a year ago. But a lot of the stuff that CBIA doesn't like, they don't like it and then they forget about it six months after it passes. I don't want to be dismissive, but I mean, let's take paid family and medical leave, (which CBIA opposed). (They said) 'Everybody's going to get sick in July, (take time off) and come back in September,' right? I heard that, and it's not what happened. And we actually had a few more young families come to the state because we're family friendly. Q: Yale New Haven Health's acquisi- tion of Prospect Medical Holdings' three Connecticut hospitals in Vernon, Manchester and Waterbury remains tied up in the courts. Yale has sued the struggling Prospect to try to lower the original $435 million purchase price, arguing the value of the for-profit company's Connecticut hospitals are much lower now following a major cyber attack and other significant financial issues that have come to light. You recently met with both parties. What's the status of the deal? Lamont: I got them together sepa- rately. I got them together (jointly). I said, 'this deal is in the best interest of the state and I want you to get this thing done.' They don't think highly of each other, have you noticed that? Yale had a purchase agreement at $435 million and they don't want to pay it … because they say there've been material changes and Prospect hospitals aren't worth as much as they were before. Prospect said, 'let's talk about it, but a deal is a deal.' We got that price down, but I didn't get the price down enough to get Yale New Haven back to the table. I hate it when people go to the courthouse; then everything just gets screwed up for the next two years, and I've got to have monitors at the hospitals making sure that quality of care is not being compromised. It's not pretty. Q: Would you be in favor of the state providing financial support to help push the deal forward? Lamont: I don't. Every time there's a problem, they always say, 'I want the state to subsidize it.' This is a transaction between two private entities. Everybody wants the state to get involved. No. Q: On the energy front, you recently said the proposed electric vehicle (EV) mandate, which would phase out all new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, is now off the table. Are you telling legislators not to raise it again? Lamont: Why bother? Nobody liked it and now the president (Trump) doesn't like it. We were going to follow the federal standards and now I don't think there will be any federal standards. I really thought that between hybrids and EVs, we could really make a difference in this. I thought it was good for Ford and GM that people knew what our goalposts were going to be in 2035. Anyway, nobody agreed with me, so it didn't happen, and it's not going to happen. Q: The other big issue is the cost of electricity in Connecticut. Do you have any specific proposals you're considering to address that? Lamont: Yeah, more supply and less demand. I'm a supply-and-demand guy. I want to come out with a really strong energy efficiency program. It's worked really well in the commercial sector, but hasn't worked as well in the residential sector. So that's a piece of the pie. I think the other 80% is, I need more supply into the state, and I've been working really hard on that. … You know what we're doing on renewables, and we're doing a lot, especially when you count nuclear in there. But I also am very deeply concerned about affordability, and I care about all the protesters who are banging away at my gate because of the high price of electricity. I also know that I have a hard time recruiting companies to the state because of the high price of electricity. So, let's say there's going to be fewer tax credits for wind power under a Trump administration and, as I said before, I think you'll see more incentives for expanding nuclear power and maybe even natural gas. My priority, I think, is going to be nuclear, because we've got a lot of capacity there (with Millstone) and an appetite for it. (Lamont hinted at his openness to 'modular nukes,' which are small, advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW per unit, according to the Inter- national Atomic Energy Agency.) Lamont to decide on reelection bid after legislative session ends Gov. Ned Lamont celebrates his 2022 reelection with his wife, Annie Lamont (left), and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. PHOTO | YEHYUN KI/CTMIRROR By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com G ov. Ned Lamont says he's in no rush to decide if he will seek a third term in office, and will wait until the end of the 2025 legislative session to decide. "I think it's too early," Lamont said during an interview with Hartford Business Journal. "There's a class around here that does nothing but run for office their whole lives, 24 hours a day," he said. "I feel like I was just reelected." In fact, Lamont won a second term on Nov. 8, 2022, just over two years ago, and just a year ago there already were Democrats positioning themselves to run should he decide not to seek a third term, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, according to a report by the CT Mirror. The next race for governor appears to be warming up. New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, a Republican, announced she will not seek another term in office and has not ruled out a run for governor. Lamont, who will turn 71 in January, is leaving his options open as well, stating that he's been in the governor's office for a while now "and I kind of like the job." "I think people feel like the state's in a better place today than we were eight years ago," he said, noting that he's happy to answer the question that Vice President Kamala Harris "found so nettlesome." But he's not yet ready to answer whether there will be another term in his future, something he didn't announce last time until about a year before the 2022 election. If he does run again, he would be the first governor to seek a third term since Republican John G. Rowland in 2002. For now, Lamont says he's more focused on the job than his future. "I'm not going to get into it until the end of the next session," he said. The state General Assembly will convene its 2025 legislative session on Jan. 8, and it will adjourn on June 4.