2023 Year in Review

8 min readDec 29, 2023

I posted a Year in Review each year that I was a State Representative. I found it to be a helpful (and perhaps therapeutic) way to look back and reflect on what I did and did not accomplish as I prepared for the coming year. I also used it as an opportunity to share some of my favorite pictures from throughout the year, especially if I never got around to posting them in the first place!

So, I’m keeping the tradition going. Here is the first edition of my now-annual Comptroller Year in Review!

Swearing in

A special day. Here’s my wife and I lined up with Treasurer Russell and Secretary Thomas about to enter the inauguration ceremony at the State Armory.

I didn’t know why people were laughing during parts of my brief inauguration speech until I saw this photo afterwards and realized my son Jack was sticking out his tongue on and off during my remarks.

MyCTSavings

If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably seen me talking about MyCTSavings. That’s because the program, Connecticut’s first public retirement program, is run by my office and super important to me.

Half of the workers in our state don’t get offered a retirement plan at their job. Typically, it’s not because the business doesn’t want to; it’s because the business can’t afford to.

MyCTSavings seeks to fix that by allowing employers to offer a retirement plan to their employees through the state at no cost to their business.

In my first year in office, I’ve visited over 100 businesses all over our state to promote the program.

I learned how to make pizza.

And (lots of) coffees.

Made a few dad jokes.

Met some great people.

And walked dozens of Main Streets.

It worked.

On the day I took office, 876 businesses were signed up. As of this week, we have over 6,400 enrolled.

Our team has worked hard to make MyCTSavings a success and I’m proud of how far we’ve come this year.

Hero Pay

In February our office sent out over 150,000 “Hero Pay” checks to the frontline workers who got Connecticut through the pandemic. I went to Stop & Shop (where my grandma used to work) to announce how we were distributing the checks and then to the gigantic Amazon facility in North Haven to announce we were sending checks out ahead of schedule.

Reforming our municipal pension system

Our office runs the municipal pension fund, known as CMERS, for police officers, fire fighters and other local government employees in 107 of 169 Connecticut towns.

When I took office, I learned the town’s contribution rates had risen by 75% in the last five years alone.

I decided to try and fix the problem.

We put together a bipartisan group of mayors, first selectman and labor leaders. After six weeks of negotiations, we came to an agreement that then passed the legislature, was signed by the Governor and will save the taxpayers in those 107 towns nearly $800 million over the next three decades.

Of all that we got done in the first year of my first term, this is the thing I’m most proud of, especially since most people doubted we could get it done given that the pension hadn’t been reformed in decades.

#CompTime

As the person who oversees paying the state employees and negotiating their benefits, I wanted to see first-hand what they do for us every day.

To do that, I do something called #CompTime where I shadow different state employees on a regular basis. It’s more fly on the wall than Undercover Boss but I learn a lot and have done some pretty interesting stuff including:

A shift with the State Police (after a day at the academy).

Riding shotgun in a plow during the overnight shift (go Whalers!).

And stocking trout with DEEP prior to the start of fishing season.

Health care

As a State Rep and now as Comptroller, health care has been a huge focus of mine.

Most people don’t realize this, but the Comptroller’s office runs the largest employer-based health care plan in the state with over 250,000 lives. As a result, we are heavily involved in health care policy.

After taking office, I formed the Comptroller’s Health Care Cabinet to advise me and the public on health policy. We held a series of summits on specific health care issues and early next year the Cabinet will be putting out recommendations on how we can make health care more affordable and accessible in Connecticut.

Helping school paras afford health insurance

This year, the legislature asked my office to come up with a program to provide subsidies for public school paraprofessionals to help them be able to afford health insurance. These paras work long hours for little pay and benefits and yet play a huge role in educating Connecticut’s students. We developed the program in a few weeks and sent subsidies to thousands of paras just as the new school year got underway this fall.

Rolling out Connecticut’s first prescription drug discount card

This year I worked with Governor Lamont and the legislature to create Connecticut’s first-ever prescription drug discount card called ArrayRx. Starting October 1, all residents can go to arrayrxcard.com, download their free card and start saving. And since then, I’ve been traveling the state and visiting senior centers to spread the word.

Flood relief for Hartford residents

Similar to the paraprofessional project, our office was tasked with developing and running a flood relief program for Hartford residents who have been dealing with devastating flooding due to aging infrastructure.

Our deadline to create the program was January 1. We began taking applications three months early on September 1. And, as of this week, we’ve processed hundreds of applications and have paid out nearly $1 million in adjuster-certified compensation.

While the underlying infrastructure begins to gets fixed (which was announced at the same press conference as our compensation program), I’m proud to be working with the Hartford delegation and other community partners to give people the relief they deserve.

Working on workforce

One of my duties is to send a letter to the Governor on the first of every month outlining the state of our budget and economy.

Something that comes up over and over is the need for better workforce development.

This year I teamed up with CBIA to draw attention to programs like the Eastern Connecticut Manufacturing Pipeline and to convene conversations about how we can give people the skills they need for a career, not just a job.

And I worked with Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) to talk about how the state is doing away with arbitrary college degree requirements and how the private sector should follow. No one with skills and something to offer should be precluded from applying to a job just because they don’t have a degree, especially when the job doesn’t truly require one.

A few of my favorite pictures

Snapped this pic standing on the podium next to Coach Hurley at the Huskies championship parade. What a cool day.

Had some fun at the annual Chaz and AJ Toy Drive performing an NSYNC song for a good cause.

My executive office staff dressed up like me for Halloween. Note the iced tea, which real ones know I drink 365 days per year.

I was touring Collins and Jewell, an Electric Boat supplier in Bozrah, as part of a daylong tour of the Eastern CT Manufacturing Pipeline. That program, which gives people the skills they need for a career — not a job — in manufacturing, is awesome and so is the giant mural they have on their wall.