Deja Vu All Over Again For Legislative Investigations Committee, Brainard Airport Study

The Connecticut legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Program Review and Investigations closed on January 6, 2017, due to cuts in the revised FY 2017 state budget and its implementation. The Office staffed the bipartisan Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee (PRI), which was established in 1972 (Public Act 90) and eliminated in 2017 (P.A. 17-60). The last PRI study reports were approved in December 2016.

The committee’s main charge, carried out with assistance from its fulltime professional staff, was to review and audit state agency programs for efficiency, effectiveness, performance, and compliance, and recommend changes as needed including elimination. At the committee’s direction, PRI staff researched and analyzed agency practices and policies, producing study reports on state programs and systems for final committee approval, which required a majority vote of the equally bipartisan 12-member panel.

In the “the more things change the more they stay the same” category, among the committee’s final studies conducted in 2016 was one on the “use of the Hartford Brainard’s Airport’s Site.” 

The study scope directed staff to examine if the state has maximized the economic value of the land upon which Hartford-Brainard Airport sits. The site’s value to the host municipality, region, and the state was to be described, including an examination of the site’s current use as an airport. Accordingly, the study was to assess the airport’s operations, governance, and business volume. It was also to discuss and explore other uses of the site that have been previously proposed, according to the state legislature’s website page on the PRI committee’s work.

The General Assembly’s website indicates that “No final committee report was issued,” although an informational public hearing was held in July 2016 and a presentation was planned for December 2016.  PRI Co-Chair Senator John Fonfara of Hartford “announced at the meeting that the Brainard staff report would be held back, and thus not presented for a vote, as he thought the report was incomplete and needed further work,” according to the website.

Yet, the report can be seen online, and it concludes that an airport is the best use for the property.

“Based on a number of factors detailed in this report, the program review committee staff finds that the Brainard site’s highest economic value, given present and foreseeable circumstances, is likely its current use as an airport,” the Executive Summary states, adding “the state should take steps to maximize Brainard Airport’s value,” and noting that “airport closure would be extremely difficult to execute and likely costly.”

This month, a legislative committee advanced a proposal for a $1.5 million study to examine future uses for Hartford-Brainard Airport, including whether it should be closed and redeveloped.  The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee approved the proposal in a 27-23 vote.  It now moves to the State Senate for debate.  This year’s effort to resolve the perennial question as to the future of the airport follows a non-binding vote by the Hartford City Council months ago that supported redevelopment of the property. 

Two weeks ago, another legislative committee debated whether or not to reestablish the Program Review and Investigations Committee.  House Bill 5495 was approved by the Government Administration and Elections Committee, and will next be considered by the House of Representatives.  If approved by the House and Senate, and signed into law, it would take effect on July 1, 2022, reviving the PRI Committee.

The airport study, if that bill is approved by the legislature and Governor, would be due by January 1, 2023.