This is a BIG election year. Voters will have the opportunity to vote in a president, federal congressional legislators, state legislators, and local officials. Primaries (19 Democratic primaries and 5 Republican primaries) were held on August 14. November 6th is the date to elect or re-elect candidates for the various federal and state offices. The following list includes 3 Conn. senators and 21 house representatives who have announced that they will not be running for re-election come November. We thought this information would be helpful especially since CTABC members are often very active in state and local political issues. It also means there will plenty of new faces when the Conn. Legislature convenes next January 2013. Senate Eileen Daily Edith Prague Andrew Roraback House Chris Donovan Joe Taborsak James Crawford Andres Ayala Gail Hamm Kirkley-Bey Chris Liddy Melissa Olsen-Riley Hector Robles Kelvin Roldan Rich Roy Linda Schoffield Jack Thompson Peter Villano Zeke Zalaski Tom Reynolds Chris Coutu T.R. Rowe John Hetherington Lyle Gibbons John Rigby In addition, is the recent announcement by Conn. Secretary of State Denise Merrill regarding the number of races for General Assembly positions that are uncontested in the upcoming 2012 election. The number of uncontested races (by a major party candidate) is nearly 41% lower than in 2010. Only 32 of the 187 seats for State Senate or House lack either a Democratic or Republican candidate as compared with 54 total contests unchallenged by a major party in 2010. This is a 40.7% decline. Check with local town officials for the names that will appear on your voting district's ballot. Cost of CT School Buildings Being Reviewed The Conn. School Building Projects Advisory Council's mission is to provide recommendations and establish standards and guidelines for achievement on all major capital school construction, renovations, and alterations projects. The recently appointed council is dedicated to building and modernizing Connecticut schools in a responsible, cost-effective manner while achieving the highest standards of excellence in efficiently designed, safe, and environmentally sound facilities, with further reforms designed to provide accountability and protect taxpayer dollars. One of the immediate concerns of the council is reviewing the cost per s/f of school buildings in Conn. The average national cost is $230 per s/f, while Conn.'s cost is $400-$500. The council is looking at school building costs and models in Mass., Me., and N.Y. Serving on the council are DCS deputy comm. Salemi, Conn. chief architect Bockstael, OPM's Gian-Carl Casa, Sara Bronin, Lou Casolo- Stamford's city engineer, Antonio Iadarola, Paige Farnham - DCS, and Craig Smith - DCS Bureau of School Facilities. The council held a public hearing that CTABC participated in on August 15. Bond Commission Approves New Projects At the July 27 Conn. State Bond Commission meeting, projects addressing school facilities, dams, state facilities, and economic development were approved. Among the approved projects are: updates to the various magnet schools around the Hartford/Windsor area, town Aid Road program ($15 million), DEEP's underground storage tank removal program ($9 million), a new data center at DAS building in Hartford ($2.5 million), asbestos removal in state buildings ($2.5 million), equipment and technical updates to all vo-tech high schools ($500,000), updating the state's homeless management information system ($500,000), road, bridge, and mass transit upgrades and renovations ($423 million), housing trust fund ($10 million), local school projects ($236 million), machinery and equipment upgrades to EDAC Technology Corp. of Cheshire ($10 million), and local Capital improvements for each CT municipality ($10 million). Dept. Construction Services: Major Projects CT ABC has received the updated list of the Conn. Department of Construction Services' upcoming major projects. Major projects include those over $20 million. Projects valued below $20 million will be advertised through the DCS and DAS websites. When reviewing the list of major construction projects, note that the column headings trade bid due date, GMP date, and construction start dates are based on the present project schedule. A copy of DCS' major projects is available from faith@ctabc.com.