Usually placid organizational meetings of housing-related committees last week were stirred up by Republicans opposed to mandatory rules on their suburban and rural districts.

Dissent from the minority lawmakers, who face 97-54 and 24-12 Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, respectively, occurred during start-of-the-session meetings of the Housing Committee and the Planning and Development Committee, during the attempt to draft preliminary bills for eventual public hearings on a variety of issues, from affordable housing to incentives for first-time home buyers.

While the early opposition was easily overcome by Democrats, it sets a tone for the remaining 12 weeks of the short, budget-adjustment legislative session and the annual debate over the state's pressing housing needs and the limits of local planning and zoning control among Connecticut's 169 cities and towns.

The complaints were led by Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin, a member of the Planning and Development Committee, along with Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott and Rep. Tony Scott of Monroe, the top GOP members of the Housing Committee.

Dubitsky, whose district also includes Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, part of Norwich, Plainfield, Scotland and Sprague, warned that he's prepared to battle any law that includes the potential withdrawal of municipal aid for towns that do not comply to any law that would punish communities for failing to expand affordable housing units within their borders. He voiced opposition to an undrafted concept to establish a "Housing Growth Rating Program."

"As somebody who represents eight small towns, some very small, with only less than five employees, there, in many instances, is simply no way to comply with many of the mandates that have been proposed in the past," Dubitsky said. "Any proposal that forces small towns to build things that they have no ability to build, I would oppose. Who's going to build this housing? It's not because there are zoning restrictions. It's because we live in a very rural farming community with no water, no sewer, barely any internet, electricity goes out a dozen times a year. It just isn't possible for a town like that to build low-income housing."

It would be unfair and "unacceptable" to link any flow of state funding with that inability to support new units, he said.

Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, co-chairwoman of the committee, said that Dubitsky and other committee members will have full voices on whatever legislation may emerge from the committee. "I think what we have consistently heard is that what works in Greenwich doesn't work in Avon, what works in Avon doesn't work in Plymouth, what works in Plymouth doesn't work in Hartford," she said. "And so I will tell you this represents an ongoing conversation and also an opportunity for all of us to have input on what we call a housing menu. It does not just represent affordable housing. It represents senior housing. It represents housing for workforce development."

State officials and local nonprofits estimate job vacancies at about 90,000 to 100,000, and a growing need for housing units for residents who fill those positions.

"When we stop talking about it the state stops moving forward," said Kavros DeGraw.

Another committee member, Rep. Tami Zawistowski, R-East Granby, who voted along with Dubitsky against approving a general housing bill for public hearing, said she was concerned about losing discretionary state funding.

"It's not all about affordable housing," said Sen. M.D. Rahman, D-Manchester, co-chairman of the panel. "Basically on every platform is a housing shortage. Transitional housing, workforce housing, affordable housing, supportive housing. Housing for all. Let's make sure we can support people who desperately need support."

Rep. Joe Zullo, R-East Haven, said he believes that towns should come up with their own housing solutions. "It's the core of local control, right?" he said. "Come up with something that works for you. Of course I worry if that creation, that framework is tied to a loss of funding. What I admire most about this bill is the initiative that it shows. We're taking a step. It's a conversation that we're going to have. I think we all agree that we have housing issues that we need to address in this state."

Both Zullo and Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, a top Republican on the panel, supported bringing the bill up for a public hearing. "I do want to have the conversation," Fazio said, stressing that his vote was "courtesy" to the committee leaders. "My hope is that it's more carrots and no stick," added Rep. Tom Delnicki, R-South Windsor. "To me, having been a local mayor, I know that the last thing I wanted to see, or would want to see, is something that compels, forces, mandates, as opposed to encourages, incentivizes and produces a situation where people would want to do that."

The proposed legislation will be drafted for a public hearing.

Sampson, a conservative Republican who is a Realtor and insurance agent, and Scott, a marketing manager, on Thursday also questioned a variety of proposals in the Housing Committee that Democratic leaders also want to set for public hearings, including the revival of a bill that died in recent years that would allow Housing Authorities in one community to purchase land for the development of affordable housing in neighboring towns.

"I have actually, both in the last session and this session, have spoken to housing authority directors who want to be able to develop low-income housing outside of the town that they are in," said Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, committee co-chairwoman.

Sampson spoke against a variety of the bills that won approval for drafting and public hearings, including a possible tax abatement program for first-time homeowners. An earlier initiative of Gov. Ned Lamont, called "Time to Own," which offers forgivable loans for down payments for first time homeowners, has been used by thousands of state residents.

"I don't know that there needs to be additional incentives for homebuyers, or first-time homebuyers," Sampson said. "In the current marketplace there is no shortage of buyers. If you list a property today, chances are you're going to have multiple offers by the weekend. I have some concern about giving preferential treatment, simply to someone who is a first-time homebuyer. If the purpose is to somehow help out people that are having a more-difficult time making that purchase."