Gov. Ned Lamont signed a new law eliminating college degree requirements for the majority of state government jobs.

State officials say about 60% of Connecticut adults do not have a college degree, but many of those people are more than qualified to work for the state of Connecticut.

Janelle Allen, 43, of Bridgeport is one of those people.

She says she has a job, but the road ahead would be a whole lot smoother if she were to get a state job.

"State jobs are good for the benefits, and it's good because it can help you network," Allen said.

She says without a college degree, she's never been able to apply for a state job, which requires applicants to have at least a bachelor's degree.

"There's a lot of people within Bridgeport who would do good, who would do excellent with a state job, but they have no degree. Give them that opportunity," she said.

That's what State Sen. Ryan Fazio, of Greenwich, has done.

"Some of the most important people in my life were really successful great contributors to society in my family, they never had a college degree," said Fazio.

Fazio says he spent the past two years working to get a bill passed that would eliminate the college degree requirement for many jobs offered by the state of Connecticut.

"Opportunity in Connecticut is open to everybody based on their experience and their skills and their characteristics whether than simply if they had access to a college education or not,” said Fazio.

"The talents in our society are far more widespread than just those who are able to get a college education," Fazio said. "The Department of Administrative Services and the state government has actually been doing a good job on this front for a long time, but we wanted to codify it and memorialize it into state law for the next generation."

Janelle says she can't wait for the new law to start opening doors for thousands of Connecticut residents like her.

Fazio says he expects the new policy to go into effect by summer.