Bills of Concern

Public Safety
HB 5324 – This bill prohibits law enforcement officers from stopping drivers for what have been deemed “secondary violations” -this includes inoperable or broken taillights and/or headlamps, license plate infractions, expired registrations, tinted windows. Often law enforcement officers use these violations as a way of establishing probable cause to pull over a vehicle and begin an investigation into a more serious crime.

Housing
SB 207 – This bill would permit a housing authority to expand its jurisdiction into outside towns and cities. Additionally, it would allow the housing authority to use the affordable housing appeals process to circumvent local zoning approval and build affordable housing in a town that had rejected it (for a variety of reasons).

HB 5242 – Restricts a landlord’s ability to deny a prospective tenant’s rental application based on a prior felony conviction by creating a process to appeal application denials. Denial of an application based on misdemeanor convictions would be barred, making it nearly impossible for a landlord to deny applicants from moving into their properties.

SB 143 – SB 143 – Under this bill, a landlord would not be able to require a tenant to leave their property even after their length has expired. It would allow the tenant to remain in the property even after the lease has expired and require the landlord go to court in order to have a tenant removed.

Elections
HB 5057 – Currently, illegal immigrants who reside in Connecticut are able to obtain a driver’s license, marked with ‘DO’ (drive-only), making it easily distinguishable from a regular license marked with ‘DL.’ This bill would remove a section of statute that states “drive-only” licenses must indicate they are not meant to be used for voting, thereby blurring the discrepancy between a regular license and a “drive-only” one.

Labor
HB 5166 – Mandates employers to include sick days for employees, no matter the size of the company or the cost involved, yet another unfunded mandate inflicted on our business community.

HB 5164 – Allows striking employees to access unemployment benefits after a period of two consecutive weeks of striking.

SB 221 – Eliminates the tipped minimum wage, which threatens the restaurant industry that was already hobbled by government shutdowns and pandemic policies that crippled customer traffic. This bill would increase worker-related costs for businesses at a time when they can least afford it.

Environment
HB 5485 – Creates a “roadmap” that steers Connecticut to a mandate that forces residents to purchase an electric vehicle and could end with Connecticut using California’s radical emissions standards

Education / Children
HB 5371 – Bill requires the Department of Social Services to study the costs and benefits of expanding HUSKY Health benefits to all uninsured state residents under the age of 19, regardless of income or immigration status, effectively providing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded health insurance. The cost to taxpayers would be enormous.