December 27, 2022

New Laws Effective January 1st

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

With 2022 coming to an end, I wanted to make you aware of new policies affecting Connecticut taxpayers and businesses taking effect on January 1st, 2023.

Some of these new laws will take more money out of your pocket, including an expansion and increase to the “bottle bill,” and a new “highway use tax” assessed on delivery trucks carrying goods into and out of our state that will inevitably lead to higher prices when the cost of the tax is passed down to consumers. One piece of legislation allows previously convicted individuals to apply to have their criminal records erased, another will automatically erase past criminal convictions for certain misdemeanors including drug possession after seven years, and certain felonies after 10 years. I opposed these measures.

The new laws, and portions of previously enacted legislation that become active, include:

AN ACT CONCERNING A HIGHWAY USE FEE. Public Act No. 21-177 imposes a highway use tax (HUT) on every “carrier” for the privilege of operating, or causing to be operated, certain heavy, multi-unit motor vehicles on any highway (i.e., public road) in the state.
AN ACT CONCERNING SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT. Public Act No. 21-58 (Sec. 1) expands the list of eligible containers and increases the bottle deposit rate from $.05 to $.10.
AN ACT CONCERNING REQUIRED HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR BREAST AND OVARIAN CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY SCREENING. Public Act No. 22-90 expands coverage requirements under certain commercial health insurance policies for specified procedures used to treat or prevent breast or ovarian cancer.
AN ACT CONCERNING RESPONSIBLE AND EQUITABLE REGULATION OF ADULT-USE CANNABIS. (Criminal Record Erasure) Public Act No. 21-1 (Sec. 9-10) establishes a process to erase records of certain criminal convictions after a specified period following the person’s most recent conviction. It provides for automatic erasure of convictions within a certain period for possessing less than four ounces of cannabis or any quantity of non-narcotic or non-hallucinogenic drugs. Certain Misdemeanors are subject to erasure seven years after the person’s most recent conviction and certain felonies are subject to erasure 10 years after the most recent conviction. PA 21- 32 excludes from erasure (1) family violence crimes and (2) nonviolent or violent sexual offenses requiring sex offender registration.
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A HATE CRIMES INVESTIGATIVE UNIT WITHIN THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE AND REQUIRING DEVELOPMENT OF A REPORTING SYSTEM, BEST PRACTICES AND A MODEL INVESTIGATION POLICY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS REGARDING HATE CRIMES. Public Act No. 22-9 (Sec. 4) requires all law enforcement units to use POST’s standardized form or other reporting system to submit a notice and report to the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit within 14 days after receiving a notice, information, or a complaint of certain crimes involving intimidation based on bigotry or bias.
AN ACT REDUCING LEAD POISONING. Public Act No. 22-49 (Sec. 1-4) generally lowers the threshold for blood lead levels in individuals at which the Department of Public Health (DPH) and local health departments must take certain actions.

New legislation effective dates are typically January 1st, July 1st, and October 1st throughout the calendar year. These new laws may have an impact on you, your business, or our community. I encourage you to take a look at the full list, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Please pass this information along to those who may benefit from knowing what to expect in the New Year.