June 25, 2024

2024 Legislative Priority of State Representative Brian Lanoue to Protect Connecticut Businesses to be Included in June Special Session

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Hartford- With a Connecticut Special Legislative Session on the horizon beginning in the Senate on Wednesday, June 26th, and the House of Representatives on Thursday, June 27th, State Representative Brian Lanoue is pleased to announce that one of his 2024 Legislative Priorities is being included in Special Session Bill- LCO 6184.

In March, Representative Lanoue testified before the Finance Committee with local accountant Rob LaScarcina, in support of Section One, of SB 443, which included the representative’s proposal to protect Connecticut businesses. This part of the bill would change the state law to help business owners and workers by requiring the Department of Revenue Services to waive interest and penalties associated with a business owners’ amended tax filings for federal tax credits stemming from a federally declared emergency, specifically COVID-19 (CARES Act), to help businesses survive and keep people employed. This provided extra funding for unemployment benefits, aid to small businesses, support for healthcare providers, and help for industries that were hit hard by the pandemic, and most notably, the Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERC) – which allows businesses to receive money back for their employees if they were retained during that time-period. It also includes the America Rescue Plan, which also granted the ERC tax credits. The Finance Committee passed this bill unanimously out of the committee, however, the senate failed to act on the legislation before the end of regular session.

“This legislation is vital to protect our small business owners and their employees who are in jeopardy of going out of business and losing their jobs due to a tear in the law, that imposes onerous interest and penalties on them for simply taking advantage of a new federal law that helps these people recover some of their losses from something that was no fault of their own,” said Rep. Lanoue. “ I want to thank the Governor for hearing my call for urgency on this and bringing us back into special session to address this issue. Also, I want to thank the legislative leadership of both parties for also allowing this to go forward on the special session agenda.”

State Representative Brian Lanoue proudly represents the 45th General Assembly District which includes the towns of Griswold, Ledyard, Lisbon, Preston, and Voluntown.

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