The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the 2024 Legislative Session

Each session, there are hundreds of bills introduced in Hartford, and, as a representative, some of them just make you shake your head. Most are proposed by the Democrat majority in the House and Senate.

Mandating that you drive an electric vehicle? Decriminalizing the possession of hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms? Giving illegal immigrants taxpayer-funded health insurance? Stopping landlords from evicting people after their lease expires? Erasing women and mothers from state statutes?

These are actual bills that have been introduced by members of the majority. Below, I have compiled a list of legislative proposals that are the good, bad and ugly of the 2024 session.

The Bad

HB 5324 – Makes Connecticut less safe by restricting the state’s police officers from stopping drivers for violations, including taillight and headlamp infractions, license plate infractions, registration infractions and tinted windows. Police often use these violations as a way of establishing probable cause to pull over a vehicle and begin an investigation into a more serious crime.

HB 5297 – Decriminalizes psilocybin (aka Magic Mushrooms) in amounts of less than a half ounce.

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

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.

The Ugly

SB 125 – The bill language erases “expectant mother” and replaces it with “pregnant person,” and “his or her” is removed and replaced with “such alleged genetic parent’s child.” The word “women” is replaced with “pregnant parents.”

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 criminals from moving into their properties.

SB 143 – This bill from legislative Democrats would flip the landlord-tenant relationship on its head by establishing a general right for a tenant to remain in a rental unit after the tenant’s lease expires.

HB 5057 – Removes a section of statute that states “drive-only” driver’s licenses must indicate on the back that they are not meant to be used for voting. These licenses were originally designed to say “drive-only” and were given out to illegal aliens and other people and there are serious concerns the legislation will increase voting fraud.

SB 207 – Allows a housing authority to expand jurisdiction to include other towns and cities. Allows them to purchase ‘affordable’ housing units in the state. This bill 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 rejected it.

The Good

HB 5413 – Proposed by House Republicans, this bill authorizes municipalities to adopt an ordinance related to street takeovers, establishes penalties for driving while a person’s license is suspended or revoked due to a violation related to a street takeover, and establishes a grant program to provide funds to municipalities to enforce laws related to street takeovers and the illegal use of certain vehicles.

SB 390 – This legislation calls for a mandatory one-year prison sentence for anyone that violates Connecticut’s election laws. As the recent voting scandal in Bridgeport has shown, bad actors will continue to commit fraud in our elections unless they understand that they will face consequences.

HB 5287 – This bill would reduce the cost of specialty license plates, including the “Support Our Troops!” plate, for veterans and members of the armed forces. Charging veterans for these types of plates is offensive This bill represents an opportunity for us to acknowledge such sacrifice and show solidarity with those who are currently serving and have served.

If you feel strongly about any of this proposed legislation, you can call and write letters to the lawmakers who introduced them to let them know how you feel. Information about the legislation can be found at www.cga.ct.gov by entering the bill numbers in the tab at the bottom of the website. Also, please check my website and Facebook page for updates.