As 2022 came to an end, State Rep Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) reached out to make residents aware of new laws affecting Connecticut taxpayers and businesses that took effect January 1. He explained via a release that there are several new laws, and portions of previously enacted legislation that became active.

New legislation typically takes effect on January 1, July 1, and October 1 each calendar year.

“These new laws may have an impact on you, your business, or our community,” said Bolinsky.

An Act Concerning A Highway User Fee, Public Act No. 21-177, implements a new tax on trucks. The rates range from 2.5 cents per mile to 17.5 cents per mile depending on the weight and size of the truck.

“I opposed this truck tax in 2021, worried the tax would be passed on to working families in Connecticut as inflation continues to be high,” said Bolinsky.

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 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.

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 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.

Each unit must also continue to share information about its investigations with the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit according to the best practices developed by POST.

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 ten years after the most recent conviction. PA 21-32 excludes from erasure family violence crimes and non-violent or violent sexual offenses requiring sex offender registration.

An Act Concerning Explanation Of Benefits, Public Act 21-22, requires certain health insurance carriers and their third party administrators to provide an explanation of benefits (EOBs) to covered individuals for benefits they receive and allow covered individuals, who may legally consent to receive covered medical services, to make a specific written selection about whether and how to receive the EOBs.

The act requires health insurance carriers and TPAs to disclose EOB delivery options to covered individuals in plain language, and display or print them clearly and conspicuously in all coverage documents, privacy communications, EOBs, and Internet websites made available to Connecticut consumers. It prohibits a health insurance carrier from requiring a covered individual to waive his or her right to limit disclosure under the act as a precondition to issuing, delivering, renewing, amending, or continuing a policy.

The act specifies that it does not limit a covered individual’s or policy holder’s ability to request an adverse determination review.

An Act Concerning Civilian Police Review Boards, Security Guards, Body-Worn Recording Equipment, Searches By Police, Limitations On Offenses Subject To Automatic Erasure, Enticing A Juvenile To Commit A Crime, Lawful Orders By Police Officers, and Notice To A Victim Concerning Automatic Erasure Of Criminal Record History, Public Act 21-33, establishes a process for a person to object to a civilian police review board’s subpoena and allows the court to order compliance with a board’s subpoena; allows a police officer whose image or voice is captured on certain recordings (eg, body camera) to review the recordings before they are disclosed in certain instances where there is a request for public disclosure; and allows a trier of fact (eg, judge or jury) in civil cases that involve depriving someone’s equal protection or privileges and immunities to draw an unfavorable inference from the deliberate failure of a police officer who wears a body camera to record their use of force or other relevant incidents.

Also, it prohibits former police officers who were decertified in other states from being licensed as security guards and other related jobs; prohibits law enforcement from using no-knock warrants; expands the reasons a police officer’s certification may be canceled or revoked by specifying that undermining public confidence in law enforcement includes issuing unlawful orders; establishes the crime of “enticing a juvenile to commit a criminal act”; and requires the judicial branch to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of decreasing the time between a child’s arrest and initial court appearance, and establishing a diversionary program for certain children who are arrested.

The act also expands the list of convictions ineligible for erasure under PA 21-32 to include specified class D felonies and class A misdemeanors, such as several assault crimes, and any offense for which the person has not completed serving the sentence, including probation or parole. (PA 21-32 establishes a new process for automatic erasure of certain criminal records, starting in 2023). Under certain circumstances, the act also requires prosecutors, before the court accepts a plea agreement, to notify the victim as to whether the defendant’s conviction may be eligible for erasure under PA 21-32.

An Act Concerning Solid Waste Management, Public Act 21-58 (Sec. 1), is expanding the list of beverages subject to the bottle bill’s requirements and exempting containers of less than 150mL; increasing, beginning January 1, 2024, the minimum beverage container deposit amount from five to ten cents; increasing the handling fee that distributors must pay to dealers and redemption centers; incrementally reduces the amount of unclaimed deposits that distributors must remit to the General Fund from 100 percent to 45 percent by FY 26, and allows the distributors to keep the remainder.

This act is also requiring certain retailers to install and maintain at least two reverse vending machines (RVMs) at their place of business or have dedicated areas for redeeming beverage containers; and requiring, beginning January 1, 2024, all refundable beverage containers sold in Connecticut to have a Universal Product Code (UPC) and barcode and deposit initiators (ie, the first distributor to collect the deposit) to provide them, with packaging information, to the RVM system administrators and other system operators at least 30 days before placing the beverage containers on the market.

The act requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to approve a stewardship organization for beverage containers. It also requires DEEP to develop terms for a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that provides for in-state processing of at least 80 percent of the wine and liquor beverage containers sold in-state.

The act establishes a five-cent surcharge on the sale of spirit or liquor beverage containers of 50mL or less (commonly referred to as “nips”). It requires wholesalers to remit the surcharges to the municipalities in which the containers were sold and the municipalities to use the remitted funds for environmental measures aimed at reducing solid waste or reducing the impact of litter.

“Please pass this information along to those who may benefit from knowing what to expect in the New Year,” said Bolinsky.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.