- Dozens of bills before the Connecticut General Assembly would have an effect on the state’s businesses
- Proposals include liability protections, digital enhancements, and a child care employer tax credits
- Other bills would either loosen or tighten restrictions on certain sales, or affect the rules governing certain industries
With the start of a new legislative session, Connecticut lawmakers have proposed bills ranging from new bonding to changing how the state allocates its presidential electors. Several of the proposed laws aim to provide relief to businesses, including liability protections related to the COVID-19 pandemic and more permissible sales rules in certain areas. Other bills affect individual industries, including some proposals for new regulations or prohibitions.
These proposals have all been assigned to committee and are currently under review. This overview looks at several bills that would affect businesses in Connecticut.
Small business revitalization, worker protections, and diverse economic opportunity
Sixteen senators are backing a bill seeking to “grow the economy by supporting diverse economic opportunities, worker protections and small business revitalization.” The bill does not offer specifics, saying only that it would amend the general statutes, and is currently before the Joint Committee on Commerce.
Digital protections and enhancement
In a bill that addresses the “new age of a digital workforce,” 17 senators are supporting a bill to “protect the economy and online learning from data breaches and limits on broadband usage.” The legislation also seeks to improve cybersecurity, net neutrality, and data privacy.
A separate bill would create a broadband internet task force, which would make recommendations on high-speed internet access, provider selection, and market competition in an effort to improve internet service quality.
Liability protections
One bill, co-sponsored by 10 representatives and one senator (all Republicans), would provide temporary liability immunity for any businesses, schools, nonprofit organizations, and state and political subdivisions that have “safely operated” during the pandemic. The bill seeks to protect these entities from civil legislation related to exposure to COVID-19 if they “acted in substantial compliance with public health guidelines” on or after March 10, 2020. It excepts instances of “gross negligence or wilful [sic] misconduct.”
A separate proposal specifically addresses the liability of private campground owners, seeking to define the duties of campground owners in order to improve campground safety for visitors and “provide an absolute defense to a civil action to a campground owner who fulfills his or her statutory duties or obligations.”
Child care employer tax credit
Under a proposal by Senator Saud Anwar, a Democrat representing the Third District, employers who make payments toward the child care costs of employees residing in Connecticut would receive a tax credit.
Sports wagering and online gambling
A bipartisan group of 13 representatives and four senators is backing a bill to authorize sports wagering as well as online gaming, lottery, and keno. The bill would authorize the state to enter agreements with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to allow sports wagering, online wagering, and online casino gaming. It would also authorize the Connecticut Lottery Corporation to sell online lottery and keno tickets subject to agreements with the tribes.
The legislation stipulates that “reasonable procedures and data security standards” would be created for online wagering and gaming, and that the state would receive and distribute a share of revenue from these activities.
Allowing and prohibiting sales
Bills put before the legislature would permit the the following sales:
- Photographic and videographic special effect smoke bombs
- The sale of wine in grocery stores, with permittees reserving 10 percent of their wine shelf space for locally made wines
- Items produced via home canning, as long as the seller has a permit and their sales don’t exceed $25,000 a year
- Direct sale of electric vehicles to the consumer by electric car manufacturers
- Adding mead to the list of alcohol that gift basket permittees can sell
By contrast, some bills aim to prohibit the sales of certain items, including:
- New animal fur
- Shark fins
- Refillable electronic nicotine delivery systems and vapor products (with separate bills seeking to add flavored cigarettes and tobacco products to the list, prohibit their sale by health care facilities and pharmacies, or bar their sale within five miles of a school)
- The breeding and sale of cetaceans, a biological order which includes whales and dolphins
One bill seeks to eliminate the use of toxic pesticides, while another specifically bans the use of chloropyfiros. Another proposal would require that food retailers and convenience stores in urban areas offer healthy food options to help eliminate health disparities between urban and suburban areas.
Business rules
Numerous proposals seek to either allow broader business activities or to establish new restrictions and requirements. These include:
- Allowing funeral homes to provide catered food and beverages at funeral services
- Excluding breweries, their employees, and the dependents of their employees from certain provisions of the insurance statutes concerning small employer health insurance coverage
- Expanding the type of settings where service dogs are allowed
- Requiring health clubs and fitness facilities to provide and maintain automatic external defibrillators
- Prohibiting hotels, motels, and other accommodations from offering hourly rates and requiring users of such accommodations to provide the operator with positive proof of identification
- Implementing federal provisions to strengthen protections against human trafficking in salons employing nail technicians, estheticians or eyelash technicians, and requiring state licensure of these employees
- Limiting, monitoring, and tracking how opioid drugs are distributed by veterinarians
- Strengthening the background check procedures and other consumer protections related to homemaker and companion services
- Establishing a working group to evaluate the energy consumption classification procedure for nonprofit organizations
Workforce housing
One proposal would create a workforce housing development program in Connecticut’s opportunity zones, with additional opportunities for these developments elsewhere in the state through tax waivers, fee credits, and property tax waivers.
Nursing homes
Several proposed bills would affect nursing homes, with most of them geared toward preventing abuse in these facilities. The proposed legislation includes:
- An act allowing a nursing home resident or their representative to install an electronic monitoring device, as long as any roommates agree to it and the nursing home receives liability for any breach of privacy claim related to the use of the device
- The establishment of a working group to determine the feasibility of allowing video cameras in the rooms of nursing home residents
- A requirement that drivers of paratransit vehicle drivers be added to the list of mandated reporters for the suspected abuse of the elderly
- A proposal to increase the safety standards at nursing homes to limit the spread of COVID-19
Long Island Sound
One proposal would ban offshore mapping and drilling for oil and gas. Another resolution would formally approve the Long Island Sound Blue Plan, which makes recommendations for the management of the Sound’s waters and resources.
