From a new truck tax to the first pay raise for state legislators in 22 years, a series of changes will be arriving in Connecticut in the new year.

Multiple laws will take effect, including a new tax on large tractor trailer trucks that proponents say will fix the crumbling highways and critics say will be passed down to consumers. Criminal records will be erased for those convicted of possession of small amounts of marijuana, and convictions for other misdemeanors and some felonies are slated to be erased in the coming months as part of the “clean slate’' law that was passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature.

The most controversial tax of 2023 is the new highway use tax that has been strongly favored by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and blasted by Republicans.

Commonly known as the truck tax, the measure is expected to generate $90 million per year to help fix roads and bridges. The issue has been highly political as Republicans complained throughout this year’s election campaign that the tax would simply be passed along to consumers who buy food, retail items and other products that are delivered by the trucks.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski said the measure was a “consolation prize’' for Lamont because the Democratic-controlled legislature had failed to approve his controversial plan for electronic highway tolls. Democrats, though, say the truck issue and others were essentially litigated during the election season as Lamont and Democrats came out as the winners in the elections — often by wide margins. Lamont and Democrats say the heavy trucks inflict extensive damage on the roads, and the tax money is critically important to pay for the state’s crumbling infrastructure of highways and bridges.

Lamont also said earlier this year that the money is needed to help balance the once-troubled Special Transportation Fund that is separate from the state’s general fund.

“That will at least bring some solvency to our transportation fund for the near and medium term,’’ Lamont said.

He argued that it is unfair for Connecticut that large trucks can pay tolls of more than $100 to cross the George Washington Bridge between New York and New Jersey, but then drive through Connecticut for free.

After decades of political hesitancy, the legislature finally voted in favor of raising its salaries, something that will take effect for all those who won in November and officially take office on Jan. 4. The base pay for rank-and-file legislators will be $40,000 per year, up from $28,000 for a job that is considered part-time but requires work year-round.

The governor’s salary will jump to more than $225,000 to reach the level of the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, who heads the entire judicial branch in the same way that the governor runs the executive branch. Salaries for judges have increased far more often than legislators, who received their last raise in January 2001. Lamont, who earned $54 million last year largely from investments, currently does not accept the state salary, but the level is set for whomever holds the office.

Constitutional officers like the state attorney general, treasurer, comptroller, and secretary of the state will earn nearly $190,000 — to match the level of Superior Court judges.

The salary hikes were approved in May by the legislature after bipartisan votes of 95-53 in the state House of Representatives and 23-13 in the Senate.

A key provision is that the salaries will now increase automatically through a federal formula under the Employment Cost Index — in the same way that Social Security benefits increase without a vote each year by the U.S. Congress.

The two top state legislators, the House Speaker and Senate president pro tem, will receive $52,000 per year, while the Republican and Democratic leaders in each chamber will earn $50,000 per year.

Members of the U.S. Congress, by contrast, receive an annual salary of $174,000 per year, plus benefits and various perks that include everything from travel to their home state and use of the Congressional gym that comes complete with a swimming pool and sauna.

In a polarized country and state, raising salaries for politicians has been an unpopular idea in many quarters.

The last raise was approved in May 2000 on the final night of the legislative session. Lawmakers voted at the time to nearly double the governor’s salary to the current level of $150,000 per year and raised legislative pay by about $6,000, to the current base level of $28,000, starting in January 2001.

“It’s hard to recruit people to run for the General Assembly because it is a full-time job,” deputy House Speaker Robert Godfrey of Danbury said earlier this year. “I don’t care what anybody else says. Any day of the week, or any night, my phone rings with a constituent, and I take care of that. That happens year-round. I may not be running to Hartford every day, but I’m working out of my district office, which is one half of my bedroom.”

The state’s long-running bottle bill is being expanded on Jan. 1 as there will now be a required deposit on iced tea, coffee, sports drinks, plant water and other beverages that were never charged a deposit in the past.

Bottles printed without a label will still be sold under a recently passed law through a grandfather clause until the current inventory is sold off. At that point, bottles with the proper labeling will be available.

“They don’t have to do anything,’’ state Rep. Sean Scanlon recently said of beverage retailers. “They simply proceed as normal. ... This means they don’t have to go back retroactively and fix labels.’'

The latest changes, which include doubling the deposit and widely expanding the items being recycled, are part of a far-reaching, multifaceted plan to improve recycling. For more than 40 years, Connecticut residents have been returning bottles and getting back the same 5 cents. Now, the deposit will double to 10 cents, next year, starting in January 2024.

In the short-term, though, the biggest change is the expansion to a new group of containers, including juices, energy drinks, hard seltzers and hard ciders, among others.

A key update expands required coverage in commercial health policies in Public Act 22-90 for screenings for breast and ovarian cancer, including ultrasounds, mammograms, breast MRIs, breast biopsies and breast reconstruction surgery, among others.

As part of the legalization of recreational marijuana, various aspects of the complicated law have taken effect at different times.

Starting on Jan. 1, past criminal convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana will be erased, partly because the past convictions can be a hindrance to employment. Some of the erasures may be delayed as the vast project takes time under the state’s computer system.

Some lawmakers had said they would not vote for the marijuana bill unless the erasure of criminal convictions was included.

“Especially as Connecticut employers seek to fill hundreds of thousands of job openings, an old conviction for low-level cannabis possession should not hold someone back from pursuing their career, housing, professional and educational aspirations,’' Lamont said recently.

In the same way, the new “clean slate’' law will erase criminal convictions for more than 300,000 residents. That process could be delayed by six to eight months due to several complexities of erasing misdemeanors and Class D and E felonies.

Lamont and Republicans narrowed the list of crimes that would be erased after some Democrats had sought deletion of more serious Class C felonies.

The crimes that will not be erased include burglary with a firearm, stalking, voyeurism, sex-related crimes involving minors and assault on the blind, elderly or pregnant women, among others. Many of the 300,000 residents have never served time in prison after being convicted of crimes such as drug possession, breach of peace, bar fights, and others.

Convictions for misdemeanors would be erased if the person was not convicted of another crime for seven years, while some felonies would be erased 10 years after the most recent conviction.

Republicans criticized the law that allows some violent crimes to be erased, such as first-degree threatening with the intent to terrorize, second-degree stalking that involves two or more acts, third-degree robbery, carjacking and interfering with a police officer. Others to be erased include first-degree rioting that leads to physical injury and criminally negligent homicide that causes the death of another person.

If a person commits 10 crimes and five are eligible for erasure, only those five would be erased, lawmakers said.

The automatic erasure, passed in May 2021, has already been delayed as the state needed time to prepare for the law and recode computers on a major basis for 300,000 people who might have committed multiple crimes.