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    Thursday, May 23, 2024

    Connecticut bills that didn’t pass in 2024: EV study, eviction reform and more

    Connecticut’s 2024 legislative session ended on Wednesday night with lawmakers passing a bevy of bills concerning housing, elder care, K-12 education and more.

    But a large number of bills never made it out of their committees, and many of those that did were never voted on by the full legislature. That’s in part because legislative sessions in even-numbered years are shorter, and because it can be politically difficult to pass contentious bills in an election year.

    Here’s a look at some of the bills that didn’t come up for a full vote this year, but that legislators will likely revisit next year.

    Legacy admissions ban

    A bill that would have banned colleges from giving admission preference to applicants with a familial relationship to alumni passed the Education Committee in March.

    But the Senate amended the bill to remove the ban and instead require Connecticut colleges and universities to report data on legacy admissions, such as the number of legacy students admitted and enrolled and student academic performance, to the legislature.

    The House never voted on the amended bill.

    Electric vehicles

    After efforts to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars in Connecticut by 2035 failed, the legislature considered a bill that would have created a 40-person group to assess a transition to electric vehicles in the state.

    That bill — part of an effort to reduce motor vehicle emissions, Connecticut’s largest source of pollution — never came up for a vote in the House.

    Fertility access

    Two bills aimed at expanding fertility access for those on Medicaid, LGBTQ+ families and would-be single parents stalled in their respective committees.

    House Bill 5240, which would have expanded HUSKY health insurance to cover fertility treatments for those who have been medically diagnosed with “infertility,” never came up for a vote in the Appropriations Committee.

    House Bill 5378, which would have changed the current definition of “infertility” to extend insurance coverage to people who can’t conceive on their own with a same-sex partner did not pass out of the Insurance Committee.

    ‘Work, Live, Ride’

    A bill designed to encourage more housing near train and bus stations passed the House, but died after it wasn’t called for a vote in the Senate.

    The bill would have offered priority for certain state infrastructure funds to towns that establish transit-oriented districts, or neighborhoods that allow certain types of multi-family housing “as-of-right,” meaning without a special local zoning board hearing.

    The idea is to encourage the creation of walkable communities where people can access shops, housing, and transportation by foot.

    Lawmakers have raised similar bills in the past. Last year’s Work, Live, Ride bill never made it to the House floor.

    ‘Just cause’ evictions

    A bill that would have required landlords to provide a reason, or “just cause,” when they evict tenants at the end of their leases passed out of the Housing Committee, but was never voted on in the full House or Senate.

    Connecticut already protects against evictions without cause for senior citizens and people with disabilities. The bill would have expanded those protections to most tenants who live in apartments with five or more units.

    Falsified traffic tickets

    Proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont, House Bill 5055 would have made it a Class D felony for any person acting in a law enforcement capacity to knowingly make false written statements or enter false information into a law enforcement record and explicitly make those acts a basis for decertification of an officer’s policing license.

    The bill comes after the release of an investigation earlier this year that found “significant failures” by the Connecticut State Police to abide by the state’s racial profiling law.

    Though it passed the House unanimously, it was not voted on in the Senate.

    Tipped minimum wage

    A proposal to eliminate Connecticut’s tipped minimum wage — currently $6.38 for wait staff and $8.23 for bartenders — passed the Labor and Public Employees Committee but was not voted on by the full House or Senate.

    The bill would have brought wages for tipped workers in line with the state’s minimum wage, which is currently $15.69 per hour. A similar bill passed out of committee last year but didn’t come up for a vote in either chamber.

    Jaden Edison, Ally LeMaster and Ginny Monk contributed reporting.

    www.ctmirror.org

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