These news briefs were originally written for CT Politics, The Connecticut Mirror’s weekly newsletter providing updates on the 2025 legislative session. To sign up for CT Politics, click here.
New General Assembly members
The General Assembly welcomed two new members Friday as Republican Jason Perillo of Shelton and Democrat Dan Gaiewski of Groton took the oath as winners of special selections Tuesday for vacancies in the Senate and House.
Perillo, a House member for 18 years, succeeds Kevin C. Kelly in the 21st Senate District of Monroe, Seymour, Shelton and Stratford. He won with 53.47% of the vote over Democrat Tony Afriyie of Stratford.
A judge swore him in in a brief ceremony in the Senate.
Gaiewski, a councilman in Groton, succeeds Christine Conley in the 40th House District of Groton and New London. He won with 69% of the vote and took the oath in a private ceremony.
— Mark Pazniokas, Capitol Bureau Chief
Fines OK’d for crowding Squantz Pond
Try to sneak in for a dip at Squantz Pond State Park this summer after it has reached capacity and you may find yourself slapped with a $75 fine.
State lawmakers approved a new regulation on Tuesday allowing the fine, the first of its kind in the Connecticut state park system. Squantz Pond, located in New Fairfield, is also the only park with strict capacity limits against walk-ins, as a result of a 2023 law passed after neighbors complained that visitors would park on side streets and create traffic jams whenever the parking lot filled up on hot summer days.
Such complaints are not limited to Squantz Pond, however, as interest in outdoor recreation has surged since the pandemic. That has strained resources at some of Connecticut’s most popular parks.
During the summer, parking at Squantz Pond is limited to 250 vehicles. To help manage crowds, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection created a reservation system for weekends and holidays.
— John Moritz, Energy & Environment Reporter
Education for foster youth
The Committee on Children sent a bill on Tuesday to the Appropriations Committee that would make it possible for foster youth to receive financial support to continue on with their education to age 28. House Bill 6182 would change the age that such youth can qualify for funding from age 21 to age 26, and allow them to continue to receive that support until age 28 rather than age 23.
Jennifer Fell, a foster and adoptive parent, testified that she supports the bill because, “it’s more than just a policy adjustment, it really recognizes and acknowledges the reality of their experience,” including frequent moves and trauma that create disruptions that can derail their education or even their ability to plan for the future at the pace of their peers.
While some free educational support is available to Connecticut residents through community college, the bill would give these youth the opportunity to be supported in other programs including trade schools until age 28.
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Jody Hill-Lilly submitted testimony in opposition to the bill, due to the “significant unbudgeted cost” it would represent. She wrote that the bill would make up to 1,222 additional young adults eligible for assistance and that DCF might also require additional staff to manage these financial claims.
— Laura Tillman, Human Services Reporter
LTCI tax deduction
Long-term care insurance policyholders who accept a “buyout” from insurance carriers – a cash payment in exchange for giving up their plan – would be able to deduct the amount of that payment on their tax return under a bill that is being weighed by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
The measure, introduced by Reps. Gary Turco and Mike Demicco, seeks to give relief to policyholders who choose to drop their coverage.
“Ideally, we would exempt the full amount of the buyout from any state income taxes,” said Turco, D-Newington. “They’ve already been taxed on that money, and now it’s being returned to them. I don’t want constituents like that to be taxed again by the state.”
“While policyholders will most likely lose a large portion of their recovery to federal income tax, Bill 5144 is a way for policyholders to retain some of the lost opportunity associated with a product they may never have purchased but for the lies told by an industry that knew exactly what it was doing,” David Schwartzer, a policyholder from Newington, said in written testimony.
The bill received a public hearing on Wednesday.
— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter
Hospital diversion
The Public Health Committee is considering a bill that would require hospitals to notify the state before they divert patients to other emergency departments. It would also allow state officials to outline new mandates for hospital diversions.
Under the bill, hospitals would be required to adopt policies for emergency department diversions, and the state’s public health commissioner would establish “permissible grounds for, and procedures to be followed by” a hospital when declaring an emergency department diversion. The commissioner would also be able to impose mandates for hospitals to receive diverted patients, and hospitals would have to notify the health department prior to declaring a diversion.
Lawmakers said the health department wants to be better notified of emergency department diversions. Several diversions were issued urgently in the aftermath of a cyberattack at three Prospect Medical Holdings-owned hospitals in Connecticut in 2023.
The Connecticut Hospital Association has raised opposition to the measure.
“CHA is concerned that the bill creates red tape but does not provide hospitals with any assistance,” officials noted in written testimony. “There is already a functioning ED diversion criteria and reporting process that involves the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS). CHA is not aware of any problems with the OEMS system.”
— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter
Pet registration change
The Planning and Development Committee on Monday heard testimony on a bill that would allow dog owners to register their pets every three years rather than annually.
Committee members were supportive of House Bill 6998 during the meeting, saying it would make the process easier on dog owners and could save towns money in the long run because they wouldn’t have to issue as many tags.
The dog registration process is a way for municipalities to keep track of the dogs in town and their rabies vaccination status. But the state’s Town Clerks Association opposed the bill, saying that the annual registrations ensure residents are safe.
Eva Ceranowicz, a veterinarian and government affairs chair for the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, also opposed the measure because of safety concerns. She said in written testimony that rabies vaccines last between one and three years depending on the age of the dog, among other factors.
“It is critically important to recognize that the primary reason we vaccinate animals against rabies is to protect humans from what is a terrible and almost invariably fatal disease,” Ceranowicz said.
— Ginny Monk, Housing and Children’s Issues Reporter
Food price increases
Food prices increased by about 25% from 2019 to 2023, and that rise has led to more Connecticut residents not always being able to afford to eat, according to a newly publicized report.
The Connecticut Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity on Wednesday presented its report on food insecurity in the state. The report found that food insecurity has risen and affects between 10% and 17% of the state’s population. It also tied food insecurity to adverse health outcomes and people dying younger.
As commission officials presented the report, lawmakers advocated for policies that aim to improve food security, particularly for children. They asked for universal free breakfast at schools starting in the upcoming fiscal year. Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal calls for universal free breakfast starting in the second year of the biennium, although lawmakers want to see the policy implemented sooner.
— Ginny Monk, Housing and Children’s Issues Reporter
Electric grid seeks protection from tariffs
The operator of New England’s regional electric grid is seeking permission from federal regulators to pass along the costs of import tariffs on Canadian electricity should they be imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In a statement on Wednesday, ISO New England said that it remains unclear whether those tariffs — which Trump has said will go into effect on March 4 — will apply to imports of electricity or if they will be collected directly from grid operators, which are nonprofits overseeing the transmission and sale of electricity in a particular region.
But if the government does come to collect the tariffs from ISO New England, the organization warned that it has no mechanism in place to recoup those costs.
A spokeswoman for ISO New England said the organization is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set up a process by which it could pass along those costs to the companies that are importing the electricity to sell on New England’s wholesale market, where it can be purchased by the utilities.
Last year, roughly 9% of the region’s electricity demand was met through imports, including hydropower from Quebec, according to ISO-New England.
In the past, officials have warned that any tariffs on Canadian electricity or other energy exports such as natural gas would ultimately be borne by electric customers in Connecticut and its neighboring states.
When the topic came up during a legislative hearing on Thursday, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes echoed the state of confusion surrounding the potential tariffs.
“We will certainly have a lot of questions about whether the ratepayers should be the ones to front the cash, if you will, for any tariff costs,” Dykes said.
— John Moritz, Energy & Environment Reporter
Child care bill
Advocates spoke to the Committee on Children in support of Senate Bill 1369 on Thursday to stress the importance of child care for Connecticut’s economy. The bill would create the Workforce Childcare Program, which would provide financial assistance for working families for child care, which would be funded through a new 1.5 percent payroll tax to be paid by employers, excluding early care and education program providers. The bill would also provide salary increases for providers and assistants.
During a public hearing Rep. Mary Welander D-Orange, who is a vice chair of the committee, expressed concern about the source of funding.
“I do have concerns about the fact that this is a regressive tax, and I think we can find other ways of funding something this important that doesn’t put pressure on our most vulnerable,” Welander said.
But advocates say that addressing the child care crisis requires transformational change and that they’ve so far been receiving crumbs.
“The executive and legislative branch have to understand, this is not about $100 million here or $100 million there,” said Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman, the director of Child Care for CT coalition. “There is no solution with Band-Aids in small increments. This is about long-term. You need real sustainable growth with funding and you have to start at the age of zero.”
The bill is one of several proposals under consideration by lawmakers to deal with the child care workforce shortage.
— Laura Tillman, Human Services Reporter
Lawmakers advance rodenticides ban
The Environment Committee on Friday voted to advance legislation banning the use of certain long-acting rat poisons that have come under scrutiny for their impacts on birds of prey and other wildlife.
Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs, were developed in the 1970s to control rodents that had grown a resistance to older rodenticides, such as warfarin.
The newer chemicals work by building up slowly in rodents’ tissues before killing them. For that reason, however, they also pose a greater risk to animals that feed on rodents, such as hawks and owls.
House Bill 6915 would restrict the use of SGARs in Connecticut except in limited circumstances at medical waste facilities, food warehouses and other public health circumstances.
Republicans sought to amend the bill to include additional exemptions for licensed pest control specialists, but Democrats voted down the change before sending the bill to the House.
— John Moritz, Energy & Environment Reporter
Payments to foster parents
On Thursday, former child advocate Sarah Eagan testified to the Committee on Children in support of a bill that would require the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families to study payments to foster care families and submit a report on how those rates compare to neighboring states.
According to Eagan, who is now the executive director of Center for Children’s Advocacy, those payments have only gone up about $2.50 a day since 2006. Eagan said that neighboring states like Massachusetts pay more and offer regular stipends for spending on birthdays, clothing and holidays, “none of which we systematically do in Connecticut.”
Eagan’s group recommends making changes to the bill in light of a shortage of foster parents, like requiring an annual report and conducting regular foster parent surveys so the state can retain more foster parents and do better by foster children.
— Laura Tillman, Human Services Reporter