These New Connecticut Laws Could Change Your Life In 2024

CONNECTICUT — Laws are passed throughout the year in Hartford, but only a handful of the bills signed went into effect immediately. Many kicked in Oct. 1, and more still become active on the first day of 2024.

The complete list of new laws taking effect Jan. 1 is on the state's website; here are some highlights:

The refundable deposit on cans and bottles will increase from five to ten cents. By making empties more financially attractive, lawmakers hope to increase recycling rates and reduce litter. The new law also imposes a five-cent surcharge on the sale of "nips," those liquor containers of 50mL or less.

Beginning in 2024, every Connecticut town must start pitching in to the state's firefighters cancer relief account, which is used to provide wage replacement benefits to eligible paid and volunteer firefighters diagnosed with cancer. Specifically, each town must contribute $10 for each career or volunteer firefighter in its fire district or districts by Dec. 15 of each year.

An Act Concerning Hospice and Palliative Care requires the Department of Public Health to establish a Hospice Hospital at Home pilot program to provide in-home hospice care to patients through in-person visits and telehealth, by Jan. 1. In short, patients must be allowed a daily telehealth visit by a physician or an advanced practice registered nurse; an in-person visit by a registered nurse at least twice daily or more; telephone access to an on-call physician or APRN; and remote patient monitoring by physicians, APRNs, and RNs, if the patient and those living with the patient consent to it.

Moms and their newborn are getting even more love, in the form of Public Act 23-147. The new law requires the Office of Early Childhood commissioner to develop and implement a statewide universal nurse home visiting services program for all Connecticut families with newborns. It also establishes an Infant Mortality Review Committee within DPH to conduct a comprehensive review of infant deaths to reduce health care disparities, identify associated factors, and make recommendations to reduce the deaths. A new Doula Advisory Committee will make recommendations on doula certification requirements and standards. The DPH commissioner must also create a midwifery working group to study and make recommendations on advancing choices for community birth care and the role of community midwives in addressing maternal and infant health disparities.

Connecticut residents with intellectual or developmental disabilities are in line for substantive new considerations in 2024. Among the many, many provisions of Public Act No. 23-137 are a lowering of the threshold, from 25 to 15, the number of new full-time employees that a business must create and maintain to be eligible for the JobsCT tax rebate program. The Department of Developmental Services is mandated to reduce the waiting lists for services in DDS-administered Medicaid waiver programs, and create a pilot program to provide nonmedical transportation services to people with an intellectual disability in northwestern Connecticut.

Public Act 23-116 will implement a number of The Vision Zero Council recommendations. Among these is a requirement that the Department of Motor Vehicles create, and mandate motorists watch, a new safety video every other license renewal, and when transferring a license from another jurisdiction.

A new law puts The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services on the hook to create an Opioid Antagonist Bulk Purchase Fund, from which DMHAS must draw to supply opioid antidotes to municipalities, EMS organizations, and other eligible entities. Local EMS organizations will be tasked with providing kits with opioid antidotes and an opioid-related fact sheet to certain patients. The law also requires physical therapists and their assistants to complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check as part of their licensure.

Public school education and administration have been under the microscope in Connecticut in 2022 and 2023, and new laws for 2024 reflect that scrutiny. An Act Concerning Transparency In Education requires the State Department of Education to provide, and newly elected school board members to take, training on the responsibilities and obligations of being a school board member. Among many other provisions, the Act also requires school boards to annually distribute information on vocational, technical, technological, and postsecondary education school options to middle school students. It also creates a new commission to study various educational issues, including funding for local school districts, charter schools, magnet schools, and related accountability measures. The legislation also requires the SDE commissioner to establish a working group to study current school discipline practices and report the study’s results to the Education Committee.

And cursive writing is back! Lawmakers are mandating the Department of Education develop a K-8 curriculum that incorporates both world languages and old-school, pencil-point-doesn't-leave-the-paper script.

Early voting becomes the law in Connecticut in 2024. Specifically, the state is mandating a 14-day early voting period for general elections, a seven-day period for most primaries, and a four-day early voting period for special elections and presidential preference primaries.

Another new law accelerates the timeframe within which a court must hold a hearing on temporary financial support in divorce, legal separation, annulment, and custody proceedings.

Legislation effective Jan. 1 expands eligibility for workers' compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress injuries. Previously, PTSD compensation claims have been pretty much limited to police officers, firefighters, emergency medical service personnel, and emergency 9-1-1 dispatchers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress as a direct result of certain qualifying events, such as witnessing someone’s death, that occur in the line of duty. Beginning in 2024, any worker covered by workers' compensation law who suffers the same qualifying events in the course of their employment can file a benefits claim. The new legislation also generally establishes insurance coverage parity for in-home and hospital in-patient hospice care services.

New legislation establishes a Department of Consumer Protection registration for dispensing pharmacists and their assistants who distribute prescriptions directly to patients instead of through pharmacies.

Data privacy in Connecticut gets a bit of an update in 2024. New regulations add provisions for consumer health data security, minors' social media accounts, online services, and a task force on internet crimes against children.

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Notably, online dating operators must adopt a policy for handling harassment reports by or between users, and maintain an online safety center to provide users with resources on safe dating. The law also requires social media platforms to unpublish a minor's social media account within 15 business days, and largely delete the account within 45 business days, after receiving an authenticated request.

Public Act 23-199, in effect Jan. 1, creates a way for landlords of certain non-residential properties to receive notice before a gas or electric company terminates service billed to their property under a tenant’s name, and also have the service reinstated in the landlord's name.

Public health statutes receive a wide range of gooses and tweaks as part of Public Act No. 23-31. Not least among these: music therapists must be licensed by the Department of Public Health, but eyebrow threaders get a pass.