New CT Laws: Data Security, Expanded Medicaid, Carnivals and More

CONNECTICUT — New laws signed this week make racism a public health crisis, let teens run rollercoasters, and keep you informed if your sewer backs up. Here's an overview of the important legislation that made it past Gov. Ned Lamont's desk in the past week:

House Bill 6121, signed June 16, incentivizes businesses to provide training programs, offer modified interviews and reserve market-rate, full-time jobs for persons with disabilities. The deadline to develop the plan is Sept. 1, and implementation must happen before July 1, 2022.

If a hacker lifts information from a company that has your data, you're currently given a heads-up only if the data breach involves your Social Security number, driver’s license, state identification card number, credit/debit card number, or financial account number. House Bill 5310, signed June 16, expands the existing data breach notification law to apply to additional types of information and cover additional people who keep this information.

As of Oct. 1, data managers must alert you if information such as your taxpayer ID, health insurance policy number, fingerprint, voiceprint, retina image, and medical history get lifted from wherever they might be stored.

"Data managers" to whom this law applies now include anyone who owns, licenses, or maintains computerized data that includes personal information, rather than just those who do so in the ordinary course of doing business in the state, as under current law. The law becomes effective Oct. 1.

House Bill 5677 makes state Medicaid coverage available to the victims of violence committed in public by someone who is not their family member or intimate partner. That coverage can be used to pay a brand-new class of Social Services worker, a "certified violence prevention professional." The new law, effective Oct. 1, also mandates that the Department of Public Health create an official training program for anyone seeking to become a "certified violence prevention professional."

House Bill 6476, signed June 14, lays the framework for commissioning and conducting a study to determine how effective the state's Supplier Diversity Program, also known as the "Set-Aside Program," has been at its job of getting state contracts into the hands of small contractors and minority businesses.

See Also: New Law: Lamont Signs Connecticut Parentage Act

Beginning July 1, children as young as 16-years-old may operate the rides at amusement parks, thanks to Senate Bill 186. Up to now, Ferris wheel jockeys had to be 18 or older. The law does not lower the age requirements for workers at carnivals, which the legislation describes as "transient enterprises."

Senate Bill 1, signed June 14, declares racism to be a public health crisis, and creates a Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health to serve as a watchdog and advisory group. It also charges the Department of Public Health with developing a program to recruit and retain health care workers of color in the state, and establishes a committee to advise the Public Health and Human Services committees on establishing a Commission on Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention. The legislation also creates task forces/working groups for breast health and breast cancer awareness, school-based health center service expansion, and peer support services. The new law went into effect immediately, but the various provisions will have a staggered roll-out.

Read Also: New CT Laws: Weapons, Underwater Farms And The 'Clean Slate' Bill

Do you have a dam on your land? If so, you need to make sure you tell that to anyone to whom you might sell your property. That's the gist of Senate Bill 700, signed June 14, and effective Oct. 1.

Senate Bill 927 requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to set up a system to implement a real-time public notification system that allows the public to choose to be notified of sewage spills or permitted sewage bypasses by Oct. 1. The notifications must occur within two hours after DEEP receives a report about the event.

DEEP is going to be busy. As described in Senate Bill 928, the state is also requiring the agency to coordinate with other states to create a list of recycled content requirements for products sold in Connecticut and coordinate with other states in developing the standards. The bill requires the commissioner to do this in consultation with retailers, manufacturers, and recycling businesses in the state and regional organizations such as the Northeast Recycling Council.

In a clear hat-tip to the latest New Normal, Senate Bill 986 allows a business or non-stock corporation to determine that any shareholder or member annual or special meeting be held entirely remotely, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors. It also specifies that if someone is signing a power of attorney on behalf of a principal, both must be physically present at the signing.

See Also: How New CT Laws Affect Trout Fishing And Aquatic Alcohol Sales

Currently, any private, occupational school must communicate to the state's Office of Higher Education statements detailing their financial condition as part of both their application for a certificate of authorization and their annual financial status statement. Effective July 1, following Lamont's signing Senate Bill 998, out-of-state private occupational schools seeking to operate a distance learning program in Connecticut must apply to OHE and go through the same ordeal.

The new law also affects private college and universities in the state. They must now submit plans to OHE which detail their anticipated response to a natural disaster, pandemic, data security threat, or other catastrophic event, and how they will handle student records, education continuity, and administration of financial aid and refunds.

Senate Bill 999 puts renewable energy project developers on the hook for certain minimum benefit programs for their communities, as well as their employees. The new law also places minimum wage and benefits restrictions on any contractors the developers might use, and requires those companies to run apprenticeship programs, among other criteria. The law went into effect immediately.