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

CONNECTICUT —The state's General Assembly 2021 Regular Session adjourned June 9, but promised to convene a special session before the end of the month to tackle the legal marijuana bill.

Will it pass? That's still a coin-toss, but a number of bills have made their way out of the House and Senate and onto Gov. Ned Lamont's desk, where they were signed into law in the past few weeks.

Senate Bill 1019, the so-called "clean slate bill" is arguably the most life-changing of the latest batch of new legislation. The sweeping reform bill wipes out the records of criminal convictions after 7-10 years, including some felonies

The provisions do not apply to class A, B, or C felonies, some unclassified felonies, family violence crimes, or certain crimes requiring sex offender registration.

Misdemeanors become eligible for erasure after seven years, and class D and E felonies, or unclassified felonies with prison terms of five years or less, can be wiped after 10 years. The records are erased automatically for offenses that occurred on or after Jan. 1, 2000. For offenses before then, the records are erased when the person files a petition. The new law was signed on June 10, and becomes effective Jan. 1, 2023.

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Existing law requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location near a nursing employee’s work area, other than a toilet stall, so the mom can express her milk in private during a meal or break period. That law's been upgraded with the signing of House Bill 5158 on June 4. Effective Oct. 1, that designated nursing area must be free from intrusion and shielded from the public, include or be near a refrigerator or employee-provided portable cold storage device in which the employee can store her breast milk, and have access to an electrical outlet.

Usually when a child born in Connecticut gets adopted, the Department of Public Health seals their original birth certificate and creates a new one, substituting the adoptive parents' names. Persons adopted prior to October 1983 could expect a bit of a hassle, involving having to get a court order, among other chores, if they wanted to obtain their original birth certificate. If either of their birth parents were still alive, the hassle became major. Following the signing of House Bill 6105 on June 7, the speed bumps for obtaining a copy of an original have been mostly removed, regardless of when the adoption took place. The new law, effective July 1, also moves most of the paper shuffling associated with obtaining the document away from the state Department of Health and over to the town registrar.

House Bill 63880, signed on June 7, requires employers to provide both their existing employees and job applicants with the wage range of the positions they have or for which they are applying. Included in the bill's definition of "wage range" is the pay scale, previously determined wage ranges for the position, actual wage ranges for current employees, and the employer's budgeted amount for the position, as applicable. The law goes into effect on Oct. 1.

As of July 1, it'll be a little easier to walk around the state with an electroshock weapon. House Bill 6491, "An Act Concerning Electronic Weapons," allows those age 21 and older to carry an "electronic defense weapon" if they possess a valid firearm credential, such as an eligibility certificate or permit to carry or sell handguns or long guns, or an ammunition certificate. Currently, such a weapon will score you a class D felony if carried in a motor vehicle, and a class E felony if you're just carrying it. The bill was signed into law on June 10.

The taxes on your underwater farm will likely be less under Senate Bill 840. It allows certain aquaculture operations, including farm, forest, open space, and maritime heritage land to be taxed based on current use value rather than fair market value.

The bill also expands Connecticut’s shellfish restoration program by allowing the state to acquire, and not just purchase, the cultch material necessary to deposit on and build out state shellfish beds. Finally, the bill makes some tweaks to the Connecticut Seafood Advisory Council and renames it the Connecticut Seafood Development Council. The new law was signed June 7, and is effective Oct. 1.

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Public unions will have an easier time of signing up new members after Oct. 1, when Senate Bill 908 goes into effect. From that point onward, employers must provide the union with every new employee's name, job title, work address, work phone number and home address within 10 days of the hiring. The employer must also allow the union access to new employees' orientation, and government buildings and facilities to hold union meetings.

Senate Bill 1093 creates a new crime: enticing a juvenile to commit a criminal act. You will have committed this class A misdemeanor if you are at least 23 years old and knowingly cause, encourage, solicit, recruit, intimidate or coerce a minor to commit or participate in a crime. The new legislation also does away with "no knock warrants," whereby law enforcement officers could enter certain premises without first knocking and announcing their presence or purpose. The law will also allow a judge or jury to draw an "unfavorable inference" from a police officer's deliberate failure to record the use of physical force on their bodycam. All these go into effect Oct. 1.

Old state zoning laws designed to protect the character of a local neighborhood and prevent overcrowding have been trumped with House Bill 6107. The new law requires that zoning regulations, among other provisions, be designed to address disparities in housing needs and access to educational and occupational opportunities. It also requires zoning regulations to provide for, rather than merely encourage, the development of housing opportunities for all residents of the town, including opportunities for multifamily dwellings. The law was signed June 10, and went into effect immediately.

On June 7, the governor signed Senate Bill 1083, a potpourri of unrelated changes to public health statutes. These include:

• Health clubs must maintain at least one automatic external defibrillator, and employ someone who knows how to use it
• 16-year-olds, with written parental consent, may give blood. The existing law, which remains unchanged, allows a person age 17 or older to do so without consent.
• Hospitals may provide the written discharge materials and document acknowledgement of them solely through electronic means
• Marriage license applications and certificates must replace references to "bride" and "groom" with "spouse one" and "spouse two," and remove references to a spouse's race or ethnicity.