These are the issues that will be tackled during the 2022 Connecticut legislative session
Gov. Ned Lamont will deliver the State of the State address as the state House and Senate gavel in to begin its legislative session for the new year.
The 2022 legislative session begins Wednesday for Connecticut's state lawmakers.
The day will begin at 10 a.m. as the House and Senate gavel in.
At noon, Gov. Ned Lamont will deliver his State of the State address, which you can watch live on FOX61.com or in the FOX61 News app.
The upcoming session will tackle multiple issues.
For a longer list of all of Lamont's legislative and budget proposals, head here.
Gun Control
During his State of the State address, Lamont will lay out his legislative priorities for the session, which include property tax reform and gun safety legislation.
Lamont will introduce a $64 million proposal on gun control that seeks to support doubling the number of officers trained on the state and local level as well as helping departments hard hit by the pandemic.
In addition to that, the governor is also proposing legislation on the issue of gun violence in the state.
While Connecticut has some of the strongest gun control laws in the country, Lamont said that wasn't enough.
“While Connecticut remains one of the safest states in the nation with a violent crime rate less than half of the national rate, one shooting is one too many, and it is our responsibility to enact sensible policies that make our communities safer,” Lamont said Monday. “These are commonsense proposals that are focused on protecting our neighborhoods, stopping the illegal flow of guns into our state, and providing law enforcement and the communities they serve with the resources they need to address the root causes of violence.”
One of his proposals would establish a gun-tracking task force to identify the source of illegal guns, while another would create a statewide community violence intervention program.
Senate Democrats are on board with the plan while Republicans think there needs to be a different approach.
Senator Bob Duff (D-25) said Connecticut is one of the safest state's in the country, but agreed that crimes in the state have to be addressed.
"We're very fortunate that with a lot of the work we have done on crime prevention in the last decade - but any time we have violence whether it's in our cities, our suburban areas, or our rural areas, we have to pay attention to that and do all that we can to mitigate and eliminate those crimes," said Duff.
But Republican Senator Kevin Kelly said the legislation would be a distraction, and wouldn't solve the underlying issues of gun violence.
"But we also have to look at making sure that there are the proper support systems and services in place so people don't look to crime in the first place," said Kelly. "It's a nice distraction, quite frankly away, from the underlying problem here in our cities and across the state of Connecticut – and that is there's not a lot of hope and opportunity. We have an economy that's not performing for our citizens."
Executive Orders
Other items on the agenda this year are nearly a dozen of Lamont's executive orders from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lamont's executive powers end on Feb. 15 and he's asking lawmakers to extend 11 of the orders he's made over the last nearly two years.
The orders tackle issues like vaccination requirements for long-term care workers, to the modification of state contracting rules to make it easier to buy items in an emergency.
There's also the executive order that allows state health and education leaders to set masking rules for schools – and Lamont only wants to be extended to Feb. 28.
"It will be up to the superintendents of schools and mayors to make that election themselves. Because every town is different, every town has its certain different sense of what the vaccination is, what the risks are," Lamont said.
The governor asking lawmakers to extend the orders through legislation is different than how it's been done since March 2020.
"Before, it was the governor who declared an emergency which provided the governor powers to act unilaterally and issue these executive orders," said Rep. Jason Rojas (D) House Majority Leader. "We're at a place in the pandemic where we can go back to our normal practices. Part of the governor having emergency authority is it's hard getting 151 people in a room together and our process requires we have a bill, we have a public hearing, and then we have a vote, and a debate."
Rep. Vincent Candelora, House Republican Leader, also gave his feedback on the decisions.
"I think some of these executive orders – because they were carved out in private, without public input – the administration doesn't appreciate the ramifications of their decision-making. So, I'm at least grateful there's starting to be a more public process to this," said Candelora.
The House is expected to vote on whether or not to extend the orders on Thursday, and then the Senate will likely vote on the issue next Monday.
Tax Reform
Another issue on Lamont's legislative agenda is tax reform.
Last Wednesday, Lamont announced he was proposing the tax cuts because the state is projecting a $1.48 billion operating surplus, which he said would enable a significant reduction in the one-time revenues built into the enacted budget.
“When I took office three years ago, Connecticut had a $3.7 billion deficit with projected deficits for many years to come, and for the sake of our economic future I made it a commitment to turn that instability around and strengthen our state’s fiscal health,” Lamont said. “Today, Connecticut has a surplus, and we did it without broad-based tax increases, and while making a historic investment in our pension obligations and leaving the rainy day fund untouched.”
Lamont’s tax cut proposals are broken down into five parts.
The governor is asking lawmakers to immediately restore full eligibility for the property tax credit beginning in the income year 2022.
He said this change would impact about 500,000 people.
Under current state law, the property tax credit is limited to those over the age of 65 or those with dependents. Lamont said by expanding the credit to all adults within the current income limits, the estimated fiscal impact to the state is $53 million.
Lamont also wants to increase the property tax credit from $200 to $300, which would impact about 1.1 million people.
The fiscal impact, he said, would be about $70 million.
The third tax cut proposal is accelerating the planned phase-in of the pensions and annuities exemption from income taxes, from 2025 to 2022. Accelerating the exemption three years earlier would have an estimated impact on the state of $42.9 million in FY 2023.
Lamont also wants to expand the student loan tax credit and describe motor vehicle property taxes.
Learn more about the proposal here. Learn more about the proposal here.
Youth Drug Use
Meanwhile, some lawmakers have announced they will also be bringing more legislation to the table for the 2022 session.
State Rep. Liz Linehan (D-103), along with Senator Saud Anwar (D-3), co-chairs of the Committee on Children, plan to introduce two pieces of legislation in the upcoming legislative session, trying to tackle the issue of youth drug use.
The move comes after two students, one in Bloomfield and one in Hartford, overdosed on fentanyl. The Hartford student, a 13-year-old from The Sports and Medical Sciences Academy, died following the exposure to fentanyl.
A subsequent investigation revealed the Hartford student had 40 bags of fentanyl with him at the school. Investigators reportedly found a hundred more bags at the teen's home. The potency of the drugs stood at 60%.
The first piece of legislation will propose funding for schools, youth agencies, and local health districts to get the resources they need to help treat drug overdoses such as Narcan. It will also provide funding to help train staff in detecting and responding to the early signs of drug use.
They said the initiative will be completely funded for a two-year period and would not be mandated on schools.
The second piece of legislation would require safe storage information to be provided with every opioid and THC prescription.
The Department of Consumer Protection, Department of Public Health and the Department of Children and Families would be responsible for supplying this information and creating the informative handout.
Nearly one-third of the Connecticut high school students misuse pain medications that were given them or took them from their home or someone else's home, according to a 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System study.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has opened a 24/7 hotline. Call during all hours of the day, 365 days a year. The number is 1-800-563-4086.
Neck Guards for Youth Hockey
State Representative Nicole Klarides-Ditria (R-105) announced in January that she would be introducing legislation that would require all hockey players to wear a neck guard or a similar protective device during practice or games.
The move came after a student at St. Luke's School in New Canaan died during a hockey game on Jan. 6.
“It’s incredibly heartbreaking what happened last week and sadly this tragic accident may have been preventable had the teams been required to wear neck guards,” said Klarides-Ditria, who is also a certified sports athletic trainer. “Fast-paced and physical sports like hockey can sometimes be dangerous which is why players wear shin pads, gloves and other protective equipment, a neck guard is one more small piece to keep players safe.”
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) requires all hockey players to wear neck guard protection, however, those rules do not apply to private schools or youth hockey programs, said Klarides-Ditria.
Klarides-Ditria said she has spoken with House Republican Leader Vin Candelora and Deputy Republican Leader Tom O’Dea, and several local hockey coaches who support the concept.
Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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