By Charles Ferraro
State Rep., R-117
Charles Ferraro
I hope that everyone has enjoyed a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season and beginning to the new year.
The 2023 legislative session began on Jan. 3 with opening day ceremonies at the state Capitol in Hartford. This was another checkpoint in the state government’s return from stringent pandemic protocols, marking the first fully in-person opening day in three years.
I have heard from many friends and neighbors about growing cost-of-living concerns, especially regarding electricity and home heating, gas and groceries, as well as worries of public safety and general quality of life.
With the session underway, we are hard at work in legislative committees putting these issues on the front burner, organizing to make your voices heard in public hearings, and addressing your concerns head-on.
For the 2023-24 legislative term, I am proud to serve on the legislature’s Energy & Technology, Human Services, and Veterans committees. Through our committee work, legislators are able to gain public input, expert analysis, rigorous debate and strict focus on important bills before they are voted on and become law.
On Jan. 1, a set of new laws took effect in Connecticut. I want to highlight some of those which I believe will be relevant to you and your families. While I did not support each of these proposals, it is important to stay informed on how Connecticut is shifting.
An Act Concerning A Highway Use Fee, or the “truck tax,” imposes a highway use tax on every “carrier” for operating on any highway (i.e., public road) in the state (Public Act No. 21-117).
An Act Concerning Solid Waste Management, or the “bottle bill,” expands the list of eligible containers and increases the bottle deposit rate from $0.05 to $0.10 (Public Act No. 21-58 [Sec 1]).
An Act Concerning Required Health Insurance Coverage for Breast and Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Screening expands coverage requirements under certain commercial health insurance policies for specified procedures used to treat or prevent breast cancer or ovarian cancer (Public Act No. 22-90).
An Act Concerning Responsible and Equitable Regulation of Adult-Use Cannabis (Criminal Record Erasure) establishes a process to erase records of certain criminal convictions after a specified period following the person’s most recent conviction. This provides for automatic erasure of certain convictions for possession of less than four ounces of cannabis or any quantity of non-narcotic or non-hallucinogenic drugs. Certain misdemeanors are subject to erasure seven years after the first conviction and certain felonies are subject to erasure 10 years after the first conviction. This law excludes both family violence crimes and nonviolent or violent sexual offenses requiring sex offender registration (Public Act No. 21-1 [Sec 9-10]).
New laws are typically effective on Jan. 1, July 1 and Oct. 1 throughout the calendar year. For a full list of laws effective Jan. 1 and to read more about how these will impact you, your families, your business or your community, visit: cga.ct.gov/asp/content/aeauto.asp.
Together, we can ensure that our community enjoys a safe, healthy and prosperous winter and holiday season. Please continue to reach out to me at Charles.Ferraro@housegop.ct.gov with your questions and concerns regarding state issues.