This year, the General Assembly held the regular
legislative session from January 7th until midnight
June 3rd, and during that time passed 259 bills, including
special acts. Of those, Governor M. Jodi Rell has so
far vetoed several bills. A two-thirds majority vote
of both the State Senate and the House of Representatives
is necessary in order to override a gubernatorial veto.
Typically, new laws take effect upon passage, or on
the first of January, July, or October of any given
year. Sometimes, separate portions of new laws take
effect on different dates. This year, 42 new Public
Acts, or portions of Public Acts, went into effect on
July 1st. Not all of this legislation was adopted by
the General Assembly this year – it just takes
effect this year.
As every piece of legislation passed by the General
Assembly in some way affects the quality of life in
Connecticut, I encourage constituents to be aware of
our new laws. Each public act, or special act, directly
impacts people and, or, businesses. Consider, for example,
Public Act 09-109, An Act Establishing A
Silver Alert System which essentially
expands the state’s Amber Alert System to help
find missing children. Now, the state Department of
Public Safety Missing Child Information Clearinghouse
also will be required to collect and disseminate information
to help find missing senior citizens and mentally impaired
adults. Clearly, this is a law that will have a positive
impact on the lives of families all across our state.
Another interesting bill that went into effect on July
1st is Public Act 09-28, An Act Concerning
The International Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
By passing this legislation, Connecticut becomes a member
of the compact authorized by Congress under the International
Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding.
Under this compact, the northeastern states and eastern
Canadian provinces agree to help each other manage emergencies
and disasters. Connecticut's emergency management and
homeland security commissioner is the state's compact
representative.
I voted for all of the legislation highlighted in
the column, including this one, Public Act 09-18,
An Act Concerning Disclosures By Home Improvement
Contractors And New Home Construction Contractors,
which requires contractors to include a disclosure provision
in new home and home improvement construction contracts.
This disclosure must include every corporation, limited
liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship,
or other legal entity that is or has been a home improvement
or new home construction contractor in the contractors
named in the disclosure form were shareholders, members,
partners, or owners within the past five years. This
new law is intended to provide additional protection
to consumers by providing them with additional information.
And, also taking effect on July 1st is Public
Act 09-94, An Act Concerning The Availability Of
Automatic External Defibrillators In Schools,
will require school boards to have at each school an
automatic external defibrillator (AED), school staff
trained in its use and in cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR), if funding is available. School boards can accept
donated AEDs under certain conditions, and may accept
gifts, donations, and grants to acquire the equipment
and train staff in its use. Furthermore, schools are
required to develop emergency action response plans
for appropriately responding to sudden cardiac arrest
incidents and similar life-threatening emergencies.
This new law calls for school boards and individual
laws to be compliance beginning July 1, 2010.
Further information about these, and other, laws that
took effect on July 1st is available on the Connecticut
General Assembly website at www.cga.ct.gov.
Please contact me if you have any concerns or questions.
I can be reached at my legislative office in Hartford
at 1-800-842-1421, or via e-mail to Rob.Kane@cga.ct.gov.
Senator Rob Kane represents the 32nd Senatorial District,
which includes the communities of Bethlehem, Bridgewater,
Middlebury, Oxford, Seymour, Southbury, Thomaston, Roxbury,
Watertown, Woodbury.
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