Connecticut

Connecticut is tapping into federal funding to provide hundreds of thousands of public school students with free breakfast and lunch. The state Department of Education announced that $16 million of funding the state received from the American Rescue Plan Act will be diverted to Connecticut’s free school meals program for the 2023-2024 school year, allowing students to get free meals regardless of their family's income.

A federal appeals court has upheld a 2021 Connecticut law banning religious exemptions for immunization requirements for schools, colleges and early education, but critics of the restrictions are vowing to take their case to the Supreme Court. In the 2-1 ruling issued on Friday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that rejected a lawsuit challenging the repeal of the state's long-held religious exemptions to childhood vaccines. 

Fourteen state attorneys general asked the Biden Administration to do more to "combat the plastic pollution crisis." An Aug. 3 media release, the group stated, "Plastic does not fully degrade, instead breaking down into smaller pieces called microplastics, which have been found in drinking water, food, air, and even human blood and living lung tissue."

Washington state's attorney general is among 20 attorneys general to have filed legal arguments in a federal lawsuit challenging Idaho’s law that makes it illegal to either obtain abortion pills for a minor or to help them leave the state for an abortion without their parents' knowledge and consent.  In a Tuesday news release, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the collective states’ amicus brief is in support of a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court against Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador. The plaintiffs allege that Labrador’s interpretation of the law threatens to punish medical providers and residents outside Idaho’s borders for giving information and assistance to minors about legal abortion access in their states.

Connecticut will join a handful of states in banning the sale of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035, but critics say the dramatic shift to electric vehicles will be costly for consumers and could impact energy supplies. On Wednesday, second-term Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont rolled out new regulations that will require car manufacturers to ramp up sales of electric vehicles in Connecticut leading to a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has tapped a former federal prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation of allegations that state police may have issued hundreds of "fake" tickets. Lamont said he has hired former U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly to investigate allegations outlined in a recent audit by a taxpayer-funded group that reviews police records to look for racial bias in law enforcement activities. Lamont said the inquiry seeks to determine “how and why the misconduct occurred" and why it went undetected for years.

Connecticut utility regulators have rejected a proposed rate increase by one of the state’s largest utilities, which was seeking another $130 million from energy consumers.  The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority turned down a request from United Illuminating to increase electric rates by nearly $131 million over the next three years. Instead, the agency approved a rate increase of just over $2 million for next year, which is still subject to final approval by the PURA board.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) signed into law a series of bills Wednesday that seeks to protect abortion rights and access to both contraception and college students' transgender drugs and surgeries. In an official statement, Lamont also noted the new Connecticut laws counter those in Republican-led states that have sought to protect unborn life from abortion, and teens from life-altering transgender drugs and surgeries.

A federal judge has tossed a challenge to a Connecticut law banning firearms in state parks, saying the lawsuit lacks standing because the regulation isn't enforced. The ruling by U.S. District Court Janet Bond Arterton, issued on Wednesday, upholds a more than a century-old Connecticut law prohibiting lawfully licensed firearm owners from packing in state parks and wildlife preserves. 

A former Yale University student who beat back rape accusations can sue his accuser for defamation, the State of Connecticut Supreme Court ruled recently. Saifullah Khan’s lawsuit can proceed after the court ruled on June 27 that the former Yalie, who was expelled, can sue his accuser because the university’s sexual assault proceedings did not resemble actual judicial procedures.

Connecticut's craft beer makers are getting a break on their excise tax bill as part of a broader measure aimed at fostering the brewing industry. The state's excise tax on beer dropped by 16.7% beginning on July 1, which lowered the tax on a 31-gallon barrel of beer to $6, from $7.20 previously, and the excise tax on wine from $0.24 to $0.20 per gallon.

Connecticut is coming up short on revenue from a controversial highway tax on truckers, with the state bringing in less money than expected during the first few months of the new levy. Figures from the state Department of Revenue Services show the Highway Use Tax generated only $18.6 million from January through April, roughly half of what state budget writers had anticipated. 

Connecticut has joined a handful of states banning utilities from passing on the costs of lobbying the state government to energy consumers. A new law, tucked into a package of bills signed by Gov. Ned Lamont last week, will prevent large investor-owned utilities from recovering the costs associated with lobbying, as well as legal fees, memberships, dues or contributions to a business or industry trade associations or groups, among other changes. 

The smallest baby ever born at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, was celebrated by staff across the hospital as she was discharged last week following four months in the neonatal intensive care unit. “Born at just 22 weeks, Baby Zahraliz Francis Angueira, the smallest baby ever born at Saint Francis Hospital, graduated from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after four months and headed home today!” the hospital posted to Instagram. “Our colleagues from across the hospital gathered to provide well wishes to the family and celebrate their story of hope.”

Members of Connecticut's congressional delegation are touting hundreds of millions of dollars for the state in a new military spending bill. The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations last week, includes more than $331 billion for Connecticut submarine building facilities and veterans’ services, according to lawmakers who pushed for the funding.