Friday Facts – February 17th

Plenty of bills to keep CRN busy on the Hill
Breakdown by Committee
Other news and notes from around the Capitol
News and notes from around the state

• At the end of another week of the 2023 CT General Assembly, it is clear that once again the Legislature is busy considering bills that will impact the retail industry.

• And CRN lobbyists are working hard to stay on top of all of them. 

• Below, we share a breakdown of the issues we are following, by the Committees that are dealing with them. 

• While you review them, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly if you have any questions. You can do that via email by sending any inquiries to CRN President Tim Phelan at tim@ctretailnetwork.com

CRN busy on numerous issues

General Law Committee

• Privacy update: On Thursday, February 28th the General Law Committee will hold a public hearing on a group of bills that center around consumer privacy. Once again Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford), is leading the effort. 

• If you recall, the General Assembly passed a landmark consumer privacy bill last session. Included in the Public Act were necessary protections for all retailers. Our understanding is that any privacy bill that will be considered first by the Committee will focus on issues that WILL NOT upset any of the issues that we fought so hard for last year. 

• Yesterday, the Attorney General’s office released a bill dealing with both some privacy issues and other issues, including price gouging, was also released. You can review that bill by going here. 

• Yesterday, the General Law committee raised for drafting HB 5314 AAC Subscription Cancellation. This bill will get serious consideration from the committee. When it comes out in fully drafted form, we will make it available to members. 

• General Law will also raise for drafting several bills dealing with the cannabis industry and will hold a public hearing on them next week. We will keep an eye on those bills as they move along in the process. 

Labor Committee

• The Labor Committee has yet to schedule a bill on the so-called “Predictive scheduling” or “fair work week” bill. They could post that public hearing notice any day now.  

• Also yesterday, the Labor Committee reported out of its committee a non-compete bill, HB 6594, with some changes. You can review the new language of the bill by going here. 

Environment Committee

• As we mentioned in previous FF, included in the Governor’s legislative package is a bill creating a EPR for packaging bill. That bill is HB 6664 can be viewed by going here.

• No public hearing date has been set yet for this bill.

• There is a similar type EPR bill for tires that the Committee is also considering. 

• We are in negotiations on this bill, working alongside our friends at the New England Service Stations Association, with the tire manufacturers and the recycling advocates. 

• Today, as we go to print, the Environment Committee has reported out HB 6481 AAC the Intentional Release of Certain Balloons. A copy of that bill is here.   

Appropriation/Finance update

• The Governor’s proposed budget is now pending before both Committees and public hearings on the budget have begun. 

• On the Appropriation side, Agency heads have begun to appear before the Committee this week and that will continue next week. 

• Also next week, the Finance Committee will begin holding hearings on some of the governor’s tax package, with a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday of next week. 

• We also expect that the Finance Committee will hold public hearings on some proposed bills, like SB 72, An Act Exempting certain articles of Children’s Clothing and Footwear and Personal Protective Equipment from Sales and Use tax.

• That bill was introduced by Sen. Minority Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford). CRN will also be testify in favor of that bill. 

• Also, up for public hearing that day is HB 5673 AAC the Reformation of Certain Taxes and Tax Equity. 

• You can review that bill by going here.  CRN will be testifying against this bill.

Insurance Committee

• On Tuesday of next week, the Insurance Committee will be holding a public hearing on HB 6710, AAC Association Health Plans. CRN will be testifying in support of this bill. 

• AHP are a great tool to allow associations like CRN to put discounted group health plans together because it will allow associations with more than 50 members to negotiate with insurance companies, just as larger companies are allowed to. 

As you can see, next week will be a busy week for CRN at the Legislative Office Building and we will give you an update in next week’s FF.

Other news and notes from around the State Capitol

• As we mentioned above, the Legislature’s budget committee will begin dissecting the Governor’s budget. Keith Phaneuf at the CT Mirror does his own breakdown. You can go here to read more about Keith’s work. 

• A mini-crisis on the budget has broken out between the President of UConn, Students of UConn and the Governor over whether or not the Governor proposed budget cuts to the University. Chris Keating of the Courant has a closer look at the story here. 

• Legislators are weighing competing proposals to change Connecticut’s tax credit program for the film and media industry.  CT Mirror has the story here.

• Gov. Lamont’s goal is to create 6,400 units of affordable housing over the next two years, according to his office.  The Governor discussed his plan in Bridgeport this week, as Hearst CT reports here.

• Monday is a state holiday so the Capitol Complex will be closed.  The action resumes on Tuesday. 

Other news and notes from around the state

• CRN member Westfarms Mall has announced the addition of four new stores as remodeling and construction continues on three businesses.  Hartford Business Journal has the news here.

• Frontier Communications and AT&T signed an agreement that will allow AT&T to deploy wireless infrastructure in Frontier facilities.  Fairfield County Business Journal reports on the agreement here.

• A tentative ruling by state utility regulators completely rejects a 27 percent rate increase over three years proposed by the Aquarion Water Co. and instead calls for a small reduction in existing customer rates.  CT Post reports on the decision here.