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What Happened During the 2022 Connecticut Legislative Session
February 9 – May 4, 2022
LWVCT 2022 Advocacy Goals
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Protect and Expand Voting Rights and Access by ensuring Passage of the Early Voting Referendum, and Informing the Public and the Legislature in the Face of Mis/Disinformation.
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Support the Citizens’ Election Program and Campaign Finance Reform.
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Ensure Transparency and Access to the Workings of Government.
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Address the Climate Emergency.
VOTING RIGHTS AND ACCESS
SUCCESSES
The Secretary of State’s Budget includes $2 million for a Public Informational Campaign, which will include an effort to educate the CT Voters on the damages of misinformation, along with an education campaign highlighting the referendum question. In addition, the office received an allocation to support one full time staff person dedicated to the issue of misinformation in the election process.
MORE TO DO
SB 431 An Act Concerning Referenda, Independent Expenditures, and Certain Other Political Spending would have banned foreign spending on state ballot measures. This would protect the November 2022 Referendum Question on Early Voting from anti-democratic foreign actors' interference. This bill passed in the Senate, but time ran out before the House brought it to a vote. We will support it again next year.
SB 471 An Act Concerning Elections and State Voting Rights would have provided vulnerable groups of voters additional protections against voter suppression and insufficient language assistance. Funding concerns blocked its progress. We will support it again next year.
Citizens’ Election Program and Campaign Finance Reform
MORE TO DO
HB 5455 An Act Concerning Campaign Consultants and Disclosure would align the disclosure requirements of campaign consultants and their sub-vendors with existing SEEC requirements for direct campaign expenses. The committee vote was positive on this; the SEEC hopes to affect administratively some of the changes this bill would have required.
HB 5457 An Act Concerning Municipal Campaign Finance Filings wouldstreamline disclosure and facilitate public access to campaign funding information by requiring disclosure of funds spent on municipal office campaigns with the SEEC rather than Town Clerks. Bill was voted out of committee and will be resubmitted next year and we will support it again.
Ensure Transparency and Access to the Workings of Government
MORE TO DO
SB 278 An Act Concerning Fees Paid to Companies or Organizations Responsible for Community Access Programming would have required internet providers to pay a fee per subscriber to support public access. The fee is needed because as subscribers move away from cable, revenues collected from them have diminished. Internet providers need to contribute to supporting public access, which is available over their networks. The bill was entirely rewritten to direct PURA (Public Utility Regulatory Authority) to study the situation and report back to the Energy and Technology Committee by December 2023. We need to monitor PURA’s study to ensure local communities media access is not reduced.
Addressing the Climate Emergency
SUCCESSES
SB 4 An Act Concerning the Connecticut Clean Air Act PASSED. Reduces transportation emissions by (1) requiring the state to lead by example in the adoption of electric fleet vehicles and buses, (2) increasing incentive funding for the purchase of electric vehicles, (3) expanding access to electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and (4) establishing a matching grant program to help deploy electric school buses throughout the state and setting goals to achieve a 100% electric school bus fleet. This bill has CA emission standards for medium and heavy trucks and more.
HB 5039 An Act Concerning Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emission Standards was ROLLED INTO SB 4 reduces transportation emissions by adopting California’s medium and heavy-duty vehicle standards that (1) establish more stringent emissions standards for heavy-duty on-road engines, and (2) require manufacturers to produce increasing numbers of zero-emission trucks beginning in 2024.
SB 10, The Climate Change Mitigation Bill, PASSED Codifies 100% zero‐carbon electricity goals for Connecticut as outlined in Governor Lamont’s Executive Order. This bill aims to help meet the emissions goals Connecticut set in 2013 by giving clear direction to DEEP, PURA, electric distribution companies, and municipal entities.
S.B. 176 An Act Concerning Clean Energy Tariff Programs PASSED expands the state’s successful solar programs by increasing their capacity caps, maximizing the use of available commercial roof space for solar projects, and ensuring that low- and moderate-income households are able to take full advantage of our shared clean energy program.
MORE TO DO
SB 115 An Act Concerning Extended Producer Responsibility for Consumer Packaging would have shifted responsibility for the post-consumer management of products and packaging from local governments to producers. The goal is to reduce waste, increase use of eco-friendly material and recyclable material. EPR is done in British Columbia and the EU. The bill included recycling of plastics with heat that would have produced emissions, so needs modification. We support the removal of chemical recycling. Bill did not make it out of committee.
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