Quirky new state laws that take effect Saturday
On Saturday, more than new 95 state laws take effect.
Many of these new laws address very serious issues such as protecting victims of domestic dispute, opioid abuse prevention/treatment and changes to the state’s medical marijuana regulations.
Then, there are the more unusual measures that flew below the media radar and won approval by the state Legislature.
Credit and debit cards holds for gas
Requires gas stations and convenience stores that accept credit or debit card payments for the sale of gasoline to provide notice to the customer if they or a third party will place a hold on a credit or debit card payment that is for an amount larger than the actual retail gasoline purchase.
Under $3 balances on gift cards
Requires someone selling or issuing a gift card to give the buyer an electronic or paper proof of purchase or gift receipt. Someone who accepts a gift card as payment to give the purchaser, on request, cash for the remaining balance on the card after the purchase if the balance is under $3 and purchaser provides the proof of purchase or gift receipt.
Lowers from .10 to . 08 percent, the blood alcohol content level that triggers a presumptive violation of the law’s prohibition on carrying a loaded firearm while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The .08 percent level is the same threshold as for state and federal driving under the influence laws.
Allows employers to pay their employees through payroll cards under certain conditions. An employee must voluntarily and expressly authorize, in writing or electronically, that he or she wishes to be paid with a card. The authorization must be free of any intimidation, coercion, or fear of discharge or reprisal by the employer. No employer can require payment through a card as a condition of employment or for receiving any benefits or other type of remuneration.
Suspending fishing, hunting licenses
Allows the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to suspend fishing, hunting, and trapping licenses for certain violations when a person cited for the violation fails to appear in court or pay or plea to an infraction and an arrest warrant is issued for him or her.
Moving weapons in motor vehicles
Exempts from the ban on carrying certain weapons in a vehicle, a person who has a dirk knife (a double-edged, dagger-like knife) or police baton in a vehicle while lawfully moving his or her household goods or effects from one place or residence to another.
Requres hospitals, outpatient surgical facilities, and outpatient clinics to report to the police when they treat patients for stab wounds that are serious physical injuries likely caused by a knife or other sharp or pointed instrument (“stab wounds”). Existing law already requires these health care facilities to report on injuries caused by a firearm discharge (“gunshot wounds”).
Under the act, municipal officers and employees may issue citations without first providing a written warning to individuals who violate a mini-motorcycle ordinance. By law, the same is true for citations concerning a dirt bike or ATV ordinance. The act also authorizes municipalities with 20,000 or more people to enforce ordinances concerning mini-motorcycle, dirt bike, or ATV operation by confiscating a vehicle used to violate them. The act (1) establishes protections for lienholders and innocent owners and (2) requires municipalities to sell confiscated vehicles at public auction.
If tenants report that they know or suspect that their units are infested with bed bugs, landlords must retain a third-party inspector or inspect the units themselves. Landlords must hire and pay a pest control agent to treat bed bug infestations if they are unable to successfully treat an infestation themselves. Landlords who treat the infestation themselves must get a third-party inspector to confirm that the treatment was successful. The act makes tenants financially responsible for subsequent treatment costs for their unit and contiguous units if they knowingly and unreasonably fail to comply with treatment measures. It also prohibits landlords from renting units that they know or suspect are infested with bed bugs.
Furniture, automobile littering
Allows municipalities to assess, after a hearing, an administrative penalty of up to $500 on anyone who violates a municipal littering ordinance if the litter includes furniture, automobiles or automobile parts, large appliances, tires, bulky waste, hazardous waste, or similar material.
This act reduces the public water supply’s mandated fluoride content. Specifically, it requires water companies serving at least 20,000 people to add enough fluoride to the water supply to maintain an average monthly fluoride content that varies no more than 0. 15 milligrams per liter (mg/L) from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent recommendation for optimal fluoride levels in drinking water to prevent tooth decay (currently 0. 7 mg/L). Prior law required water companies to maintain the public water supply’s fluoride content at between 0. 8 and 1. 2 mg/L.
This act allows judges to appoint volunteers, from a list of attorneys and law students provided by the agriculture commissioner, to advocate for the interests of justice in certain proceedings involving animals. (It is unclear, but presumably the act applies only to proceedings involving the welfare or custody of cats or dogs. ) Specifically, the court may appoint a separate advocate in (1) prosecutions for animal cruelty or fighting, (2) court proceedings stemming from an animal control officer’s seizure of a cruelly treated or neglected animal, and (3) criminal cases involving the welfare or custody of cats or dogs.
Requires housing authorities, community housing development corporations, and other corporations providing state-assisted public housing to seniors and individuals with disabilities to allow these tenants to pay security deposits in installments, pursuant to a written agreement. The agreement must include a payment schedule and a determination of the tenant’s ability to pay according to the schedule. The installments must be (1) reasonable in light of the tenant’s income and (2) paid in equal amounts and at approximately equal intervals not exceeding one month, over a period of at least 12 months. The act specifies that it does not prohibit a housing authority or corporation from waiving a security deposit requirement or extending installments beyond 12 months.
To read all the laws taking effect on Oct. 1, 2016: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/aearchives/20161001ActsEffective.asp
Courtesy: The Hour – By Jim Shay – Published 9:37 am, Friday, September 30, 2016