This story is part of CT Mirror Explains, an ongoing effort to distill our wide-ranging reporting into a "what you need to know" format and provide practical information to our readers.
A slate of new laws are being implemented at the beginning of 2024, ranging from a minimum wage increase and income tax cut to early voting requirements and expanded access to contraception.
Here’s a look at some of the laws that go into effect early this year.
Minimum wage increase
Connecticut’s minimum wage was raised from $15 to $15.69 on Jan. 1, the result of a 2019 law that requires the state to automatically raise its minimum wage each year based on the Employment Cost Index, a measure of wage growth calculated by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The annual automatic raises took effect Jan. 1, following a series of $1 minimum wage increases from 2019 to 2023.
Income tax cut
The tax rate imposed on the first $10,000 earned by singles and the first $20,000 earned by couples has dropped from 3% to 2%, and the rate imposed on the next $40,000 earned by singles and the next $80,000 by couples dropped from 5% to 4.5%.
Additionally, the income threshold for a tax exemption on pension and annuity earnings has been raised.
Those earnings will continue to be 100% exempt for single filers whose total adjusted gross income is less than $75,000 and for couples whose total AGI is less than $100,000. But beginning in the 2024 tax year, singles making between $75,000 and $100,000 and couples earning between $100,000 and $150,000 will qualify for an exemption as well — though they will receive a partial exemption, which shrinks gradually as income increases.
Details on those exemptions can be found below:
10-cent bottle and can deposit
Bottles and cans sold in Connecticut now carry a 10-cent deposit, redeemable at designated locations. Consumers pay the 10 cents when they buy the beverage and get the money back upon returning its container.
The deposit and return amount had previously been 5 cents, and retailers can continue to sell bottles labeled with a 5-cent deposit that they procured prior to the Jan. 1 deposit increase. Consumers can redeem those empties for 10 cents.
Some retailers have self-service machines — known as reverse vending machines (RVMs) — that receive empty bottles. As of Jan. 1, consumers are limited to redeeming 240 empties in an RVM at a time.
The deposit increase was part of a 2021 law that also expanded the types of bottles and cans that qualify for the deposit and return.
Pharmacists can prescribe birth control
Pharmacists in Connecticut can now prescribe hormonal and emergency contraception, meaning patients are no longer required to visit their doctor for a prescription.
Pharmacists who wish to prescribe contraceptives must undergo new training.
Early voting
Beginning April 1, Connecticut municipalities will be required to offer 14 days of early voting for general elections, as well as seven days for state and local primaries and four days for special elections and presidential primaries.
Voters opened the door to early voting in fall 2022 by allowing an amendment to the state constitution, which had previously limited in-person voting to Election Day. Following that referendum, lawmakers passed the early voting measure last spring.
The law initially required municipalities to offer early voting for all elections held after Jan. 1, but legislators changed the cutoff date to April 1. Jillian Hirst, press secretary at Connecticut’s Secretary of the State’s Office, said the first election to implement early voting will be the presidential preference primary on April 2.
That means voters casting their ballot in Bridgeport’s new Democratic primary election and West Haven’s special election, both scheduled for Jan. 23, cannot vote in-person early.