The Connecticut legislature is considering dozens of justice-related bills after the Judiciary Committee concluded its regular business last week, a key step that will allow lawmakers to debate what to send to the governor’s desk for final approval in the last month of the General Assembly.
The bills will move to the House or Senate — whichever chamber they originated in — after legislative staff vets them for their constitutionality and consistency with current law. There is no guarantee that bills will make it to the House or Senate floor for a debate and a subsequent vote.
This year, the Judiciary Committee, which has cognizance over everything from prisons and courts to criminal law and civil penalties, advanced bills having to do with cannabis offenses, street takeovers and wrongful incarceration.
The session concludes on May 8.
Here are a few bills to watch for in the coming weeks.
Cannabis sentences
Senate Bill 444 would establish a sentence modification process for people charged with cannabis-related offenses that are no longer illegal.
Specifically, the bill would, if good cause is shown, require courts to order the release of people incarcerated for only a cannabis-related offense or offenses no longer chargeable on and after July 1, 2021 — the date cannabis officially became legal for recreational use.
It is not entirely clear how many people would benefit from the legislation, and advocates are calling for better coordination between the Department of Correction, the Division of Criminal Justice and the Judicial Branch to get a more accurate picture.
Lawmakers have indicated that it would take a considerable amount of manual labor and funding to achieve the goal of the bill, partly because Connecticut’s criminal statutes historically have not specified which type of substance an individual was convicted of possessing, according to the Judicial Branch.
A similar bill passed out of the House last year but did not get a vote in the Senate.
Decriminalization of psilocybin
House Bill 5297 would reduce the penalty for possessing less than half an ounce of psilocybin from a crime that carries a possible prison sentence to a fine — $150 for a first offense and $200 to $500 for a second offense. Psilocybin is a chemical compound obtained from certain types of hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to the Office of Legislative Research.
Supporters of the measure describe psilocybin as an effective treatment option for improving mental and physical health. Opponents argue that imposing fines for possession does not equate to true decriminalization, while others express public safety concerns, such as people illegally obtaining it or driving after having used it.
A similar bill passed out of the House last year but did not reach the Senate floor.
Judicial selection
House Bill 5380 would change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Commission, currently a 12-member board of lawyers and non-lawyers (six of each) responsible for vetting and recommending judgeship candidates to the bench.
Specifically, it would reduce the membership to 11 members, nine of whom would be active attorneys and two of whom would not be, which the commission and advocates oppose over concerns about a resulting lack of diversity. Appointment power to the commission would still reside with the governor and members of the legislature.
The proposal would also limit the length of time that candidates recommended to the bench would remain on the governor’s nomination list to eight years, a provision that the commission and advocates support. And it would require that the commission report to the legislature statistics on the areas of professional experience of candidates interviewed, recommended and denied by the panel.
The bill comes as advocates have called for more professional diversity in the governor’s nominations to the bench and as some Republican lawmakers have indicated a desire for more trial court experience on the commission.
Juvenile justice
Senate Bill 445 would mandate the Judicial Branch’s Court Support Services Division to develop a jobs program for justice-impacted youth. The program would aim to connect young people with local employment opportunities and organizations and assist them with “obtaining apprenticeships, learning trade skills and becoming aware of union jobs.”
The legislation would also require the state probate court administrator to establish a truancy clinic to serve each town. Truancy clinics operate for the purposes of “identifying and resolving” the cause of a child’s absenteeism using “nonpunitive procedures,” according to state law. Advocates have long resisted legislation that would require more interaction between children and the criminal legal system, citing the need for more investment in community resources instead.
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed police to stop drivers solely because they perceive that an individual is using cannabis.
Meanwhile, House Bill 5508 would establish a gender responsiveness subcommittee to recommend improvements to the continuum of care for justice-impacted youth who identify as girls. Proposed by the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee, the bill would also update the state’s “reentry success plan” for children released from the state’s custody to ensure the use of “credible messengers” as mentors for a period lasting up to two years and to ensure that the youth have access to job training programs.
Secondary traffic violations
House Bill 5324 attempts to turn certain motor vehicle violations, such as failing to have two working headlights or possessing tinted windows not in compliance with state law, into “secondary violations” and restrain police from stopping vehicles only to enforce one of the offenses.
A similar bill advanced out of the Senate with a bipartisan vote last year but did not receive a vote in the House.
Falsification of records
Proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont, House Bill 5055 would make it a Class D felony for any person acting in a law enforcement capacity to knowingly make false written statements or enter false information into a law enforcement record and explicitly make those acts a basis for decertification of an officer’s policing license. Officials have shared concerns that the existing laws do not sufficiently make it clear that intentionally falsifying data in computer systems is a crime.
The bill comes after the release of an investigation earlier this year that found “significant failures” by the Connecticut State Police to abide by the state’s racial profiling law.
Street takeovers
House Bill 5413 would provide municipalities the option to levy financial penalties against people involved in “street takeovers,” which would fall under the category of races, contests or demonstrations on a public road, and allow for the 45-day revocation of an individual’s driver’s license except for when a third offense occurs, when the state would then permanently revoke their license.
An earlier version of the bill would have required a mandatory minimum sentence for people in violation of the statute, even those merely observing a street takeover.
Wrongful incarceration
Senate Bill 439 attempts to improve the state’s compensation system for the wrongfully convicted by making them eligible to receive a payout if their conviction was vacated or reversed on “grounds consistent with innocence” (note the use of the word consistent) as opposed to those dismissed only on grounds of innocence or an act that constitutes serious misconduct by a state agent.
The bill would set a 90-day timeline in which the state’s claims commissioner must determine whether a claimant meets eligibility requirements. It would also allow a claimant’s estate to seek compensation in the event that the person is deceased, provided a claim was pending at the time of their death.