These news briefs were originally written for CT Politics, The Connecticut Mirror’s weekly newsletter providing updates on the 2025 legislative session. To sign up for CT Politics, click here.

Crackdown proposed on cross-border bottle redemptions

Ever since Connecticut doubled its refund on bottles and cans to 10 cents last year, beverage distributors have been raising the alarm about a nagging problem: people driving in from out of state with bags full of recyclables seeking a pay day.

Distributors — who collect deposits from stores and handle refunds — say the issue amounts to fraud, with a single truck full of containers purchased without deposits potentially worth up to $150,000.

A proposed solution, Senate Bill 1115, continued its way through the legislature this week with the endorsement of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

The bill would place more reporting requirements on redemption centers, while also offering compensation to distributors who end up paying out more deposits than they take in from the sale of eligible drinks.

Despite the support of the beverage industry, the bill has drawn opposition from redemption center owners who describe its additional reporting requirements as a burden to their business.

The committee passed the bill without any objections on Monday.

— John Moritz, Environment & Energy Reporter

Loans for the wrongfully incarcerated

The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to pass a bill that would require the banking commissioner to report on complaints made against companies that offer loans to individuals who were wrongfully incarcerated, with the expectation of receiving part of a settlement at the end of a lawsuit against the state.

Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, said that some of the stories he’d heard were “horrifying.”

“Historically it’s been pretty easy to convict someone wrongfully but very difficult to make up for that,” he said, adding that he wanted to make sure the state’s money was going to the correct person.

Amanda Wallwin, state policy advocate with the Innocence Project, wrote in testimony on the bill that people who were exonerated and released often find themselves unable to pay for health care, housing or transportation.

Some of those people will take out loans at rates that Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, referred to as “usurious.”

“Certainly in my heart of hearts I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to limit the interest and the terms on these loans to that, that we allow for the highest participants in our marketplace,” said Kissel.

— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter

Two AI bills pass to the floor

The Judiciary Committee moved two artificial intelligence bills to the floor on Tuesday afternoon. S.B. 2, proposed by Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, seeks to regulate generative AI including deep fakes, and provide state educational resources.

Sens. John Kissel, R-Enfield, Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, and Melissa Osborne, D-Simsbury, spoke in opposition to the bill, emphasizing that AI is still a developing technology and legislation could ward off business from Connecticut. Opposition cited the previous reservations of Dan O’Keefe, Gov. Ned Lamont’s chief innovation officer, and compared upcoming changes brought about by AI to the Industrial Revolution. Kissel also spoke of the Trump administration’s policy priority in this area. The bill passed committee 16-6.

S.B. 1484 seeks to prevent the electronic monitoring and algorithmic discrimination of employees. The bill was originally referred to the committee of Labor and Public Employees before passing to the Judiciary Committee. The bill passed committee 13-5.

— Angela Eichhorst, AI data reporter/Product developer

NAACP Youth Day

Members of the Connecticut NAACP Youth and College Division on Wednesday gathered at the state Capitol for a legislative day, speaking to lawmakers about four bills they want to see passed.

The bills deal with food insecurity, early educator pay, student loan reimbursements and funding for programs for disconnected youth.

Young people from Connecticut colleges, universities and high schools across the state spoke about the bills at the Legislative Office Building and actions they want lawmakers to take to make their futures better. Kellie Taylor, president of the Connecticut NAACP Youth and College, said the desire for a day to interact with legislators came in part from national politics. Members wanted to know their lawmakers, to be able to interact with them.

“So the overall purpose of today was that a lot of youth, especially Black and brown youth, they feel they’re out of touch from legislation,” Taylor said. “With the recent Trump administration, they’ve heard a lot of news. They’re wondering, ‘What can we do?’”

— Ginny Monk, Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter

Street takeovers

The Senate voted 35-1 Wednesday to pass a bill putting in further measures and penalties to prevent street takeovers and punish the people who participate.

The bill allows municipalities to destroy all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and mini-motorcycles used in street takeovers if the owner doesn’t pick them up within 30 days. It also allows towns and cities to adopt ordinances to fine people participating in street takeovers up to $1,000 for a first violation, $1,500 for a second violation and $2,000 for a third violation, as well as impounding their cars. Participants may also have their licenses suspended for 45 days or revoked after a third offense.

“Turn on the news or you open up some social media, and you see a scene that you would think is out of a movie. People are lighting fires in the middle of the road, and cars are doing doughnuts around the fire,” said Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven.

Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, brought up the provision in the bill that allowed municipalities to destroy ATVs and motor scooters, saying this would prevent them from ending up back in the hands of the perpetrators after being seized.

But Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, said he was concerned someone might steal a vehicle to use in a street takeover, that vehicle might be seized and the true owner never notified. Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, said the bill said a city or town had to notify the owner of a vehicle before they were allowed to destroy it.

— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter

Transgender athletes in women’s sports

Peyton McNabb of Murphy, North Carolina, stood at the State Capitol on Thursday listing the injuries she received while playing in a high school volleyball game against a transgender athlete: a concussion, brain bleed, permanent whiplash, partial paralysis on the right side, visual impairment and cognitive difficulties.

“ I don’t know if I ever will be the same, and it should have never happened,” she said.

McNabb spoke at a press conference alongside Republican legislators and advocates from groups like the Family Institute of CT and CT Catholic Public Affairs Conference to protest allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports.

Republicans criticized their Democratic counterparts for voting down an amendment in the House of Representatives that would have prohibited transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports in Connecticut.

Also present was Christine Mitchell, a parent whose daughter, Chelsea, competed against transgender athletes as a track and field runner at Canton High School.

“Over the course of Chelsea’s high school career, she had to race against these two boys in nearly every major championship she went to,” Mitchell said, referring to the transgender women who competed in the track meets. “She raced them dozens of times over and over again, and on four occasions, Chelsea was the girl that would’ve had the state championship title if the boys had not been in the race.”

Mitchell and several other parents filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, claiming that the organization’s policy of allowing transgender females to compete in girl’s high school competitions had deprived several girls from winning state level championships or being able to advance to the next stage of competition.

The lawsuit was initially dismissed, but the same judge who originally heard the case later revoked the dismissal, allowing it to proceed. Mitchell said the case is currently in federal court.

— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter