These news briefs are part of The Connecticut Mirror’s 2026 political coverage. For more news about the 2026 legislative session, campaigns, elections and more, sign up here for The Issue, CT Mirror’s weekly politics newsletter.
Should cops be able to carry guns at school while off-duty?
The Public Safety Committee on Tuesday heard a bill that would allow law enforcement to carry a gun on school property even if they are off-duty.
Special Education attorney Andy Feinstein said he was against the idea.
“Schools are supposed to be safe places,” he said. “Having more guns in school makes that less safe.”
Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, a police officer, argued that he should be able to intervene to protect lives if someone threatened a school with a gun, whether or not he is on the clock.
“The good guy with the gun stops the bad guy with the gun. I think that’s the bottom line,” added Rep. Michael DiGiovancarlo, R-Waterbury.
— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter
Governor’s rent bill
The Housing Committee on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow fair rent commissions to reject any rent increase above 5% or the rise in the consumer price index — whichever is greater — if the owner purchased the property in the last year.
The bill from Gov. Ned Lamont’s office aims to help people stay in their homes. In recent years, more large companies have purchased properties and instituted large rent increases. The bill has already drawn opposition from Republicans and some landlord groups and passed the Housing Committee on a party-line vote.
— Ginny Monk, Housing & Children’s Issues Reporter
Is this about ICE?
The General Assembly’s Planning and Development Committee held a public hearing on Wednesday about House Bil 5505, which would require municipal approval — including public hearings and notifications to neighboring properties — for the use of commercial warehouses to house people for more than 24 hours.
In theory, this bill could prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from opening a detention facility in Connecticut without notification as they’ve done across the country, but Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, said the intent is to prevent homeless people from being housed in warehouse with dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
— Mikayla Bunnell, Legislative Reporting Intern
Hospital provider tax
Representatives from Connecticut’s hospitals on Wednesday testified in opposition to Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed changes to the hospital provider tax. The governor’s proposed budget asked lawmakers to increase the current tax by $100 million — a reduction from his previous plan to hike the tax by $375 million.
Even though Lamont has backed off his initial hike and the hospitals will receive $40 million in supplemental payments back from the state, hospital executives still say the proposal doesn’t go far enough to address the $1.5 billion they lose every year providing care to patients on the state’s Medicaid program.
— Katy Golvala, Health Reporter
Should Connecticut allow three-year bachelor’s degrees?
The question is now before the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee in the form of Senate Bill 396. Proponents, many of them university administrators, say targeted three-year degrees would help Connecticut fill workforce shortages (in health care, for example) and open the doors of higher education to more nontraditional students.
Opponents, many of them professors, warn three-year degrees would degrade the quality of undergraduate education and may not be recognized outside the state. Some also fear the change would trigger cuts to Gen Ed programs, arts and the humanities.
— Theo Peck-Suzuki, Education Reporter
Family caregiver tax credit bill advances
The Aging Committee voted to advance a measure that would allow people who are caregivers for family members to get a tax credit. The credit would help cover expenses such as the purchase or lease of medical equipment, adult day care visits, respite care and other services. It would be equal to 50% of the expenses incurred by the caregiver in a taxable year but could not exceed $2,000. If two or more caregivers claim the credit for the same family member, it would be split in equal amounts among those caregivers. The bill now heads to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter
Expanding dual credit offerings
State leaders have praised dual credit courses — where a high school student can earn college credit — as a low-cost way to open higher ed degrees to more people.
A new bill before the Higher Education Committee could expand those programs further. Senate Bill 427 calls on the education commissioner to create a “need-based dual enrollment scholarship” to reimburse parents for dual-credit tuition or enrollment costs. It also creates a “dual enrollment program coordinator” position to track these programs and student outcomes therein.
The move comes after concerns not all Connecticut students have equal opportunity to access dual credit courses.
— Theo Peck-Suzuki, Education Reporter
Cameras in residential care and assisted living fees
A bill that would allow virtual monitoring and visitation in residential care homes cleared the Aging Committee with a unanimous vote. The bill extends virtual visitation and the use of cameras to residential care homes; they already are permitted in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Residents with roommates must get consent. The committee also passed a proposal that would require assisted living facilities to hold informational hearings each time administrators want to raise fees on residents by more than 10%. The hearings must be held at least 30 days before a fee increase takes effect.
— Jenna Carlesso, Investigative Reporter
Banning cops with potential misconduct from school security roles
Lawmakers on Tuesday heard testimony on a bill preventing police officers who retired while under investigation for misconduct from being hired as school security officers. Recent reporting found that multiple school districts have hired officers with records of misconduct or potential misconduct.
Robert Goodrich, co-founder of advocacy organization RACCE, said lawmakers should ban armed officers inside schools completely.
“This technical revision about who is a retired police officer is meaningless to the overall climate and safety issue,” he said.
Lawmakers disagreed. Rep. Carol Hall, R-Enfield, said these officers often become part of school communities and that the programs are often “huge successes.”
— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter
Lawmakers weigh restrictions on data centers
Fueled by concerns that data centers could disrupt Connecticut’s electric grid, lawmakers on Thursday heard testimony on legislation that seeks to curtail their ability to co-locate alongside existing power plants.
The legislation, House Bill 5469, would require the developers of large data centers to add enough generation to meet their power needs without reducing the amount of electricity flowing into the grid.
“We don’t want to attract data centers into the area if they’re going to pollute, if they’re going to raise rates on everyone else,” said state Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, who co-chairs the Energy and Technology Committee.
— John Moritz, Energy & Environment Reporter
Raised salaries for UConn Police
UConn police officers testified in support of a proposal requiring UConn to align their salaries with those of city and state police departments and to create an “education benefit” like tuition reimbursement or fee waivers.
UConn Police Chief Gene Labonte said the force had lost 67 officers since 2020. He said average starting salaries of departments where officers transferred to were anywhere from $10,000 to $22,000 higher than starting salaries at UConn.
“They love the environment they work in … but at the end of the day they have to make ends meet,” Labonte told lawmakers on Thursday.
— Emilia Otte, Justice Reporter
A new insurance commissioner
Josh Hershman, Gov. Ned Lamont’s nominee to be the next commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Insurance, testified before the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee on Thursday.
Hershman has been serving as interim commissioner following Andrew Mais’s retirement in November. He previously served as deputy commissioner at the agency from 2019 to 2022. Hershman told legislators that his priorities include affordability, understanding how insurers are using artificial intelligence and getting more carriers on the state’s health insurance exchange, Access Health CT.
— Katy Golvala, Health Reporter