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Tow trucks lined up in front of the Legislative Office Building ahead of a Transportation Committee hearing including two towing-related bills on March 10, 2025. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror

A bill that aims to make sure drivers have the chance to get their towed vehicles back from towing companies gained final passage in the Connecticut Senate Monday, just days before this year’s legislative session comes to an end.

The changes come after more than a year of reporting by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica on how Connecticut’s towing laws came to favor towing companies over drivers, often at the expense of low-income residents.

Senate Bill 413 will allow towing companies to sell vehicles only if they are at least 15 years old and after 30 days have passed. Previously, the sales process could begin for lower-cost vehicles after only 15 days — one of the shortest windows in the country. This left it up to towing companies to determine the value of the vehicle.

Transportation Committee co-Chair Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, D-Ridgefield, who introduced the bill in the House Monday, said lawmakers sought to fulfill a promise “to help consumers and towers reach fair and workable processes.”

The committee’s ranking Republican, Rep. Kathy Kennedy, R-Milford, said, “If anyone has had their vehicle towed — I have not — it can be quite a nightmare.”

CT Mirror and ProPublica found that under the old system many people who couldn’t afford to quickly pay towing fees lost their cars. The reporting also found that many towing companies valued vehicles much lower than their estimated retail values and sold them quickly.

(The series, “On the Hook,” won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting on Monday, CT Mirror’s first award in the competition.)

Last year, the legislature passed an overhaul of the nearly century-old law. This year’s bill builds on that work and comes after recommendations from a DMV-led working group that met through last year.

The group ultimately didn’t come to an agreement, but the DMV issued their own recommendations, including the creation of the portal.

S.B. 413 also addresses other DMV-related issues such as regulating young drivers and parking, and it requires the DMV to create a portal with information about towed vehicles. The goal is to make it easier for people to locate their vehicles and get them back.

The legislation also included provisions on accessible parking passes, e-bikes and e-scooters, bridges shared between municipalities and car rental fees, incorporation provisions from several other bills that passed out of committee, Berger-Girvalo said.

The Senate gave near-unanimous approval to the bill last week, and the House voted 147-2 in favor Monday.

It now heads to Gov. Ned Lamont for his signature.

Angela is CT Mirror’s first AI Data Reporter / Product Developer. She is focused on developing AI methods to improve the CT Mirror’s research and reporting, using categorization, text-parsing, and other emerging technologies to provide even wider news coverage across the state of Connecticut. After fact-checking for CNN, Angela produced polls for the AP-NORC Center and worked on the 2024 VoteCast election model. She holds a B.A from Harvard and is originally from London, England.

Ginny is CT Mirror's children's issues and housing reporter. She covers a variety of topics ranging from child welfare to affordable housing and zoning. Ginny grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas' Lemke School of Journalism in 2017. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she covered housing, homelessness, and juvenile justice on the investigations team. Along the way Ginny was awarded a 2019 Data Fellowship through the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. She moved to Connecticut in 2021.