New Laws This Week

From the Hartford Courant:

New laws that take effect in Connecticut this week will impact liquor stores, bakeries, boat owners and numerous other residents, businesses and state agencies.

Here is a rundown of selected laws that took effect July 1.

Bakery Penalties: A new license for food-manufacturing establishments adds a penalty for bakeries that violate bakery laws and extends those penalties to food manufacturer establishments.

Ballot Interference: A revised law increases the penalties for interfering with voters casting absentee ballots to $500 or up to five years in prison.

Beer, Brew Pub License: A new license covers beer manufacturers and brew pubs, with an annual fee of $1,500.

Birth To 3: Revises a law that prohibits payments for birth-to-three services from applying against any maximum lifetime or annual limit in insurance policies. The revisions prohibit payments from causing a loss of benefits due to a policy limit, an insured child or family member to be denied health insurance coverage, and a policy rescission or cancellation.

Blood Sugar Testing: A series of laws concerning students in public schools being allowed to test their blood sugar levels whenever they need to do so, making training available for automatic external defibrillators, and allowing trained school personnel besides nurses to administer glucagon to students in emergencies.

Boat Inspections: Boat owners must inspect their vessels for invasive aquatic species.

Colleges And Partner Violence: Public and private colleges must adopt policies on sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and provide information to student victims about their options for assistance, disciplinary procedures, and possible sanctions.

Custody Court Orders: A court cannot enter a final order modifying child-custody or visitation until 90 days after a parent who has been deployed or mobilized by the military is released, unless the deploying parent agrees to the modification.

Interior Designers: Interior designers must be registered and include their license number in any advertising they do.

Judges’ Pay: A 12-member Commission on Judicial Compensation must be created to recommend judicial compensation.

Juvenile Age Raised: The maximum age for juvenile court jurisdiction rises from 16 to 17.

License Plates: The fee to obtain a low-number license plate rises from $65 to $69.

‘One Free Item’: Certain items are now specifically covered by a law that allows consumers to receive an item for free, up to a $20 value, if an electronic scanner charges a price higher than the posted price. Those new items are commodities without bar codes (including retail foods weighed at purchase), and cases where the sales price of a commodity with or without a bar code differs from the advertised price.

Package Stores: As part of the law that allowed Sunday alcohol sales, package stores beginning this week are allowed to sell fresh fruits used in preparation of mixed alcoholic beverages, cheese and crackers, and olives.

Pool Builders: Licensing penalties that apply to swimming pool builders with a license are extended to swimming pool builders and swimming pool maintenance and repair contractors who work without a license.

Racial Profiling: A new law, in response to racial-profiling concerns, temporarily suspends the requirement that municipal and state police record and report traffic-stop information while new, standardized reporting forms are being developed for use beginning next year.

Religious Symbols: No one may prevent a condo owner or lessee from displaying a religious item on their door.

School Bus License: State authorities must complete state and national criminal history records checks of applicants for school bus and student transportation vehicle license endorsements within 60 days.

Scream Rooms: When recording instances in which a child was physically restrained or placed in seclusion, local school boards with special-education students must say whether the seclusion complied with the child’s individual education program or whether the action was an emergency.

State Copying Costs: State agencies may only charge for the actual costs involved in providing documents to the public, including the time to research the request, and providing it to the public.

Training For Autistic Young Adults: The Office of Workforce Competitiveness, the Department of Education and the Board of Regents for Higher Education study ways to train and employ young adults with autism and report back to the General Assembly after January 1, 2013.

Veterans Pensions: Veteran’s pension benefits will no longer be used to determine eligibility for the state’s Medicare savings, medical assistance and energy assistance programs.

Young Children In Group Homes: The Department of Children and Families commissioner cannot place any child under age 6 in a group home unless the home is for children and their parents, of the child’s health needs require that he or she be there.

Zappers Illegal: Use of “zappers,” or any device that falsifies or deletes an electronic sales register, is made illegal.