With hours left in the 2017 regular session of the Connecticut legislature - it became apparent that lawmakers who were gathered in Hartford would not complete action to pass a budget plan and a special session was imminent.

In the days ahead of those final hours of the regular session, however, members of Newtown's legislative delegation, freshman State Representative Will Duff (R-2), along with Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106), Representative JP Sredzinski (R-112), and Senator Tony Hwang (R-28), each issued several advisories that drew attention to some of the initiatives they either proposed, sponsored, or were supporting.

Rep Duff represents a number of Newtown neighborhoods in the Dodgingtown area, while Rep Sredzinski's district overlays several areas of Botsford and southern Newtown. Sen Hwang represents the communities of Newtown, Easton, Fairfield, Weston, and Westport.

Just one day before the session's close, Rep Bolinsky issued a stern observation after he voted in strong opposition to what the Newtown lawmaker described as "a hastily introduced House Resolution that purported to implement a lock on Connecticut's Special Transportation Fund (STF)."

Rep Bolinsky contended that under current law, the STF is designed to fund state highway and public transportation projects. It is supported by a number of revenue streams, including the motor fuels tax, motor carrier road tax, petroleum products gross earnings tax, certain motor vehicle receipts and fees (e.g., driver's license fees), and surcharges on motor vehicle-related fines and penalties.

According to the state Office of Legislative Research (OLR), by law, money in the fund must be used first for debt service on special tax obligation bonds and to pay for certain transportation projects. Remaining funds must be used to pay for (1) general obligation bonds issued for transportation projects, (2) budget appropriations for the departments of Transportation and Motor Vehicles, (3) Department of Energy and Environmental Protection boating regulation and enforcement, and (4) the Department of Social Services' transportation for employment independence program.

The OLR report goes on to say that the STF is a perpetual fund and the use of STF funds is restricted to transportation purposes, including paying debt service on state transportation obligations. The legislature is prohibited from passing any law authorizing the use of STF funds for any purpose other than transportation, but under the principle of "legislative entrenchment," it is unclear whether these statutory provisions are enforceable with regard to future legislatures.

"This false lockbox is more like a colander because it does not effectively lock-in the funds for infrastructure maintenance, improvements, expansions, and safety upgrades, as taxpayers were led to expect. The reality is, a similar measure was deliberated and failed in December of 2015. Today's resolution was another bite at the apple but, to demonstrate that this is a bad apple, consider that the majority party used the 2015 resolution to sweep $35 million from the STF for unrelated services and programs not related to transportation projects, to close a prior deficit," said Rep Bolinsky.

He reminded constituents that the STF has a long history been raided by previous legislatures in order to fill budget gaps, accelerating our state's roads and bridges falling into an alarming state of disrepair and pushing their limits of capacity.

For five years, Rep Bolinsky said he has been proposing and advocating for the concept of a fully protected transportation funding lockbox, along with many fellow Republican colleagues in the General Assembly. His proposals have always been tailored to safeguarding state transportation infrastructure construction funds.

"I am completely supportive of transportation dollars being earmarked for transportation projects only," said Rep Bolinsky. "Deferring improvements and maintenance is a dangerous, unwise way to balance budgets but it has become an irresponsible part of the way the legislature has treated the STF in the past. I cannot support a measure that amends the Constitution of Connecticut and codifies irresponsibility on the part of the governor and legislative majority."

After the House Resolution passed on a party-line vote, it reverted to the state Senate, which approved the measure in a vote along party lines ahead of the session's end at midnight June 7.

Rep Bolinsky also hailed the passage of his proposal, HB 6041, An Act Permitting Nonprofit Organizations to Sell Raffle Tickets Online. The bill garnered significant bipartisan support when it came before the House for consideration and before being forwarded to the Senate.

Rep Bolinsky said the intention of this bill is not to create a new channel of "for-profit" gaming. The bill, however, creates a means for local nonprofit organization, such as the Newtown Lions Club, to collect charitable dollars online for local use.

"Several nonprofit entities will benefit from this," he said. "The Newtown Lions Club approached me with the solution to this issue. With diminishing government programs resulting from our tight budgets and an economy that has more and more competition for charitable giving resources, we can serve the public good by allowing registered 501(c)(3) charities to sell fundraising raffle tickets on their websites," explained Bolinsky. "This bill poses no threat to our state's existing gaming industry."

Rep Bolinsky went on to note, currently, nonprofit organizations are unable to sell raffle tickets on their own websites. This would just provide another mechanism in which these entities can solicit donations, which are then immediately used for projects and services within the local community.

"There are too many restrictive mandates on our towns and the nonprofits that serve them," Rep Bolinsky said. "This bill provides a new avenue to bolster qualified charitable organizations, extend their reach and bring additional dollars to do good in our community."

Human Trafficking Penalties

A bill co-sponsored by Rep Duff designed to strengthen Connecticut's Human Trafficking Laws has unanimously passed through both the House and Senate. The legislation aims to protect the victims of human trafficking while expanding and increasing the penalties on those individuals who perpetrate that crime.

In March, three men were charged in connection with a human trafficking ring that was operating out of Danbury. According to the arrest warrant, one of the men for almost 20 years sought out young men with varying degrees of psychological disabilities for the purpose of using these individuals for prostitution.

"In Connecticut, those caught trafficking people must and should be severely punished. This legislation carries the charge of a Class A felony, which means they can face up to 25 years in prison," said Rep Duff. "Additionally, this legislation takes a strong stand by changing the penalty for patronizing a minor who is being sold for sex to a Class A felony."

Rep Duff added, "Lets end this barbaric and inhuman practice in our state."

Gold Star Benefit

A proposal in the House of Representatives to allow towns to provide a property tax exemption to Gold Star parents or surviving spouse whose son, daughter, or spouse were killed in action was strongly supported by Rep Duff.

"Unfortunately, the Gold Star families are a casualty of war. Any small gesture or relief we can provide these families is important. The proposal permits towns to give these families a little extra financial relief due to the tragic loss of life," said Rep Duff.

SB-918, An Act Concerning a Municipal Option Property Tax Exemption for Gold Star Parents and Spouses, allows municipalities, with their legislative body's approval, to provide a property tax-exemption to a single parent or surviving spouse of a service member killed in action while performing active military duty with the US Armed Forces. A municipality may exempt up to $20,000 or ten percent of the property's assessed value.

The bill also grants municipalities a local option to implement a tax property exemption, for up to $25,000, to Gold Star parents. Gold Star parents are those whose son or daughter was killed in a war.

Under the bill, the US Armed Forces would include the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force and any reserve component of these branches, including the Connecticut National Guard.

Pharmacy Drop Boxes

Rep Sredzinski co-sponsored a bill that would allow Connecticut pharmacies to provide drop boxes for unused prescription drugs as an alternative to those found at police stations and urged public awareness as the bill heads for the Senate. The House of Representatives passed HB 5077, giving pharmacies the option to participate as a collection site for unused prescription drugs.

The final rule on the Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2014 expanded the authority of hospitals and retail pharmacies across the country to voluntarily maintain collection receptacles. However, action from the legislature is necessary, since current state law does not afford Connecticut pharmacies this option.

"I have been eagerly anticipating when the House would pass the bill because it is a positive step for our state to combat the opioid epidemic that has claimed so many lives and caused so much hardship for our families," said Rep Sredzinski.

"This law helps target unused or unwanted prescription drugs that are also narcotics and have the tendency to end up getting abused by either the patient or someone in their family when they are left around the house," he said. "We saw some troubling data from research and national collection initiatives that exposed how these leftover drugs are lying around the house or sold in underground markets. The goal is to promote a safe, convenient, and legal way to return these drugs to proper authorities so they don't end up on the street or abused by others who have access to them."

The DEA promotes the disposal of unwanted or expired medications yearly during National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day and other initiatives, which have reported collecting a total of 4,823,451 pounds of drugs in four years.

"As for practical considerations, pharmacies would be given an option of whether or not to offer this service and the receptacles would still be subject to regulations and protection under the law," added Rep Sredzinski. "It allows for an added convenience for people, especially in more rural areas, who may have to drive long distances to police stations just to return their unwanted prescription medication. It's an ordeal for many people so they end up postponing the trips and the drugs stay in the house.

"On the other hand, some others may feel uncomfortable returning narcotics directly to the police station for various reasons. Either way, any measure to reduce the amount of accessible narcotics in this state must be taken in order to avert tragedy," the Monroe lawmaker added.

Affordable Housing Law

Rep Sredzinski also supported successful legislation reforming Connecticut's affordable housing laws as "a win for towns in Connecticut." The bipartisan bill, HB 6880, passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night by a vote of 116-33.

The bill makes several critical reforms that will restore the ability of communities like Monroe and Newtown to make comprehensive planning decisions regarding development.

Among the provisions of the bill are: lowering the minimum number of housing unit equivalent (HUE) points smaller municipalities must obtain to qualify for a moratorium, making affordable housing moratoriums more achievable for midsize cities, and changing the definition of Median Income applicable to Incentive Housing Zone (IHZ) Program projects to conform to the state's 8-30g statutory requirements definition.

"This week was progress toward true affordable housing reform in the state of Connecticut," said Rep Sredzinski. "This is great news for smaller and midsize towns like Monroe and Newtown who struggle to reach the current high bar to achieve a moratorium on development. There have been too many instances of predatory developers taking advantage of towns by threatening to use the broken 8-30g provision to bypass local zoning boards. With this common-sense update to 8-30g, towns can regain more authority over local housing developments without undermining the Affordable Housing Act."

The proposal was moved to the State Senate for final legislative action before heading to the governor's desk for his signature.

Dyslexia And Hate Crimes

Sen Hwang supported House Bill 7254, An Act Requiring Special Education Teachers to Complete a Program of Study in Evidence-Based Structured Literacy Interventions for Students with Dyslexia. Having passed both the House and Senate, the bill went to the governor to be signed into law.

Sen Hwang said an educated workforce is one of the engines that drives the state's economy. Having dyslexia should not be a barrier to a child's future career and financial success.

"We are long past the days when students, parents, and educators interpret a learning disability as an inability to learn," Sen Hwang said. "We know that some children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities can be brilliantly successful. Our mission is to ensure that every child, regardless of any form of learning disability, fulfill their opportunity for success."

Sen Hwang said passage of the bill in both the House and Senate shows the state's commitment to meeting the education needs of Connecticut's children.

Sen Hwang also praised the Connecticut legislature's passage of a bill that will create the nation's strongest hate crime law. In a strong, bipartisan stand against hate crimes, legislators acted in solidarity with the Anti-Defamation League.

House Bill 5743, An Act Concerning Hate Crimes, passed both the state House of Representative and Senate and heads to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

Sen Hwang hailed the cooperation that led to the bill's passage. The bill adds crimes based on a person's gender to the list of hate crimes.

"The bipartisan cooperation on this bill means that when the specter of hate rears its ugly head in our communities, all of us will rise up against it," Sen Hwang said. "Intolerance and actions of hate can never be tolerated or ignored; this bill reflects the commitment and resolve of Connecticut residents to loudly say that hate is never acceptable under any circumstance. When someone becomes the target of a crime because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability, the very fabric and soul of our community is torn."

Among other provisions, Connecticut's proposal would:

*Increase penalties, making it a felony (instead of a misdemeanor) for committing a hate crime against a group of persons (instead of a specific individual).

*Increase the penalty to a Class C felony (from a Class D felony) for making a bomb threat or other threat of violence against a house of worship, religious community center, or other religious institution - or any day care facility - if the threat is made with the intent to terrorize another person or to cause the evacuation of the building or grounds. This puts the penalty for such bomb threats on par with threats made against schools.

*Increase the penalty for desecrating any house of worship or any religious cemetery from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C felony if there is more than $10,000 in damage, or a Class D felony if there is less than $10,000 in damage.

*Establish a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000 for individuals convicted of hate crimes, and require such fines to be deposited into a fund for anti-hate crime education initiatives.

Reps Bolinsky, Sredzinski, and Duff are inviting Newtown residents to a wrap-up forum on the completed regular legislative session, Thursday, June 22, from 6:30 to 8 pm, at Cyrenius H. Booth Library meeting room. The lawmakers plan to discuss the issues that shaped the 2017 Legislative Session.