The following article was first published in the Hartford Business Journal. It is reposted here with the permission of the authors. It’s been nine months since Connecticut’s sweeping new data privacy law to protect consumers took effect, after lawmakers made the decision that due to inaction in Congress, the state should pass its own law to protect consumer data. By all indications, Connecticut businesses impacted by the new law seem to be taking it seriously in terms of compliance, with some even going above and beyond what is required. This is good news. Having this sweeping law on the books ..read more

In a vote with costly implications for small businesses, the state House approved a sweeping expansion of Connecticut’s paid sick leave mandate April 25. HB 5005, one of four paid sick leave measures introduced this legislative session, mandates that all Connecticut employers provide up to 40 hours of annual leave. Current law, which took effect in 2011 and was the first such mandate in the country, requires that businesses with 50 or more employees in designated service occupations provide paid sick leave. HB 5005 passed on an 88-61 vote after almost six hours of debate, with nine Democrats—J ..read more

The state Senate passed sweeping legislation April 24 regulating artificial intelligence, criminalizing deceptive synthetic media in elections and the nonconsensual dissemination of synthetic intimate information, and creating a number of AI-related workforce development programs. SB 2, which if enacted will be the first statute in the country regulating AI applications developed and deployed by private industry, was approved on a party line vote, with all Republicans opposed. Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford), the bill’s chief proponent, led floor debate on both the amendment and underlying ..read more

A bipartisan bill that takes a first-in-the-nation approach to home ownership has stalled in a key legislative committee. HB 5344 creates a first-time home buyers savings account, designed to incentivize home ownership and address one of the factors driving the state’s labor shortage. The bill was referred to the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee April 8 after drawing unanimous support last month from the Banking Committee. However, with limited budget changes now expected this session, HB 5344 joined dozens of other bills in meeting an unfortunate fate in the Finance Committee.&nbs ..read more

The state Senate sent legislation targeting the use and growth of artificial intelligence to the legislature’s Judiciary Committee with significant changes April 17. If enacted, SB 2 will be the first statute in the country that establishes sweeping regulations for AI applications developed and deployed by private industry. Despite major changes since it was approved by the General Law Committee last month, the bill’s general regulatory framework remains intact. Sections 1 through 8 still establish a number of reporting requirements for developers and deployers who utilize “High-Risk AI”—essen ..read more

Legislation designed to address Connecticut’s disconnected youth crisis drew unanimous support from the Transportation Committee April 8. HB 5213 was referred to the committee after earlier winning bipartisan approval from the legislature’s Education Committee. The bill, which was supported by CBIA, aims to re-engage youth who are at risk of not graduating high school, are not enrolled in school, or have limited educational and career options. HB 5213 incorporates a data sharing initiative through state and local boards of education, while partnering with community organizations to work with d ..read more

“When we can make a genetic diagnosis, we can understand much better how to take care of the patient,” says Connecticut Children’s Dr. Louisa Kalsner. This episode of the CBIA BizCast is the second of a two-part discussion on a key issue in Connecticut and across the country—whole genome sequencing. In this episode Paul Pescatello, CBIA senior counsel and executive director of the Connecticut Bioscience Growth Council speaks with Dr. Adam Matson and Dr. Louisa Kalsner from Connecticut Children’s.  Matson is a neonatologist and lead researcher for genomic sequencing in the neonatal and pe ..read more

Legislation banning a range of noncompete agreements stalled earlier this month despite gaining approval from the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. HB 5269, which the Labor Committee approved in March on an 8-4 party line vote, made noncompete and exclusivity agreements unenforceable under certain conditions. However, the bill was referred by the House to the Judiciary Committee, which did not act on it before its deadline for reporting legislation, effectively killing the measure for this year. HB 5269 made noncompete agreements unenforceable unless restricted to one year or ..read more

The state legislature’s Appropriations Committee held its final meeting to act on bills April 4. In an uncharacteristic move, the committee did not act on adjustments to the current two-year budget proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont.  Instead, the committee will allow the current budget to be the baseline for continuing negotiations.   Committee co-chairs Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Baltic) and Rep. Toni Walker (D-New Haven) highlighted the need to continue to focus on higher education, education, and nonprofit funding with the very limited available state dollars left.   Ranking mem ..read more

The legislature’s Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee wrapped up its committee work this week, advancing 26 bills to the House and Senate ahead of the April 4 reporting deadline. The committee did not produce an adjusted revenue plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The unusual move comes on the heels of an announcement earlier in the week that majority party legislative leaders opted to not make budget adjustments this session. Any adjustments required adopting revised downward projections for revenue and budget cuts to fall within the state’s spending cap to reflect cost overruns and requir ..read more