Here Are Numerous New CT Laws That Can Change Your Life

CONNECTICUT — More than six dozen new laws are set to trigger, in whole or in part, in Connecticut on July 1. Here are a few of the bigger wave-makers:

The state's biennial budget will go into effect July 1. Although it is still waiting for Gov. Ned Lamont's signature, he's previously praised the spending plan as a "balanced, sensible budget that is under the spending cap." It calls for a $27.2 billion spend next year and another $28.6 billion in fiscal 2026-27.

Highlights of the spending plan include $3.5 billion for K–12 education in FY 2026, with an increase to $3.59 billion in FY 2027. $200 million in new special education grants are included across both years, and more than $400 million annually to the Office of Early Childhood. Medicaid funding surpasses $3.7 billion in FY 2026 and $3.95 billion in FY 2027,

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities will receive over $478 million in FY 2026, rising to more than $502 million in the next fiscal year. More than $129 million is earmarked in FY 2026 for housing and homelessness services, increasing to $143 million in FY 2027. The Special Transportation Fund exceeds $2.29 billion in FY 2026 and $2.41 billion in FY 2027, with more than $600 million annually supporting bus and rail operations statewide.

Also awaiting the governor's signature, but expected to go into effect next month, is a sweeping $9.72 billion bond package, for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, authorizing state borrowing to fund capital projects in transportation, education, housing, economic development and climate resilience. Highlights there include $1.47 billion annually to the Department of Transportation for roads, bridges and rail improvements; $704 million in FY 2026 and $776 million in FY 2027 for school building projects; and $315 million over two years for UConn and UConn Health Center infrastructure.

Absentee ballot boxes become more secure in the new month. Video surveillance at drop-boxes will be mandatory. The law also requires that all the recordings be made public. The prompt for the new legislation was 2023's absentee ballot scandal in Bridgeport.

HB 6892, which establishes limits on rental charge increases and updates oversight by the Fair Rent Commissions, also kicks in on July 1.

Expect Connecticut school children to be much better versed in Asian American and Pacific Islander history, once a new law mandating AAPI studies is added to the state’s existing required social studies curriculum, starting this fall. Civics and media literacy — "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with media in all forms by understanding the role of media in society" — also get the mandate treatment via a 2023 law that goes into effect July 1.

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Price gouging — selling, renting, or leasing an item at an amount that represents an "unconscionably excessive price" — will no longer be legal in Connecticut. The new controls are provisions in SB 3. Most of that law won't go into effect until next year, but lawmakers carved out the price gouging protection for July 1, 2025.

If you have found yourself tied into knots trying to share your e- or audiobooks, consider the plight of your local library. The legislature in Hartford has, and from those deliberations arose a new law making it illegal for Connecticut libraries to contract with publishers that place simultaneous restrictions on the loan period of an ebook and the number of times people can borrow it. The catch here is the law will only be enforced if one or more states with a total or combined population of 7 million enact similar laws.