These Are The New Laws Gov. Lamont Is Proposing For CT: What You Need To Know

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont’s goals this year range from boosting the state’s ability to weather severe storms to strengthening laws against hate crimes.

Lawmakers will consider Lamont’s proposals during their current legislative session, which runs through June.

Lamont is scheduled to deliver his annual budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday, Feb. 5, when he will detail his spending plan and legislative proposals.

Lamont wants lawmakers to consider initiatives aimed at boosting the state’s ability to withstand and recover from severe weather. He pointed to storm-related flooding and brush fires in Connecticut in recent years.

“It is urgent that we take the steps necessary to make sound investments that harden our infrastructure, defend our natural resources, and enact the protections we need to save human lives, property, and livelihood,” Lamont said.

According to Lamont, many state homeowners impacted by floods have been surprised to learn their insurance wouldn’t cover flood-related damage. He wants to require banks, mortgage companies, and insurance companies, brokers and agents to notify homeowners about the availability of flood insurance when they sign their mortgages.

Lamont also wants to increase opportunities for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to review development plans in coastal and flood-prone areas. Lamont proposes prohibiting state investments in public infrastructure in high-risk flood areas.

Lamont on Monday said his budget proposal will include an increase in funding for municipalities to provide special education. For fiscal year 2027, Lamont recommends putting an additional $40 million toward the Excess Cost Grant, which subsidizes high-cost placements for students with the most need.

Lamont said he wants to create a new High-Quality Special Education Incentive Grant program. It would incentivize municipalities to provide special education programming in-district or on a regional basis, instead of through more costly out-of-district placements. Lamont wants to allocate $10 million from the General Fund and $4 million in bond funds to support that program.

On Thursday, Lamont announced he wants lawmakers to strengthen the state’s ability to prosecute hate crimes. He recommends consolidating the state’s existing hate crimes laws into one new hate crimes chapter of the Connecticut General Statutes. According to Lamont, this would make it “easier for police and prosecutors to charge and prosecute criminals with these crimes.”

“Connecticut has led the nation in the adoption of hate crimes laws, and that is a good thing, but in order for them to be effective and for police and prosecutors to be able to use them, these laws need to be streamlined within our statutes,” Lamont said.

In January, Lamont said he will ask lawmakers to consider increasing oversight of significant health care system transactions, such as changes in ownership and mergers.

Lamont said more of the state’s healthcare system is now owned or managed by out-of-state, for-profit companies.

State officials have been monitoring the financial woes of Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc., a parent company of three Connecticut hospitals, which is in bankruptcy proceedings, for example.

Lamont said updating the state’s oversight processes would help ensure the stability of the state’s healthcare system.

Lamont plans to present a bill that would establish a formal review process in the Office of the Attorney General and Office of Health Strategy (OHS) that would look for “red flags” in large financial healthcare transactions. He also wants to allow the Attorney General’s office to impose conditions on transactions to prevent harm to the healthcare system, or to refer the application to the OHS for further evaluation and action.