Concepts from over two dozen pieces of different legislation were incorporated into an omnibus bonding bill passed by the legislature in May.
The legislature’s Office of Legislative Research (OLR) released a bill tracking report on July 16 detailing bill concepts that did not make it out of their originating committee but were incorporated in other legislation passed during the General Assembly’s 2024 regular session and June Special Session. At a minimum, the tracked bills were fully drafted and had a public hearing. The reports tracked legislative concepts that had language either specifically incorporated into another bill or where a similar concept was incorporated into another bill but the language did not exactly match.
At least 122 different bills were incorporated into 33 other pieces of legislation that have since become law.
HB 5524, an omnibus bonding bill that Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law at the beginning of June incorporated concepts from 26 different bills. In some cases, it incorporated other bills almost completely.
HB 5347, which authorized various school construction grant commitments and made projects to school building project statutes, had all but three of its 17 sections incorporated.
Concepts that made it into the bonding bill include: $486.4 million in authorized funds for 11 school construction grant projects, plus an additional $73.9 million towards three reauthorized grant projects; a 15 percent reimbursement rate bonus for certain elementary and childhood education projects; a requirement that school building committees include the school board chair; and a prohibition on construction projects being prioritized by the Department of Administrative Services if project plans do not include gender-neutral single-user bathrooms.
Other legislative concepts incorporated into the bill include: an allowance for taxpayers in certain municipalities to claim property tax exemptions after the filing deadline has passed, a nine-member working group to examine state tax expenditures and propose reforms that would eliminate redundant or obsolete parts of the tax code, an allowance for municipalities to use noise cameras to issue citations to vehicles, and a requirement that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) create a docket to create a program to encourage energy storage installation at public schools.
In several cases, the majority or entirety of bills were replaced by concepts from other bills by legislative floor votes.
HB 5474 was originally a one-section bill requiring municipalities to report on residential building permit applications to the State Responsible Growth Coordinator.
But after several floor amendments adopted in both legislative chambers, it became a broader 22-section housing bill, with sections touching on municipal approval for housing development, regulation assistance, and regulation of short-term rentals.
In total, concepts from 12 other bills were incorporated with all but 7 sections containing ideas pulled from other legislation. Five separate bills were incorporated in their entirety.
Ideas pulled from other legislation included: a requirement that municipalities allow eligible vacant nursing homes to multifamily housing, a requirement that the Office of Policy and Management prioritize plans for low- and moderate-income housing when considering agency proposals for state-owned land, and a cap on the maximum daily penalty municipalities can impose under blight ordinances.
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The definition of bad government: “ At least 122 different bills were incorporated into 33 other pieces of legislation that have since become law.” “ In total, concepts from 12 other bills were incorporated with all but 7 sections containing ideas pulled from other legislation. Five separate bills were incorporated in their entirety.”