News Laws, Reading Challenge, and more

June 28, 2024


 
View this email in your browser
Dear Neighbor,

Several new laws that address many issues aimed at improving our great state will become effective on July 1.

New laws include mandatory video cameras at absentee drop boxes as part of sweeping legislation to ensure election security, allowing firearm sellers access to the arrest records of potential buyers under 21, prohibiting the selling of a person's health data without their consent, and requiring the departments of Social Services and Public Health to post a reporting tool on their websites that use a five-star system to compare nursing homes.

Additional laws include requiring social media companies to comply following a request to unpublish and delete accounts held by minors, and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) will have a mobile crisis-response vehicle available 24-7.

We also held a special session to tighten up a few loopholes, including one that avoids a motor vehicle tax increase for commercial vehicles. You can access the new laws that will go into effect on July 1 by clicking the button below.
New Laws Taking Effect July 1, 2024

Lastly, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your calls, emails, and testimony at public hearings. They had a direct influence on these new laws. I encourage you to continue sharing your views and make your voice heard during the legislative process.
 
This week Connecticut launched the 2024 Governor's Summer Reading Challenge, a statewide program that encourages students K-12 to read books over the summer!

The theme this year is "Read, Renew, Repeat."

Each year the program recognized the highest percentage of the total school student population that participated in reading activities over the summer months - let's show them what our district has to offer and get to the top of that list!

For more information and resources on this year's challenge, including student journals and district reporting forms, click

here.
 
Part of #PRIDE month is reflecting on your history.

During the 1950s, continued oppression resulted in many LGBTQ people in Connecticut being arrested for moral offenses or institutionalized as mentally ill, subjected to brutal “conversion” therapies. Yet there was a growing resistance to returning to the solitary, isolated lives many had known before World War II.

Gay and lesbian bars provided sanctuaries and could be found in all corners of the state. Supportive groups and movements emerged, such as Project H and the Kalos Society. Inspired by the civil rights and feminist movements, as well as the Stonewall riots of 1969, Connecticut’s LGBTQ population began to come out of the shadows and demand a place in society.
 
Sincerely,

Juan Candelaria
State Representative
Facebook Facebook
Website Website
Email Email

Forward to a friend | Unsubscribe from this list | Update subscription preferences