Travis Simms

The bill we passed:

• Prevents a tax increase that would otherwise take effect this fall by continuing to classify commercial vehicles as motor vehicles, and clarifying current law, which allows municipalities to establish mill rates on motor vehicles that are lower than mill rates on real property and personal property other than motor vehicles
• Promotes transparency and competition in municipally administered school construction projects by restoring a ban on construction managers self-performing subcontracting work
• Makes Connecticut a more attractive place for innovative financial services companies to establish a significant presence by expressly allowing banks holding a certain charter to accept and hold non-retail deposits and secure deposit insurance from the FDIC and by updating the name of that charter
• Reduces the administrative costs of the state’s publicly available retirement savings program by authorizing the State Comptroller to enter into cooperative agreements with other states that have similar programs
• Provides more certainty to the state’s vibrant insurance industry by establishing that the annual assessment on domestic insurance companies to fund certain insurance-related state offices and programs should be calculated based on those companies’ total taxes, prior to any adjustment for tax credits, from the year immediately preceding the prior calendar year instead of the prior calendar year itself
• Relieves employers, including tax-exempt organizations, that kept employees on payroll throughout the pandemic and received the federal Employee Retention Credit from the burden of interest payments attributable to the timing and complexities of a new federal program rather than any willful underpayment by the taxpayer
• Supports the preservation and redevelopment of historic properties by streamlining the process by which the State Historic Preservation Office reviews those properties
• Amends the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority to permit the Authority to acquire water companies outside its current service area

By passing this bill in special session now, we prevented a tax increase this fall and got other minor and timely adjustments signed into law. 

HB 5491 establishes a property tax exemption for Veterans with a service-connected permanent and total disability rating as determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The exemption will be used for a home that is a primary residence, but if a qualified Veteran does not own a home, the exemption will apply to a single motor vehicle they own.

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. 

As always, feel free to call me at 1-800-842-8267 or email me at Travis.Simms@cga.ct.gov if you have any questions or concerns. Also, please like my official Facebook Page for regular updates.

Sincerely,

Travis Simms
State Representative