As the Judiciary Committee has now reached its deadline for reporting out bills for the 2017 Session, I wanted to share with you some highlights of the bills we have passed out of Committee on key topics.

Lauding a Superior Court judge's ruling Wednesday, Representative Bob Godfrey said too many education dollars have gone to rich towns in Connecticut, at the expense of students living in cities like Danbury. Godfrey is looking forward to leading the legislature in making changes to the way Connecticut funds education.

Rep. Joe Gresko joins legislative colleagues at the State Capitol for Gov. Dannel Malloy's ceremonial signing of three bills into law. One of the new laws helps workers at private companies save for retirement. Another bill toughens the state's laws on human trafficking and the third one concerns pollinator health.

"This is an important next step in ensuring that people in the state of Connecticut are safe in their own homes,” Godfrey said after the House of Representatives passed legislation requiring gun owners to surrender their firearms within 24 hours after being served with a temporary restraining order in domestic violence cases. For more on passage of this legislation, read the CT Mirror news story.

There has been a dramatic rise in prescription drug abuse, and it is something that affects each and every town in Connecticut as well as this country. The legislation that I co-sponsored and that was passed by the House this week I hope will stem the tide. For more on this issue, read this Courant news story.

Joe Gresko takes the oath of office on the first day of the 2016 legislative session and is appointed to three major committees: Environment, Judiciary and Energy and Technology.

We need voices, help, interest and obvious demonstration to tell people that all children’s lives matter. I was proud to be part of the Juvenile Justice Reform March in New Haven.

Rep. Baker and Senator Ed Gomes are sponsoring a presentation from the Connecticut Pardon Team to help with the process of expungement of a criminal record.