2018 Legislative Preview

January 26, 2018

By: Senator John A. Kissel

On February 7th the General Assembly will convene for the opening day of the 2018 Legislative Session. While there are many important issues facing Connecticut I thought it would be beneficial for my constituents to remain updated about the important issues that the General Assembly may face in the upcoming session. Especially as it pertains to a few of the Legislative Committees that I serve on.

As many of you know I am the Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee. This year there are two areas of law, among others, that may be addressed within the committee. The first is juvenile delinquency adjudications, by law when a child is adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court, the court may take certain actions. The legislature may take additional action this session to provide alternatives for the highest risk delinquent children. The next topic that Judiciary may take up is sex offender registration, Special Act 15-2 requires the Sentencing Commission to take a comprehensive look at the registration, management and sentencing of sexual offenders in Connecticut. The legislature may consider the report’s recommendations and related proposals this session.

I am also the Vice-Chair of the Children’s Committee. One topic that has continued to be discussed in this committee is concussions in youth sports. The state’s concussion laws require school coaches to receive training on concussions and to follow certain protocols when an athlete incurs a head injury. Because of concerns over the long-term effects of concussions it may be possible that the legislature will examine requirements beyond intramural and interscholastic sports.

These are just a few of the legislative issues that the General Assembly might take up during this legislative session. One area that is especially important to me, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, is our current budget deficit and ways in which we can make government more efficient – that is also an issue I will be focused on during this legislative session.

Are there legislative issues that are important to you? Contact me today at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you soon!