Legislation

We encourage the committee to amend Senate Bill 846, An Act Concerning the Municipal Gain, the Preparation of Utility Poles and Enterprise Funds for Municipal Broadband Services to require that municipal broadband services comply with network neutrality policies and to support the amended bill.

The ACLU-CT strongly supports a free and fair voting system to uphold the foundational cornerstone of our democracy: the right to vote. We therefore support these measures, which would provide more people with the opportunity to participate in Connecticut elections.

By passing this bill, Connecticut would join Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and ten other states plus the District of Columbia in affording people on parole their rights to vote.

The ACLU-CT strongly encourages the legislature to support House Bill 5563 and to expand it to include training about all people in the criminal justice system living with mental health and PTSD issues.

Under a statewide electronic tolling system, Connecticut tolls would capture sensitive information about millions of drivers. Without rules to restrict how the government stores, collects, shares, sells, or keeps this information, it could be used to hurt people who travel through our state.

Reducing or setting limits to the risk reduction credit program (“program”) is poor public policy, as it will make Connecticut less safe, contribute to costly prison overcrowding, make Connecticut's prisons more dangerous, and expose the state to civil rights lawsuits.

If amended to require that municipal broadband services follow net neutrality policies, this bill would protect the free speech rights of Connecticut residents by providing an alternative to internet service providers that choose not to continue to follow critical network neutrality policies.

H.B. 6921 is the opportunity for Connecticut to prevent discrimination against someone based solely on their criminal record in employment, housing, public education and accommodations, insurance, credit transactions, government programs and services, and economic development programs.