From bears to mushrooms to phones in schools, these bills failed to pass the CT legislature

CT Insider – Friday, June 6, 2025
By Alex Putterman

Connecticut’s legislative session ended Wednesday night, and while plenty of meaningful bills cleared both the Senate and House of Representatives, other high-profile proposals did not.

Here are some of the bills whose advocates will have to try again next year.

‘Just cause’ evictions

One of the marquee housing proposals of the session, which would have barred most landlords from booting residents after their leases expire without “just cause” for doing so, died without a vote in either chamber.

The proposal drew support from tenants, who say landlords currently have too much power over renters, but fierce opposition from landlords, who say they should be allowed to decide whether to renew tenants’ leases.

Bear hunting

Connecticut’s Senate wanted to legalize hunting of black bears. The House of Representatives preferred a study to examine ways of addressing the animals’ growing numbers statewide, including a possible hunt but also various non-lethal methods.

In the end, lawmakers passed nothing, allowing the session to end Wednesday without any bear-related legislation at all.

Limiting phones in schools

An education bill that would have required each school district in the state to adopt a policy limiting the use of cell phones and other “smart” devices easily passed the House last month but never came up for a vote in the Senate.

Additionally, the bill would have banned active-shooter simulations, eliminated waivers for the state’s new kindergarten cutoff and extended a pause in enforcement of the state law regarding racial balance in schools.

AI regulation

A broad bill aimed at regulating artificial intelligence passed the Senate but never came up for a vote in the House as Gov. Ned Lamont repeatedly vowed to veto it.

Components of the legislation, including some basic consumer protections, wound up passing within other bills, but most of the sharper regulations ultimately did not.

Decriminalizing ‘magic mushrooms’

Late in the session, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill that would have decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms, reducing penalties for possession from potential jail-time to a $150 fine.

The Senate never took up the bill, however.

Capital gains tax, child tax credit

The legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee’s proposal for a new capital gains tax did not make it into the final state budget, amid opposition from Lamont.

Nor did the committee’s proposed child tax credit — though lawmakers did approve a $250 annual payment to poor working families that functions similarly to a child tax credit.

Restricting private equity control of hospitals

A bill that would have sharply limited private equity control of hospitals and other medical institutions passed out of the Public Health Committee but never came up for a vote in either legislative chamber.

The proposal came after Prospect Medical Holdings, which owns three Connecticut hospitals, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, leaving the facilities’ futures uncertain.

Protecting multi-family housing

A bill that would have barred towns and cities from banning multi-family zoning passed out of multiple committees and cleared the House of Representatives 94-54 but never came up for a vote in the Senate.

The proposal was designed to target towns that repeatedly extend moratoria on multi-family housing, creating what some advocates see as effectively a ban.
Open containers, DUI threshold

Lawmakers once again declined to alter the state’s law allowing open alcohol containers in cars, leaving Connecticut as one of few states where motor vehicle passengers can drink alcohol.

They also opted against lowered the state’s DUI threshold from .08 to .05, another perennial proposal. Some legislators thought this could be the year for a change, in light of an ongoing spike in traffic deaths.

Safe injection sites

A provision that would have allowed for drug consumption at safe injection sites was stripped from a sweeping public health bill after Lamont threatened to veto.

The broader bill then ran out of time in the Senate and never came up for a vote, though components on water fluoridation and reproductive health were included in the budget bill legislators passed this week.

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