From artificial intelligence to guns to facial recognition, nearly 100 new state laws will take effect this week that will directly impact Connecticut residents.
The new laws are designed to prevent arrests by federal agents at places of worship, schools and hospitals without a warrant, along with providing protections on data privacy and the use of facial recognition technology. The laws also cover banning the sale and distribution of semiautomatic pistols that can be easily converted to fire like machine guns and increasing penalties for driving violations in order to make the roads safer.
While some laws take effect with the new state budget on July 1 and others with the calendar year on Jan. 1, the bulk of the new laws changing state policies traditionally take effect on Oct. 1.
The following are some of the new laws:
Facial recognition
In the fast-changing world of technology, the state legislature passed a package of consumer protections and privacy laws related to facial recognition, artificial intelligence, chatbots, and surveillance pricing, among others.
Senate Bill 4 requires companies to post signs to let customers know that facial recognition technology is being used at a particular location so that consumers will be aware of the surveillance. The 39-page law also requires that customers must be provided with “a conspicuous hyperlink or quick response code directing them to the company’s facial recognition technology policy,” officials said.
State attorney general William Tong says Connecticut is ahead of the curve on trying to protect children and consumers.
“Connecticut was one of the first handful of states in the nation to pass a data privacy act. This is a major expansion,” Tong said. “It puts power back in the hands of all of us to control our own personal, confidential, highly sensitive information, including healthcare information.”
Tong added, “Big Tech is saying it themselves — they are in a warp-speed arms race to deploy ever more powerful, profitable and capable technology. They know what they are doing is reckless and potentially catastrophic, and they aren’t stopping. Connecticut is doing everything we can—through legislation and litigation—to protect our online privacy and safety. These laws going into effect are significant steps to protect our kids from dangerous chatbots, safeguard our privacy, and prevent unfair pricing practices.”
State Sen. James Maroney, a Milford Democrat who has worked on the issues since 2020, has spearheaded updates annually on data privacy and artificial intelligence — and he pledged to return to the state Capitol in 2027 to update the laws as technology evolves and new issues arise.
“This is a start. This is not a finish,” Maroney told reporters recently in Hartford. “This is not a ceiling. This is the floor. It’s just a start, and we know we have a lot more to do.”
Maroney added that many parents are unaware of the activities of their teens concerning the latest technology, leading the state to establish guardrails.
“Another statistic shows that almost one-third of teenagers are in an inappropriate relationship with a chatbot,” Maroney said. “It shouldn’t have been necessary for us to do this [with the new law], but we have to prevent the chatbots from leading children into sexually explicit conversations and inappropriate relationships.”
Regarding privacy, the new law bans the sale of a consumer’s geolocation data that shows precisely where they are and limits “surveillance pricing” that uses algorithms and personal information like a consumer’s browsing history in order to set different online prices for different customers for the same product. In addition, companies must disclose their use of artificial intelligence if the technology is used to screen applicants for jobs.
A semi-automatic pistol with a conversion device installed that makes it fully automatic is fired as four empty shell casings fly out of the weapon at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives National Services Center in 2023 in West Virginia. (Associated Press photo/Alex Brandon)
Glock switch
The biggest gun control law in recent years was a controversial measure to ban new pistols that can be easily converted to fire like automatic machine guns.
The measure, proposed by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, is designed to prohibit the future sale of convertible pistols in Connecticut that can be transformed into highly powerful weapons with “a simple Lego-sized switch,” known as a Glock switch, lawmakers said.
Lawmakers cautioned that the new law applies only to handguns that are manufactured after the law takes effect on Oct. 1 and would not impact any Glock handguns that have been previously owned by Connecticut residents before that date.
The bill passed in the state House of Representatives by 86-64 as 15 moderate Democrats joined with all Republicans against the measure. Democrats largely supported more gun control, while Republicans and gun advocates said the bill represented a direct violation of the Second Amendment on gun rights. The bill later passed in the state Senate by 22-11 along mostly party lines.
The nationwide issue has spread to Connecticut as Hartford police seized 51 Glock switches between 2023 and 2024 as the devices were found across the state. Nationally, more than 31,000 of the devices were recovered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives between 2019 and 2023, officials said.
Lamont’s four-page bill, known as House Bill 5043, outlaws the future sale, manufacturing, purchase, and importation of the convertible pistols in Connecticut.
After passing various gun laws through the years, Lamont said that Connecticut must react as the world of firearms and criminals is always evolving. In 2018, the state legislature passed a law that outlawed the possession and sale of bump stocks, along with trigger cranks and devices that make the gun operate like an automatic weapon. The law change was made after a shooter at a high-rise hotel in Las Vegas killed nearly 60 people and wounded hundreds at an outdoor concert by firing an estimated 90 rounds every 10 seconds.
“We put in place laws, and then they come up with new ways to come up and end-run the law,” Lamont said earlier this year. “These Glock-style switches are really dangerous.”
Lawmakers said that Glock, one of the largest gun manufacturers in the world, has already changed its design for some handguns that are sold in Europe. But others said that criminals would be able to avoid Connecticut’s law as they have in other jurisdictions by using artificial intelligence and 3D printers.
Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant
Deputy House Speaker pro tempore Bob Godfrey says the state has made major strides in gun safety laws over the past 37 years. Here, he speaks in 2018 with Democrat William Tong, who is now state attorney general, on the floor of the House.
ICE
One of the most controversial agencies in the federal government — the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency — has come under close scrutiny from state lawmakers as they say ICE agents have used excessive force around the country under Republican President Donald J. Trump.
In Connecticut, ICE agents detained more than 100 people recently in various cities, particularly Danbury.
Led by Lamont, who received a standing ovation from Democrats in February during his State of the State Address for criticizing ICE, Democrats passed a detailed law that allows citizens to sue federal immigration agents if they believe that their civil rights have been violated. In addition, Senate Bill 397 prevents all law enforcement officers, including from ICE, from wearing masks, except in limited situations.
Republicans responded that states have no authority over federal immigration policy or the actions of federal agents that include ICE, the FBI and others. As such, Republicans have predicted that Connecticut’s law will eventually be overturned in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice already filed a lawsuit in May against Connecticut, and the case is still pending.
ICE detained several people at Kennedy Park in Danbury. (Kaitlin McCallum/Hartford Courant)
House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford said the long tradition of law enforcement’s respect for avoiding arrests in churches had been carried down consistently for decades by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
“We said you can’t go into places of worship, you can’t interrupt critical medical care, and all students should be allowed to walk to school freely, be educated and feel safe in their classrooms,” Ritter said during the bill signing ceremony. “Only one administration, only one president decided to tear down those norms, tear down what had been precedents set by Republican and Democratic presidents. It’s hard to imagine how on Earth we can go from 40 years of stability and predictability in these cases in state enforcement and federal enforcement and rip it all down. It’s cruel, it’s unnecessary, and it’s wrong — and we respond here in Connecticut like we always do.”
Trump and his administration have touted arrests by ICE on the Department of Homeland Security’s website.
“Every day, the NICE men and women of ICE are putting their lives on the line to make America safe again,” Lauren Bis, the acting assistant secretary for public affairs, said earlier this year. “They arrested murderers, pedophiles, arsonists, and sex criminals. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
The measure passed by 91-53 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate on mostly party lines with Democrats in favor and Republicans against.
Reckless driving in work zones
Prompted by the actions of dangerous drivers on the road, the legislature also increased some fines and penalties to make driving safer.
Among those is that a driver will face a license suspension for passing a school bus at least three times. While drivers already face fines for going around a school bus with its red lights flashing, the repeat offenders will now be subject to losing their driving privileges.
“Distracted driving or illegally using a handheld cell phone in state highway work zones can be prosecuted as reckless driving,” state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw of Avon said in an email to constituents.
In addition, if large trucks ignore the governor’s warning to stay off the highways during a dangerous snowstorm, they will face fines up to $250 — rather than the current fine of $50.
The transportation package is designed to make the roads safer for passenger cars, trucks, and the crews that work on the roads.
State officials have undergone a years-long effort to cut down on traffic fatalities across the state. Fatalities dropped by 12% in 2025 as 274 individuals died on the roads, compared to 312 in 2024, officials said. But fatalities involving bicycles jumped by 67% and pedestrian deaths rose by 6% last year when compared with the state’s five-year average.
The numbers have fluctuated through the years. In 2022, the 366 overall deaths on the roads were the highest in 33 years. Another peak in 2022 was 73 pedestrian fatalities, compared to 55 pedestrians in 2019 and 2021 and 51 in 2023. Motorcycle deaths claimed 68, 66, and 62 lives from 2021 through 2023, up sharply from 49 in 2019.
Wrong-way crashes also peaked in 2022 with 13 accidents that led to 23 fatalities, the highest total by far in recent years. The total in 2023 dropped back down to 7 fatalities — still above the levels of four each in 2020 and 2021.
While the legislature has been working to make driving safer, officials say that high speeds have continued on the roads and highways.
On Friday, Lamont and fellow state employees were mourning the death of Elvin Hernandez, a 60-year-old state transportation department worker from Bridgeport who was killed in a work zone in Fairfield between exits 21 and 22 on Interstate 95 southbound. Lamont said the incident “never should have happened” on the highway.
“CTDOT workers face dangerous situations while performing their jobs because of drivers who aren’t paying attention to road conditions and speeding through work zones,” Lamont said in a statement. “I am imploring every single driver to show CTDOT and all other road maintenance workers and first responders respect and slow down whenever you see them working on our roads.”
Carl R. Chisem, president of the Connecticut Employees Union Independent Local 511, agreed with Lamont that the tragedy could have been avoided.
“One reckless choice took Elvin’s life,” Chisem said. “Our union has fought for stricter work zone speeding laws and tougher enforcement. We have demanded that drivers put down their phones. We will keep fighting for our brothers and sisters. But laws alone are not enough. Drivers have to understand what’s at stake: when you speed through a work zone, you are putting lives at risk. Slow down. Put the phone down. Let our members get home to their families. We will never forget Brother Elvin. We will carry his name forward in this fight.”