Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
Public Act No. 19-132
AN ACT CONCERNING RE VISIONS TO VARIOUS S TATUTES
CONCERNING THE CRIMI NAL JUSTICE SYSTEM A ND REVISING
PROVISIONS CONCERNIN G JAILHOUSE WITNESSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 1-102 of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
No person, committee, association, organization or corporation shall
employ any salaried commissioner or deputy commissioner of this
state, or any person receiving a salary or pay from the state for services
rendered and performed at Hartford, or shall give to any such person
any advantage, aid, emolument, entertainment, money or other
valuable thing for appearing for, on behalf of or in opposition to, any
measure, bill, resolution or petition pending before the General
Assembly or any committee thereof, or for advancing, supporting,
advocating, or seeking to secure the passage, defeat or amendment of
any such measure, bill, resolution or petition pending in or before the
General Assembly or any committee thereof; nor shall any such
salaried commissioner, deputy commissioner or other person
described in this section accept any such employment or perform any
such service for another, or accept aid, emolument, entertainment,
money, advantage or other valuable thing for or in consideration of Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
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any such service. Any person, committee, association, organization or
corporation, or any such salaried commissioner, deputy commissioner
or person receiving a salary or pay from the state for services rendered
and performed at Hartford, who violates any of the provisions of this
section, shall be fined not less than one hundred or more than one
thousand dollars. All complaints for the violation of this section shall
be made to the [state's attorney for the judicial district of New Britain,
and said state's attorney] Chief State's Attorney, who shall, upon proof
of probable guilt being shown, cause the arrest of any such offender
and present such offender or cause such offender to be presented for
trial before the [superior court for the judicial district of New Britain]
Superior Court.
Sec. 2. Section 46b-150d of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
An order that a minor is emancipated shall have the following
effects: (1) The minor may consent to medical, dental or psychiatric
care, without parental consent, knowledge or liability; (2) the minor
may enter into a binding contract; (3) the minor may sue and be sued
in such minor's own name; (4) the minor shall be entitled to such
minor's own earnings and shall be free of control by such minor's
parents or guardian; (5) the minor may establish such minor's own
residence; (6) the minor may buy and sell real and personal property;
(7) the minor may not thereafter be the subject of (A) a petition under
section 46b-129 as an abused, neglected or uncared for child or youth,
(B) a petition under section 46b-128 or 46b-133 as a delinquent child for
any act committed before the date of the order, or (C) a petition under
section 46b-149 alleging that the minor is a child from a family with
service needs; (8) the minor may enroll in any school or college,
without parental consent; (9) the minor shall be deemed to be over
eighteen years of age for purposes of securing an operator's license
under section 14-36 and a marriage license under section 46b-20a; (10) Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
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the minor shall be deemed to be over eighteen years of age for
purposes of registering a motor vehicle under section 14-12; (11) the
parents of the minor shall no longer be the guardians of the minor
under section 45a-606; (12) the parents of a minor shall be relieved of
any obligations respecting such minor's school attendance under
section 10-184; (13) the parents shall be relieved of all obligation to
support the minor; (14) the minor shall be emancipated for the
purposes of parental liability for such minor's acts under section 52-
572; (15) the minor may execute releases in such minor's own name;
[under section 14-118;] (16) the minor may enlist in the armed forces of
the United States without parental consent; and (17) the minor may
access or obtain a certified copy of a birth certificate under section 7-51.
Sec. 3. Subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of section 52-570d of the
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu
thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
(1) Any federal, state or local criminal law enforcement official or
agent of any such official who in the lawful performance of [his duties]
such official or agent's duties, or at the request or direction of such
official or agent in the performance of such official or agent's duties,
records telephonic communications;
Sec. 4. Subsection (b) of section 53a-60a of the general statutes is
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective
October 1, 2019):
(b) Assault in the second degree with a firearm is (1) a class D
felony, or (2) if the offense resulted in serious physical injury, a class C
felony, for which, in either case under subdivision (1) or subdivision
(2) of this subsection, one year of the sentence imposed may not be
suspended or reduced by the court.
Sec. 5. Section 53a-214 of the general statutes is repealed and the Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
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following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
(a) A landlord or lessor of a [dwelling] residential or nonresidential
unit subject to the provisions of chapter 830 [,] or 832, or an owner of
such a unit, or the agent of such landlord, lessor or owner is guilty of
criminal lockout when, without benefit of a court order, he or she
deprives a tenant, as defined in subsection (l) of section 47a-1, or a
lessee of a nonresidential unit, of access to [his dwelling] his or her
residential or nonresidential unit or his [personal] or her possessions.
(b) Criminal lockout is a class C misdemeanor.
Sec. 6. Subsection (d) of section 1 of public act 19-131 is repealed and
the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
(d) For the purposes of this section, "benefit" means any plea
bargain, bail consideration, reduction or modification of sentence or
any other leniency, immunity, financial payment, reward or
amelioration of current or future conditions of incarceration offered or
provided in connection with, or in exchange for, testimony that is
offered or provided by a jailhouse witness; and "jailhouse witness"
means a person who [is incarcerated at the time that he or she offers or
provides testimony concerning statements made by a person suspected
as the perpetrator of an offense or a defendant] offers or provides
testimony concerning statements made to such person by another
person with whom he or she was incarcerated, or an incarcerated
person who offers or provides testimony concerning statements made
to such person by another person who is suspected of or charged with
committing a criminal offense.
Sec. 7. Section 2 of public act 19-131 is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):
(a) In any criminal prosecution of a defendant for a violation of
section 53a-54a, 53a-54b, 53a-54c, 53a-54d, 53a-70, 53a-70a or 53a-70c of Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
Public Act No. 19-132 5 of 6
the general statutes, upon a motion of the defendant before the start of
a trial on any such offense, the court shall conduct a hearing at which
hearsay or secondary evidence shall be admissible to determine
whether any jailhouse witness's testimony is reliable and admissible.
The court shall make [such] a prima facie determination concerning
the reliability of [the witness] such testimony after evaluation of the
evidence submitted at the hearing and the information or material
disclosed pursuant to subdivisions (1) to (5), inclusive, of subsection
(a) of section 1 of [this act] public act 19-131, and may consider the
following factors:
(1) The extent to which the jailhouse witness's testimony is
confirmed by other evidence;
(2) The specificity of the testimony;
(3) The extent to which the testimony contains details known only
by the perpetrator of the alleged offense;
(4) The extent to which the details of the testimony could be
obtained from a source other than the defendant; and
(5) The circumstances under which the jailhouse witness initially
provided information supporting such testimony to a sworn member
of a municipal police department, a sworn member of the Division of
State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public
Protection or a prosecutorial official, including whether the jailhouse
witness was responding to a leading question.
(b) If the prosecutorial official fails to [show by a preponderance of
the evidence] make a prima facie showing that the jailhouse witness's
testimony is reliable, the court shall not allow the testimony to be
admitted.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "jailhouse witness" means Substitute Senate Bill No. 996
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jailhouse witness, as defined in section 1 of [this act] public act 19-131.
Sec. 8. Sections 13a-69 and 13b-305 of the general statutes are
repealed. (Effective October 1, 2019)