Researcher: JC Page 1 4/4/22
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 3
AN ACT REQUIRING THE BOARD OF REGENTS FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION TO DEVELOP SEMINAR PROGRAMS FOR SMALL
BUSINESSES.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) to
develop seminar programs to help small businesses (i.e., with 25 or
fewer employees) adapt to the business environment after the COVID-
19 pandemic through courses in subject areas including electronic
commerce, social media, cybersecurity, and virtual currency. It must do
so by September 1, 2022, and within available funds.
Under the bill, BOR must prescribe forms and procedures where up
to two small business employees, at no cost to the business, may enroll
in up to five seminar programs or any courses within seminar programs
at the Northwestern Connecticut Community College Entrepreneurial
Center or the Werth Innovation and Entrepreneurial Center at
Housatonic Community College.
The bill allows BOR, for FYs 23 and 24, to expend funds the state
received under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) to
develop these small business seminar programs.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2022
CYBERSECURITY
Under the bill, “cybersecurity” is detecting, preventing, or
responding to activity intended to result in unauthorized access to,
exfiltration of, manipulation of, or impairment to the integrity,
confidentiality, or availability of an information technology system or
information stored on, or transiting, an information technology system.
VIRTUAL CURRENCY 2022SB-00003-R000255-BA.DOCX
Researcher: JC Page 2 4/4/22
By law and under the bill, “virtual currency” means a digital unit (1)
used as a medium of exchange or form of digitally stored value or (2)
incorporated into payment system technology. It includes digital units
of exchange that:
1. have a centralized repository or administrator,
2. are decentralized without a centralized repository or
administrator, or
3. may be created or obtained by computing or manufacturing
effort.
Virtual currency does not include digital units used (1) solely in
online gaming platforms with no other market application or (2)
exclusively in a consumer affinity or rewards program that (a) can be
used only as payment for purchases with the issuer or another
designated merchant and (b) cannot be converted into or redeemed for
fiat currency (government-backed currency such as the U.S. dollar)
(CGS § 36a-596).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 22 Nay 0 (03/17/2022)